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 at Urbana-Champaign 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
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 https://archive.org/details/bedouintribesofe01blun_0 
 
■■■ 
 
 -> • 
 
 
 lIBaARv 
 OF T«E 
 
 OMIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 *1 
 
 
 
PLAIN OF MELAKH, AND IITVEP EUPHRATES. 
 
BEDOUIN TEIBES OF 
 THE EUPHEATES. 
 
 BY 
 
 LADY ANNE BLUNT. 
 
 EDITED, WITH A PfiEFACE AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 
 ARABS AND THEIR HORSES, 
 
 By W. S. B. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 WITH MAP AND SKETCHES BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 1879. 
 
 [All rights reserved.] 
 
LONDON : 
 
 BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WHlTEKBIAaS. 
 
vA ■ ■ 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 
 HIS HIGHNESS 
 
 NEWAB BAHADOOR EKBAL OOD DOWLEH, 
 
 THE ILLUSTRIOUS DESCENDANT OF 
 THE PRINCES OF OUDE. 
 
PKEFACE BY THE EDITOK. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 At the present moment, when all eyes are turned, 
 towards the East, and when Asia, long forgotten by 
 the rest of the world, seems about to reassert itself 
 and take its old plaee in history, the following 
 sketch of what is actually going ou, in one of its 
 most famous districts, should not be without interest 
 to the English public. 
 
 The Euphrates Valley is familiar to every one by 
 name, as a future liigh-road to India ; and we have 
 it on the highest authority that its possession 
 by a friendly power is vital to British interests. 
 Schemes, too, are known to be on foot for running 
 a railroad down it to the Persian Gulf, and adver- 
 tisements have appeared, with maps on \\diich such 
 a line is already traced. Yet how few, even of those; 
 who write these things, have any acejuaintance with 
 the regions talked of or knowledge of tlie tribes 
 Avhich inhabit them. ! 
 
 The fact is, the Euphrates is more of a mystery 
 
via 
 
 Preface by the Editor. 
 
 to the general public than any river of equal im- 
 portance in the old world. It has never been popu- 
 larly described, and since the days of Xenophon, has^ 
 haixlly been described at all. AVith the exception 
 of Colonel Chesney, who was commissioned by AA^il- 
 liam the Fourth, in 183.5, to survey the river, and 
 who has given us two bulky volumes of statistics 
 and an excellent chart as the results of his expedi- 
 tion, no traveller, as far as I am aware, has made 
 a study of the district or narrated his adven- 
 tures there in print. Till twenty years ago the 
 Euphrates was a dangerous neighbourhood for 
 Asiatics as well as Europeans. The Anazeh were 
 lords and masters of the river ; and travellers were 
 right in giving it a wide berth. But now the cara- 
 van road is a tolerably safe one, at least in the 
 winter months ; and there is no reason why some 
 enterprising Cook should not lead his “ personally 
 conducted parties ” from Aleppo to Bagdad as easily 
 as from Dan to Beersheba. Still, I think I am not 
 mistaken when I say that the author of these 
 vmlumes is the first bond fide tourist who has taken 
 the Euphrates road, and I make no apology for 
 publishing her experience of it. 
 
 AVith regard to the Author’s further adventures, 
 and the account given by her of the Bedouin tribes of 
 Mesopotamia and the western deserts, I shall also, I 
 
Preface by the Editor. 
 
 IX 
 
 think, be excused. The desert indeed has often been 
 described, and most of the tribes here introduced 
 liave been visited before, but the circumstances of 
 the present journey are new ; and these volumes 
 will be the first attempt at giving a comprehensive 
 view of Desert life and Desert politics. No pre- 
 vious traveller has, as far as I am aware, visited 
 the Independent Shammar in Mesopotamia or the 
 Anazeh in the Hamad.’* The desert lias been 
 usually to Europeans a sort of Tom Tiddler's 
 ground, where, instead of seeking the tribes, it has 
 been an object to slip by unseen. Circumstances 
 have, in the present instance, changed the position ; 
 and the desert has been for a time the home of the 
 traveller, as it is of the tribes themselves. 
 
 For my own share in this work (the chapters at 
 the end of the second volume), I fear I have hardly 
 so good a plea to urge. “For twenty years resident 
 at Bagdad,” or “ for nine years engaged in mis- 
 sionary work in Syria,” inscribed upon the title 
 page, would, I know, enhance the value of what I 
 have written ; but this cannot be. Neither the 
 
 * Sir Henry Laycird may perhaps have something to say to this,, 
 hut his diaries are not yet published, while Dr. Porter, Canon 
 Tristram, and Mr. Graham know only the tribes of the Syrian 
 frontier. Mr. Pal grave passed through the desert as a townsman, 
 and gives a townsman’s account of it. The onlj^ living picture 
 published, of Bedouin life and politics, is the “ Ptccit de Patalla,’^ 
 noted by Lamartine, and by some accounted fabulous. 
 
X 
 
 Preface by the Editor. 
 
 author of the journal, nor I can lay claim to a more 
 serious position towards the public than that of 
 tourists, who have had the good fortune to see a- 
 little more than is generally seen, and to learn a few 
 things more than are generally known. We left 
 England with as little intention of instructing our 
 fellow countrymen as travellers need have ; and it 
 was not until we saw that fortune had put us in the 
 way of acquiring really valuable knowledge that we 
 set ourselves seriously to work. At the same time 
 I would remark that the value of labour done is 
 not always in proportion to the time bestowed on 
 it, nor even to the skill or courage of the performer. 
 Chance often plays a considerable part in the most 
 serious undertakings ; and chance has favoured us 
 here. 
 
 To begin with, our journey was made at an 
 interesting moment, when the Bulgarian war was at 
 its height, and when the strain on the resources of 
 the Porte had so far relaxed the bonds of discipline 
 in these outlying provinces, that the inhabitants 
 were at their ease with us in speech and action. 
 Then we had the singular good fortune to reap a 
 whole harvest of information, which others had 
 been preparing for years, in the yery field we had 
 chosen.' 
 
 Again, in our visit to the Bedouin tribes, circum- 
 
Preface by the Editor. 
 
 XI 
 
 stances obliged us to go without escort, interpreters, 
 or for the most part, guides, a position which, as it 
 turned out, more than anything else predisposed 
 those we came to see in our favour. There was no 
 real danger in this, or real difficulty, but it was 
 unusual ; and the Bedouins fully appreciated the 
 confidence shown in them. They became our 
 friends. The Desert, last winter, like the rest of 
 the world, was in confusion ; and we were fortunate 
 enough to be witnesses of a crisis in politics there, 
 and of some episodes of a war. In these we could 
 not help being interested ; and the sympathy we 
 felt in their troubles re-acted on our new friends 
 and invited confidences which would hardly else 
 have been made to strangers. We thus acquired, 
 in a few weeks, more real knowledge of the Desert 
 and its inhabitants than has often been amassed in 
 as many years spent in the frontier towns of Syria. 
 
 This must be my excuse if, in the concluding 
 chapters of this work, I have ventured to speak 
 somewhat ax cathedra, and if I have allowed what 
 was originally only to have been a journal, to 
 assume a more pretentious garb. These chapters I 
 am alone responsible for. They are an attempt to 
 epitomise the information collected in the Desert ; 
 and, though I am far from vouching for the entire 
 accuracy of my sketch of life and manners, and still 
 
xii Preface by the Editor. 
 
 less of the stories I have repeated, I can at least 
 affirm that I have taken little from books, and much 
 from direct sources. 
 
 I have added what I think will interest many, — 
 a sketch of Arab horse breeding, with a genealogical 
 table of the descent of the thoroughbred Arabian 
 horse. 
 
 The choice of a proper system of spelling has 
 been a , great difficulty in the editing of this work. 
 Neither the author nor I have any knowledge of 
 written Arabic, nor, colloquially, of any Arabic but 
 that of the Desert. It has, however, been repug- 
 nant to our taste to adopt a system entirely 
 phonetic. “ Ali ” cannot be spent “ Arlee,” nor 
 “ Huseyn ” “ Hoosain,” without one’s eyes aching. 
 On the other hand, few English readers would care 
 to see the French “ Ouady,” or the German “ Dsche- 
 bel” for “Wady” and “ Jebel.” We have taken 
 refuge, then, from greater evils in a modification of 
 the old “ lingua franca” spelling used by Galland, 
 in his . translation of the Arabian Nights. The 
 vowels are written as in Italian, except in the case 
 of the long t, or before a double consonant, where 
 they follow the English rule, the consonants also 
 being as in English. We do not, however, pretend 
 to accuracy, and wherever a conventional spelling 
 exists, have allowed it to override our rules. The 
 
Preface by the Editor. 
 
 xiu 
 
 wliole work, I must explain, lias been written in 
 haste — more haste than would be excusable, if new 
 travels did not lure us back prematurely to the 
 East. 
 
 In conclusion, and while protesting complete sub- 
 mission to the learned on all matters connected 
 with Oriental lore, I take my stand against the 
 merely untravelled critic in the words of the ex- 
 cellent Arabic proverb, which says : “ The off fore- 
 foot of my donkey stands upon the centre of the 
 earth. If you don’t believe me, go and measure for 
 yourself.” 
 
 W. S. B. 
 
 Ceabbet, October, 1878. 
 
CONTENTS TO VOL. I 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Projects of travel — A visit to the Koyal Geographical Society’s 
 rooms — We start for Aleppo — The voyage to Scanderoon — A 
 bagman’s tale of the Euphrates — Aleppo buttons — We land in 
 Asia . 1 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 The Port of Scanderoon — Belies of the Levant Company — We agree 
 with a muleteer for conveyance to Aleppo — Bey Ian ponies — We 
 cross the “Syrian Gates” — Murder of a muleteer — Turkish 
 soldiers — Sport on the Orontes — A night in a roadside khan — • 
 Snowstorms — A dead horse — The village of Tokat and its in- 
 habitants — A last day of misery — We arrive at Aleppo . . 9 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AVe are entertained by a wise man — Tales of my landlord — He 
 Jedaan laughed at the Pasha’s beard, and made his friend Ahni 
 happy — The Anazeh and their migrations — We are inspired wi 
 the idea of visiting the Bedouins — Seyd Ahmet and the Jews — 
 
 A sturdy beggar 26 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Castle of Aleppo — Inscription relating to King David — 
 Legend of St. Zacharias and the Alu^din — The prisons of Aleppo 
 — Strange justice— Curro the Kurd — AVe give half-a-crown to a 
 murderer, and offend public feeling 
 
 44 
 
XVI 
 
 Contents. 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 PAG55 
 
 buy horses, being resolved to join the Anazeh — Hagar — News 
 from the Desert — Wars and rumours of wars — Jedaan at bay — 
 
 The world is much “mixed up ” — A chapter on politics . . 57 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IVe leave Aleppo — Wandering in the dark — An Arab village — The 
 Desert — First view of the Euphrates — A Weldi camp— Zaptiehs 
 — A melancholy exile and a dish of franco! ins — Bivouacking by 
 the river 72 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 Lion district of the Euphrates — The Afuddli hunters--A Bedouin 
 Barnum — The Kaimakam of Eakka — A wild ass — Sport in the 
 tamarisk jungle — A wonderful horse — We arrive at Deyr . . 89 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Husejm Pasha’s paternal government — The Ottoman policy in the 
 Desert — “Divide et impera” — We are placed under surveil- 
 lance, and hospitabl}^ thwarted in our design of visiting the 
 Anazeh — Deyr, the best market for pure Arabian horses — First 
 talk of the Shammar — Their hero, Abd-ul-Kerim, his adventures 
 and death — They threaten Deyr — A dishonest zaptieh — I fall 
 into a well, and am rescued — We depart for Bagdad . . .109 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A fresh start — We join a caravan bound for Bagdad — The son of a 
 horse — Turkish ladies on a journey — How to tether a fidgetty 
 horse — Salahiyeh — An encampment of Agheyl — The Mudir of 
 Abukamal — Wolves at night — Wild boars and others— The 
 Boatsw'ain’s log — Palm groves — We arrive at Ana . . . 134 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A Bedouin foray — We converse with a ghost — Engagement of Zenil 
 Aga — We resolve to depart — The Kaimakam accompanies us — 
 Entertained by Sotamm — A Bedouin meal — News from home . 151 
 
Contents. 
 
 XVI 1 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Modern Bagdad a poor place — Causes of its decay — The Plague — 
 Midhat Pasha takes down its walls and lets in a deluge— 
 
 Dr. Colville’s view of the Bedouins — An Indian Prince — Akif 
 Pasha’s fortune — His stud — We buy asses and camels, and plan 
 an evasion 186 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The King of Oude and his “Desert-house ” — We are sent away with 
 gifts — The Mesopotamian desert — Pleasures of freedom — How to 
 navigate the desert — Alarms and false alarms — Stalking a wolf 
 — We reach the Shammar 212 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Perhdn’s camp at Sherghat— His wives and sons — We diplomatise- — 
 
 We start to cross Mesopotamia— Ismail on horseflesh — We are 
 received by Smeyr— His account of Hejd, its rulers, and its 
 horses 255 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The city and palace of El Haddr — We are mobbed in the ruins — 
 Smeyr sends us on our way — We put our house in order and 
 march westwards — Quarrel with Ismail — He leaves us — We dis- 
 cover salt lakes — A wade through the mud — A silly old man — 
 
 Paris at last 281 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A gentleman of the desert and his mother, the Hatoun Amsheh — 
 Well-behaved boys — Tellal — Paris goes out shooting — He swims 
 the river — Swearing brotherhood — Eashid ibn Ali and the 
 Sheykh of Samuga — The Yezidis — A raft on the Khabur — 
 Camels swimming — Parewell to Paris — A gallop in to Deyr . 312 
 
 VOL. I 
 
 h 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. I. 
 
 Plain of Melakh, and Eivel Euphrates . . Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Citadel of Aleppo 44 
 
 SxVRACENic Mill on the Euphrates 
 
 Mieddin and Leaning Mosque 134 
 
 A Wolf Course near Rumady 174 
 
 Gaet Shammar moving their Camp 255 
 
 Tellal starts on a Ghazu 312 
 
 Map of the Euphrates Valley 
 
 At the end . 
 
BEDOUIN TEIBES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE EUPHEATES. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Wherein of antres vast and de'^arts idle, 
 
 Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven, 
 It was my hint to speak. Shakespeake. 
 
 Projects of travel — A visit to the Eoyal Geographical Society’s 
 I r rooms — We start for Aleppo — The voj^age to Scanderoou — A 
 
 bagman’s tale of the Eujihrates — Alej^po buttons — We land in 
 Asia. 
 
 We left England on the 20th of Eoveinher, 1877, 
 Avith the intention of visiting Bagdad, and of spend- 
 ing the winter in some part of Asia, where Ave 
 should find the climate good and the roads not too 
 much frequented hy Europeans. We had already 
 A’isited more than one Arabic-speaking country, and 
 had acquired a taste for Bedouin life and manners, 
 Avith a little of the Arabic language, and Ave Avere 
 anxious to improve our knoAvledge of these things 
 by a more serious journey than any Ave had yet 
 undertaken. There had, indeed, been a sort of 
 progression in our traA'els, and Ave had been carried 
 by them alAA'ays further and further eastAAUirds, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 B 
 
o 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the EiipJirates. [ch. i. 
 
 passing from Spain to Barbary, and from Barbary 
 to Egypt, and thence to Syria, so that it was 
 natural that the Euphrates valley and Mesopotamia 
 should be chosen as the scene of onr next campaign. 
 
 When it had come to actually planning onr 
 journey, however, a number of difficulties at once 
 began to show themselves. It was surprising how 
 little information was to be got, even from the 
 sources of geographical knowledge most respected 
 in England. Bradshaw, whom we naturally con- 
 sulted first, held out the golden hope of a regular 
 line of land communications through Aleppo, while 
 rn his map a railway route Avas freely traced ; but 
 it was more than doubtful whether all this could be 
 taken literally, and whether the absence of dates and 
 tariffs in the account did not point to the advertise- 
 ment of some future scheme rather than to a state- 
 ment of existing facts. At the Eoyal Geographical 
 Society’s rooms, to which we next turned, we Avere 
 shoAA'ii the maps and surveys made by Colonel 
 Chesney in 1836, as the latest on the subject, no 
 traveller connected AA’ith the Society having visited 
 the Euphrates valley since that date, unless it might 
 be Mr. Layard or Colonel EaAAdinson. 
 
 We Avere recommended to take Constantinople on 
 our AAmy, and to consult the British Ambassador 
 there, or, on second thoughts, Ave might call on Sir 
 Henry himself, who Avas in London, and would be 
 sure to pay all possible attention to our inquiries. 
 Erom his long residence at Bagdad he Avould be the 
 
cn. I.] 
 
 A Visil to Savile Row. 
 
 o 
 
 fittest person to advise ns. Sir Henry, to Avlioin 
 Wilfrid sent in Iris card, received liiin with courtesy 
 and explained that the Euphrates Valley Railway 
 had not yet been opened; that a land journey by 
 that route was impracticable, owing to the hostile 
 tribes Avhich inhabited certain villages on the river ; 
 that the usual road to Bagdad lay through Diarhekr 
 and Mosul, an interesting route, but passing too 
 near the seat of war between Russia and Turkey 
 to be recommended at the present moment. Sir 
 Henry, all things considered, thought we could not 
 do better than take the line of Turkish steamers 
 which made trips weekly from Aleppo to Bagdad. 
 On these we should be safe and comfortable ; 
 Messrs. Lynch of Tower Street would give us all 
 particulars, and Messrs. Cook could no doubt supply 
 through tickets if desmed. But, though we went 
 aAvay rather crestfallen at so simple an ansAver from 
 our oracle, Messrs. Lynch could tell us nothing of 
 any steamers hut their OAAm, Avhich Avere on the 
 Tigris not the Euphrates ; nor could they suggest 
 any shorter Avay of reaching Bagdad than by 
 Bombay and the Persian Gulf. The only other 
 person, Avho gave us information on the sul)ject, 
 Avas a gentleman Avho had travelled some years ago 
 in Persia, and Avho had descended the Tigris from 
 IMosul to Bagdad on a raft. He supposed that 
 something similar might A’cry likely be found on 
 the Euphrates, and described the raft as a pleasant 
 and commodious AA'ay of travelling, especially in hot 
 
4 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates. [cn. i. 
 
 weather, as the passengers sat for the most j)art 
 with their feet in the water. 
 
 Besides this difSculty in the matter of correct 
 information about the country we were going to, 
 there were other obstacles, Avhich at the time 
 seemed even more serious. Kars had just fallen, 
 and Armenia was supposed to he full of disbanded 
 troops, flying from the seat of war. Osman Pasha 
 was invested in Plevna, and every soldier and even 
 every policeman in the Ottoman dominions had 
 been hurried away to Constantinople for the defence 
 of the capital. The newspapers were full of sensa- 
 tional tales of massacre, insurrection and disorder 
 in the provinces, thus stripped of their protectors ; 
 and it was asserted that a general outburst of 
 Mussulman fanaticism was imminent. English 
 travellers, especially, might he expected to fare ill, 
 for the feeling in Turkey was growing very bitter 
 against England, who had “ betrayed ” her. At 
 best the whole country was overrun by deserters 
 from the army and by robbers, who Avere taking 
 advantage of the disturbed times to set law and 
 order at defiance. One paper asserted that a 
 mutiny was hatching in India, another that the 
 plague had appeared at Bagdad. It did not seem 
 to be the proper moment for going to such a 
 country. 
 
 Fortunately hoAvever Ave are too old travellers to 
 be easily impressed by tales of lions and robbers, 
 even supported, as they Avere in this instance, by 
 
CH. I.] 
 
 Lions in the Path. 
 
 5 
 
 the authority of special correspondents of the Timesi. 
 Wilfrid declared that they were all nonsense, that 
 Aleppo was net in Armenia, and that the last place 
 a beaten army would retreat to would be the Syrian 
 desert ; that if the plague existed at Bagdad so did 
 the small-pox in London, and, finally, that we 
 should “ know all about it all in due time.” So I 
 was fain to be content with his assurance and to 
 hope for the best ; and, as it turned out, no moment 
 could have been more favourable for the journey 
 we were proposing. If the Turks had been vic- 
 torious they might perhaps have grown insolent 
 and dangerous, but in their misfortune they were 
 only too happy to grasp any hand as a friend’s. 
 The conscription too for the army had taken all the 
 riotous youths away from the country districts, few 
 but old men and women remaining, while, as for 
 the absence of soldiers and police, it was being 
 hailed by all honest men in Syria as a pleasant 
 respite from most of what made life irritating. 
 Besides, no one in Europe can imagine how very 
 slowly news travels in the East, nor how very 
 suspiciously it is received even when at last it 
 comes. Wo had finished our journey and were 
 coming home long before the news of the Sultan’s 
 disasters was fully known in the desert. It was 
 nevertheless with something like the solemnity of 
 a last farewell that we embraced our friends and 
 finally turned our faces to the East. 
 
 The first point for Avhieh we Avere to make 
 
6 
 
 Bedo^nn Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. i. 
 
 (guided by tlie only definite piece of information 
 we had acquired) was Aleppo, of which the seaport, 
 Alexandretta or Seanderoon, may be reached from 
 Marseilles by a line of steamers which makes its 
 weekly tour of the Leyant. I will not describe the 
 twelve days of our voyage further than to notice 
 the occasions on which we received intelligence of 
 the mysterious land which lay before us. The 
 captain, honest man, had navigated the Mediter- 
 ranean for nearly forty years, but had never before 
 heard of passengers landing at Alexandretta on 
 their way to Bagdad. Aleppo he had heard of. 
 It V ms a hundred miles inland, and there was no 
 road to it. Tourists gave it a wide berth on account 
 of the button which bears its name, a strange and 
 not very agreeable malady, which attacks all who 
 stay in or even pass through the district. Of this he 
 gave us a most alarming account, which I will repeat, 
 deducting his exaggerations and premising only 
 that Ave neither of us fell victims to its dangerous 
 presence. The Aleppo button is a SAvelling AAdiich 
 comes upon the face or hands or sometimes upon the 
 feet and breaks into a boil. It lasts for six months 
 or a year and then goes aAvay. Except in the case 
 of children or AAdien aggravated by attempts at 
 treatment, it leaA'es hardly a scar, but, Avdiile it 
 lasts, it is an annoying disfigurement. Any attempt 
 to drive it aAA'ay makes the evil Averse, and nothing 
 can be done beyond keeping the place untouched and 
 ■availing till it heals. Children suffer more seAmrely 
 
CH. I.] 
 
 The Aleppo Button. 
 
 than grown-up people, for it is difficult to keep 
 them patient under the irritation for so long a time ; 
 and the consequence is that nearly all the inha- 
 bitants of Aleppo are scarred deeply either on the 
 forehead or the cheek. It is not known what causes 
 the button, whether the water or the air ; no regime 
 and no care seem able to elude it, neither is there 
 any known remedy. Some ascribe it to the Abater of 
 a certain stream at Aleppo, but Mosul, Bagdad and 
 indeed all the toAvns of Upper Mesopotamia are 
 subject to it, under different names and slightly 
 different forms. At Bagdad it is called the “ date- 
 mark.” There are also terrible stories of traA^ellers 
 being attacked by it years after they had forgotten 
 their danger. “ Quelquefois apres dix ans,” said 
 the ship’s doctor, “ le bouton Amus Auent.” But 
 enough of this not very pleasant subject. 
 
 At Smyrna a commis-voyageur from the Pays 
 de Yaud came on board and added his mite of 
 information. He Avas “travelling in pills,” he told 
 us, and offered to take anything in exchange for his 
 AA'ares, from a cargo of figs to an ostrich feather. 
 He had seen much and suffered much in the cause 
 of trade, having pushed his fortunes on one occa- 
 sion so far as Abyssinia and the Blue Nile. He 
 had traA’’elled from Tifiis to Bagdad, and from. 
 Bagdad to Bamascus Avith a caraA'an. It had cost 
 lum, he said, £300 and a deal of troid)le. He had 
 never heard of any one visiting Bagdad for pleasAirc, 
 and advised us, if Ave did go there, to do a little 
 
8 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Eu-phrates. [ch. r. 
 
 business in silk. It might help to pay our expenses. 
 He had seen the Euj)hrates. It was a large river 
 like the Ehone, hut without steamers on it. The 
 inhabitants were “ de la canaille.” He thought 
 we should do better by spending the winter at 
 Beyrout, where there was a French hotel and a 
 cafe chantant. 
 
 More precise, if not more amusing, informants 
 were a Pole in the Turkish service and a French 
 engineer, on their Avay to Adana. One had bought 
 horses at Deyr, a town on the Euphrates, and the 
 other had taken part in an experimental voyage 
 made by a Government steamer up the river four 
 years before. Heither of these considered a land 
 journey practicable, except by Diarbekr and Mosul, 
 a five-weeks’ march by caravan, and then by raft 
 down the Tigris. Nobody went by the Euphrates, 
 Avhile the other was a post road. “ Et frequentee ?” 
 we inquired. “ Oui, mais mal frequentee.” It did 
 not sound assuring. 
 
 But, on the 5th of December, our doubts and 
 hesitations, if any we had, were brought to a sudden 
 end by the arrival of the ‘‘ Alphee ” in the bay of 
 Scanderoon ; and in the early morning of that day 
 we found ourselves fairly landed in Asia, with our 
 troubles close before us. 
 
CHAPTEK II. 
 
 “ My father, you must know, was originally a Turkey merchant.” 
 
 Tbistkam Shaitdt. 
 
 The Port of Scanderoon — Eelics of the Levant Company — We 
 agree with a muleteer for conveyance to Aleppo — Beylan 
 ponies — We cross the “ Syrian Gates’’ — Murder of a muleteer 
 — Turkish soldiers — Sport on the Orontes — A night in a road- 
 side khan — Snowstorms — A dead horse — The village of Tokat 
 and its inhabitants — A last day of misery — We arrive at 
 Aleppo. 
 
 AlexajSTDretta, or Scanderoon as it was called 
 in the days of the Levant Company, of which, if I 
 conjectnre rightly, the elder Shandy must have been 
 a member, is now little more than a collection of 
 hovels by the sea-shore, surrounded by a marsh and 
 backed by the steep slopes of the Amanus hills. 
 Its position, in a land-locked bay possessing good 
 anchorage, the only good anchorage on the Syrian 
 coast, and at the far corner of the Mediterranean 
 where Asia Minor and Syria meet, made it a j)ort of 
 great importance once ; and for many years it was 
 the chief station of the English trade with India, 
 lint the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope 
 brought Scanderoon its first misfortunes, and tlie 
 overland route through Egypt its death blow. It is 
 fifty years now since the Levant Company wound 
 
lo Bedoidn Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. h. 
 
 up its affairs and disappeared (tire East India 
 Company, its imitator and rival, lias done so since) ; 
 and nothing remains in token of its former prosperity 
 in this its principal seaport hut a pile of ruins, its 
 ‘‘ Commercial House,” and the graves of the many 
 Englishmen who lived, made money and died there. 
 It was certainly a melancholy sight, this commercial 
 house, the haunt of bats and frogs ; for the marsh 
 had already reclaimed its prey, and the court yard 
 was now some inches under water. It gave one the 
 ague to look at it. Scanderoon, at the present day, 
 boasts neither inn nor mosque, and its bazaar was 
 burnt to the ground some weeks before we arrived ; 
 bnt it is still the nearest seaport for the Bagdad 
 caravans, and if ever the Euphrates railway is more 
 than a project, may again become the rival of 
 Alexandria. The marsh, they say, might easily be 
 drained, and with it the fevers now common would 
 disappear. The town enjoys about the most 
 beautiful view in the world across the bay to the 
 Caramanian hills, just now white with snow.* 
 
 We were lodged comfortably at the Vice-Con- 
 sulate by M. Catoni, a Corsican by birth, and lately 
 appointed British Vice-Consul, as he had previously 
 been Swedish and Greek. English travellers are 
 rare at Alexandretta, and we were most hospitably 
 entertained by him, all trouble being taken off onr 
 hands in the matter of arrangements for our jonrney 
 to Aleppo. Hadji Mahmoud, a respectable carrier 
 
 * This account was written before the annexation of Cyprus. 
 
CH. II.] 
 
 The Port of Scanderoon. 
 
 1 1 
 
 of that to'\\Ti, was sent for, and engaged to convey 
 us and our baggage, for four hundred piastres 
 (£3 45.), and see us safelj^ to our destination. He 
 was a good-looking man, as most of the Syrians are, 
 handsomely dressed in a striped turban, a striped 
 jacket and strijjed trowsers, with a pair of new red 
 morocco hoots, of which he seemed not a little 
 proud. Three mules Avould he enough for our 
 baggage, and he wordd provide horses for ourselves. 
 It seemed a reasonable sum for the four days’ 
 journey, as we were in December, and the roads 
 might be expected to be bad. Not that there was 
 any sign of winter yet where we were. Alex- 
 andretta with its blue sea and cloudless sky looked 
 the home of an eternal summer ; and only the snow, 
 a hundred miles away on the Taurus mountains, 
 shoAved that winter had begun. "VYe Avere to take a 
 provision of bread for the road, as none Avas to be 
 had there ; but Ave shoidd find, it seemed, eggs, and 
 the traditional foAvd AAdiich Avaits for travellers in 
 every quarter of the globe. The consular cook Avent 
 Avith me to market, and Avith his assistance I 
 purchased thirty of the flat Arab loaA^es, just as they 
 Avere turned out of the OA'en, some salt, pcpj)er, a 
 flask of oil, a frying-pan and a string of onions. 
 With bread and onions one may travel far. 
 
 Thus provided, and Avith a good bag of heshlilcs, 
 the base coin of Syria, for immediate needs, and 
 spirits I’ising at the prospect of fine Aveather and the 
 ncAV country open before us, avc rode out at an early 
 
12 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the EiLphrates. [ch. n. 
 
 hour on the 6th of December, through the swampy 
 streets of Scanderoon, across the marsh and hy a 
 rising road towards what are called the Syrian 
 Gates, the mountain jiass of Aleppo. It was a 
 warm morning, and we could have almost been 
 persuaded to leave our heavy cloaks behind us hut 
 for an appearance of wind far ont at sea. The 
 marsh was full of kingfishers, sitting on the tele- 
 graph wires, and now and then pouncing Avith a 
 splash into the water. Our ponies, ragged little 
 beasts, stepped out at a good pace, and the hells 
 of the leaduig mule jingled merrily. There was a 
 sense of expectation in the air Avith the thought that 
 Ave Avere at last fairly on our road through Asia, 
 and that mysterious promise of adA^enture Avhich 
 makes the first day of a journey only less de- 
 lightful than the last. Our road noAV left the 
 causeAvay, which had crossed the marsh, and Avonnd 
 among the ravines and Avatercourses of the hill side. 
 "We had plenty of felloAV travellers, riders on mules, 
 horses, donkeys, and camels, and people on foot, 
 (for this is perhaps the greatest high road in j^sia). 
 But they passed us Avithout remark or salutation, 
 and only one or tAVO exchanged a nod AV'ith Mah- 
 mond. As Ave turned the shoulder of the hill Ave 
 AAmre met hy a violent Avind Avhich nearly hleAV ns 
 hack over our ponies’ tails, and sufficiently ex- 
 plained the “Arhite horses” Ave had seen out at sea, 
 and the enormous capotes into Avhich Mahmoud and 
 his assistant Kasim had built themselves. Tavo 
 
CII. II.] 
 
 First Day in Asia. 
 
 hours’ struggle, however, brought us to a place of 
 shelter and a halt in the town of Beylan,* the first 
 station on our road, where the consular cavass, Avho 
 had hitherto led the Avay on a good-looking white 
 horse Avith three shoes off and one shoe on, made 
 his salaam and left us at the khan. The khan Avas 
 a respectable place enough, Avith a roAV of empty 
 rooms on an upper floor, bescrihbled Avith the names 
 of sailors and LeAmntine shopkeepers, mostly French, 
 Avho had stopped there on their Avay to or from 
 Antioch ; and there we waited half an hour while a 
 Ichdivaji (coffee seller) fried us some eggs and 
 brought coffee from his shop hard by. 
 
 We Avere noAV fairly left to our OAvn resources ; 
 and these, for the moment, appeared very slender. 
 The feAV Avords of Arabic Ave had picked up in 
 Algeria and in Egypt Avould not at all pass current 
 Avith Hadji Mahmoud and his felloAvs, good honest 
 Syrians, quite unused to guessing the meaning of 
 Avords in an unknoAAui tongue ; for Ave Avere far 
 aAvay from the region of dragomans, JeAV pedlers, 
 and the nimhle-tongued donkey hoys, Avho haunt 
 the steps of tourists in those parts of the East Avhich 
 they have made their OAvm. Here all things Avcre 
 as purely Asiatic as if avc had been at Mcrv or 
 Ispahan. Hadji Mahmoud hoAVCAmr AAms good- 
 natured if not quick-Avitted ; and avo had the AV'hole 
 stock of our patience yet untouched and Avere ])rc- 
 pared to live as AV"e could till hotter times shoidd he. 
 
 * Beyldn, a corruption of tho ancient Pylco, or Gates of Syria. 
 
Bedotlin Tribes of the EiLphrates. [on. u. 
 
 14 
 
 So we readily consented when he seemed anxious not 
 to lose time and begged us to go on and overtake the 
 mules, which, having had some minutes start of us, 
 were already beyond the crest of the pass. It was 
 blowing a hurricane there, and was bitterly cold. 
 The view overlooking the lake and marshes of the 
 Orontes far away towards Antioch was very beau- 
 tiful, and we could see where Antioch lay, its posi- 
 tion being marked by a pointed hill and the white 
 line of the river to our right. 
 
 We had now passed the highest ground and soon 
 began to descend towards the plain, which cannot 
 be many hundred feet above the sea level ; but the 
 fall of the hill is gentler here than on the western 
 side. Cloming down we met four or five hundred 
 men on the march from Aleppo, — soldiers on their 
 way to the war ; but very few were in uniform, 
 and at least thirty of them wore wooden handcuffs 
 shaped like stocks, and fastened in the same way. 
 These, it turned out, Avere deserters under arrest. 
 Fifteen hundred, we afterrvards learned, had left 
 Aleppo, but two-thirds had managed to desert on 
 the road by paying a mejidie each (four shillings^ 
 to their major, and when recaptured, as some of 
 them Avere later, they had complained loudly of the 
 money not being restored. The soldiers Ave saAV 
 Avere a fine-looking set of men, in good condition, 
 but in depressed spirits ; leaving their homes, poor 
 creatures, for the doubtful glories of Avar. They 
 talked little either to each other or to us, and only 
 
CH. II.] 
 
 Turkish Recruits. 
 
 15 
 
 a few stragglers inqnired how far it was on to 
 Beylan. I was very sorry for the poor fellows, as 
 theirs is a hard lot, — no pay, little food, and a 
 forlorn chance of ever returning. They must have 
 just heard too the news of the fall of Kars. 
 
 We had hardty passed the last soldier when we 
 came to a grove of olive trees. Here about three 
 weeks ago a muleteer was murdered by some Tur- 
 comans of Mount Amanus. He was accompanying 
 a rich merchant of Aleppo, who, being an invalid, 
 travelled in a litter. The Turcomans stopped his 
 caravan and demanded £4,000, the exact sum he 
 had in specie concealed in the litter, but the mer- 
 chant showed them only bills of exchange, which 
 he told them represented the money. These the 
 robbers would not take, and, turning upon the 
 muleteer, their accomplice, they called him a false 
 friend and shot him through the head. The mer- 
 chant arrived safely at Aleppo with both his gold 
 and his bills. 
 
 The sun was setting as we reached the grouj) of 
 mud hovels Avhere we were to pass the night, and 
 which go by the name of Diarbela-li Khan. I 
 confess that my spirits sank as I peeped into one 
 after another of these most uninviting dwellings ; 
 but our tents were in England, and the wind was 
 chilly, and there was nothing else to be done : so 
 we chose the biggest hovel, or the emptiest (for 
 there were ten or a dozen men in each), and made 
 ourselves as comfortable as we could with a barri- 
 
1 6 Bedotdn Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. n. 
 
 cade of luggage round the space allotted us on the 
 platform where travellers sleep. The construction 
 of these khans is simple, — four mud walls and a 
 roof of thatch, with a post in the centre, to which 
 a lamp is hung ; for floor, the natural earth ; for 
 fire-place, a hole in the ground ; and for beds, the 
 raised platform I have spoken of, which is exactly 
 the same as that which hounds have to sleep on in 
 their kennels in England. The arrangement is not 
 so bad in practice, however, as it sounds. On the 
 platform you are more or less out of the reach of 
 things crawling and things hopping, and it is wide 
 enough for you to make your bed on it in its 
 breadth. Once there, you cannot he trodden on by 
 accident, or jostled by the people crowding round 
 the fire. 
 
 We were tired with our first day’s ride, and as 
 soon as Ave had spread our quilts, slept soundly for 
 an hour or more, in spite of the noise and of the 
 strangeness of our fellow lodgers, Avho after all, 
 peasants as they Avere, had better manners than to 
 interfere Avith us in any AA^ay, and Avdio, AA'hen Ave 
 Avoke up, let us have our share of the fire to warm 
 our bread at, as they had already let us have more 
 than our share of the platform. Only there seemed 
 no prospect of anything to eat beyond AA’hat we had 
 brought Avith us. EA^erybody munched his bread 
 as we did, apparently Avell satisfied AAuth that for 
 his cA^ening meal. A little coffee AA^as made and 
 handed round, and about midnight the chuckle of 
 
cH. 11.] A Night in a Roadside Khan. 1 7 
 
 a, fowl announced that dinner Avas being thought of. 
 But we Avere then long past caring, and in the land 
 •of dreams again. A boy Avith the whooping-cough 
 on one side of me, and the loud snoring of a 
 muleteer Avere the last sounds I heard that night. 
 Then the khan and all in it Avere still, — all but the 
 <3ats, AAdiich proAvled about till morning, creeping 
 .stealthily round us and snuffing close to our faces. 
 
 At cockcroAV Hadji Mahmoud aroused the house, 
 declaring that it Avas time to be off, as Ave had a 
 nine hours’ ride before us, and long before you 
 could distinguish, as Mahomedans say, a Avhite 
 tlnead from a black one, everybody had croAvded 
 back to the tire to Avarm their hands, beds had been 
 rolled up, and boots put on. 
 
 We Avere the last to move ; and Avhen the 
 baggage, AAuth Hadji Mahmoud, had been des- 
 patched, and the other travellers gone, Ave had a 
 feAV quiet minutes to ourseHes at the tire, Avhere 
 the Ichanji brought us coffee and his bill. We 
 made him Amy happy with three beshliks (half-a- 
 croAAui), and so our night’s adventures ended. 
 
 It had rained since the day before, and the Avind 
 outside the hut Avas chilly. I had a headache ; and 
 Ave both felt tired and sorry for ourseh'es. But there 
 Avas no help for it noAV ; and aa'O mounted and rode 
 UAvay, folloAving the edge of the hills in a northerly 
 direction. Our road had noAv descended almost to 
 the plain ; and presently a great marsh appear(‘d to 
 our right, its presence announced by SAvarms of 
 
 VOI.. I. 
 
 c 
 
i8 
 
 Bedotdn Tribes of the E^lphrates. [ch. u. 
 
 >vaterfoAvl, "svliich rose as we came near it — snipeS' 
 and plovers and herons, and now and then a flight 
 of dncks. I noticed several pochards and teal, jnst 
 as on our ponds at home ; and especially some very 
 handsome red and white dncks, Avhich must have^ 
 been sheldrakes. This marsh is crossed by an ancient 
 causeway, probably of Eoman construction ; and 
 along it we passed, turning sharply to the right,, 
 and eventually coming to a high bridge over the 
 river Orontes. Here Wilfrid dismounted, anxious- 
 not to lose so good an opportunity of securing ns 
 against another dinnerless evening, and was lucky 
 enough to stop a couple of shovellers as they were' 
 flying up the river. They fell, too, most fortu- 
 nately, exactly on the bridge we were crossing, or’ 
 we could not have picked them up. Then Kasim 
 begged for some coots Avhich ivere dabbling about 
 close by, and a family double shot brought four to 
 the bag. Encouraged by this, we tried a chive, hut 
 it Avas unsuccessful ; and, the weather seeming to 
 tlueaten serious mischief, Ave had to be content Avith 
 AvEat we had got, and make the best of our Avay to- 
 get in before the rain. We must liaAm passed nearly 
 a thousand camels in the course of the day, some 
 chiven by Bedouins (probably Agheyl), some by 
 toAATispeople, and most of them, I fancy, carrying 
 corn for the GoA^ernment. Some Avere certainly so 
 employed, for one large caraAmn AA^as headed by 
 an immense camel bearing the Turkish flag and 
 escorted by soldiers. These Avere, I think, the finest 
 
CII. II.] 
 
 sport on the Orontes. 
 
 19 
 
 camels I ever saAV, and in splendid condition. Wo 
 got to Afn'n just in time, for tlie rain Avas begin- 
 ning to fall, and before nigbt it came doAvn in 
 torrents. We Avere lucky besides in being able 
 to cross the ford there that eA^ening, for sometimes 
 caraAmns are delayed for days by the flooding of 
 the small muddy iWer, a branch of the Orontes, 
 over Avliich there is no bridge or ferry, and 
 camels are stopped after rain altogether by the 
 marshes. 
 
 The khan at Afrin Avas Avhat they call in Arabic 
 the “brother” of the last, but much more croAvded, 
 Amongst others round the Are Avere some soldiers, 
 Avho looked at our map and asked us about the AA^ar. 
 They seemed intelligent, but Avith the vaguest ideas 
 of geography, and they asked particularly about the 
 fall of Kars. We told them the neAvs Avas true, but 
 that Osman Avas doing Avell at Plevna. The little- 
 old Iclianji came up to us during this discourse, and 
 begged us, in French, not to say that things Avere- 
 less than right Avith the army in Armenia, as the 
 soldiers Avould be angry. “ I am a Christian,” he 
 said, “ and am glad the Turks are beaten, but they 
 don’t like it.” I made him cook the ducks for our 
 supper, and fry us some onions. The soldiers sat 
 talking politics all the evening, and almost came tO' 
 bloAvs ; but roAvdiness in these countries has not the 
 assistance of drinlc, and seldom leads to harm. Kot 
 but AA'hat I suspect Hadji Mahmoud of a taste for 
 arrack, or he Avould not have such a glittering eye. 
 
20 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Eu-phrates. [ch. h. 
 
 or be subject to such sudden fits of cheerfulness 
 without apparent reason. I hope I do him 
 wrong. 
 
 We started on our third day’s journey, fortified, 
 in all the coats and cloaks Ave possessed, against 
 the rain, which was falling heavily, and a bitter 
 wind, which was blowing from the north. Our 
 road was one of the most cheerless that can be 
 imagined; a track of rusty mud, winding over a 
 wilderness of low, stony hills, on the crests of 
 which the wind cut keenly as a knife, changing 
 the rain to sleet. In the holloAvs there was an 
 occasional lull as we laboured, up to our horses’ 
 hocks, across what had once been fields, the little 
 beasts going gamely on, in spite of eA’^ery hideous 
 combination of rock and mud which could bring a 
 creature to its knees. Walking Avas impossible, 
 though Wilfrid tried it more than once ; for the 
 rocks were as slippery as glass, and it Avas all he 
 could do to keep his footing. My feet Avere aching 
 with the cold in a more excruciating way than I 
 ever remember to haA^e felt, and my fingers were 
 numbed to insensibility, though I kept them Avell 
 in my pockets. We sat like patient bundles on 
 our horses, letting them choose their OAvn road and 
 go their OAvn pace, Avith the reins upon their necks, 
 in trust of Providence and of that excellent good 
 sense it had endowed them Avith. I think a fall 
 any time that day would liaA^e been the end of us, 
 and that neither horse nor rider Avould haA^e risen 
 
CH. II.] A Retreat from Moscow” 21 
 
 out of the slough again. Once we passed a dead 
 horse with its owner, an old man, standing over it, 
 the picture of despair — ^hut it was the retreat from 
 Moscow, and each had to shift for himself. There 
 was no stopping. The camel caravans had already 
 given it up as a had job, and we occasionally passed 
 a hundi’ed or so of these boasts, grazing in sheltered 
 places, while their masters waited snngly enough 
 under their hits of black tenting, and with the 
 loads piled round them to make a barrier against 
 the wind. It Avas a Avretched ride, and Ave did not 
 stop for an instant all day long ; nor Avere Ave able 
 to deriA’e the smallest satisfaction from the thought 
 that Ave Avere crossing the battlefield on which 
 Zenobia was defeated by Aurelian, and that the 
 ruined toAAOis, Avhich stood every here and there upon 
 a crest of hill, had been destroyed by Joab in the 
 reign of King DaAud. The AV'hole country seemed 
 to have been populous once ; and there Avere thou- 
 sands of acres of excellent land lying nnploughed 
 there for centuries. Noav all Avas deserted. Once 
 or tAvice Ave passed a Aullage, and it Avas evident 
 that the little plain on Avhich it stood had been 
 under cultivation lately ; but this year, OAving no 
 doubt to the Avar and the consequent loss of labour, 
 not a tAventieth part had been furroAA'cd. The 
 thistles had it all their OAvn Avay. 
 
 The tenure of land in Turkey is peculiar. The 
 soil belongs to the Sultan, Avho receives rent in the 
 form of a land tax, ten per cent, on the gross pro- 
 
22 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [oh. h. 
 
 cluce, from any one wlio chooses to plough it. The 
 act of doing so gives a right of occupation to the 
 farmer, which only lapses if he allows the land to lie 
 fallow during tlu'ee years. Should he do this, his 
 neighbours may scramble for possession; but, in 
 •ordinary circumstances, the tenancy is perpetual. 
 These tenures are bought and sold, just as though 
 they were freehold, or as Ave buy and sell lease- 
 holds in London. But I fancy there is very little 
 •competition, and that most land in the proA’ince of 
 Aleppo has no marketable A'alue AvhateA’er. A 
 Syrian Ave met at Aleppo informed us that the best 
 building ground in the city AA^as to be bought for 
 fifteen piastres the pik, or Is. Sc/, the foot; and 
 that, just outside the toAvn, it might be had for 
 one piastre ; in the country, for nothing at all. 
 We hear too that scA^eral Europeans liaA'c tried the 
 experiment of occupying waste land, but none 
 with success. The GoA^ernment discourages all 
 such schemes. Yet there must be millions of 
 acres of good land in Syria, well Avatered and in 
 a healthy climate, only AAraiting to be used. 
 
 In gloomy speculations on the miseries of mankind, 
 and the particular misery of haA’ing frozen feet, and 
 hands Avhich were long past feeling pain, our day 
 passed by. At last the little toAvn of Tokat came 
 in sight ; and AA'e AA^ere floundering on its paA^ement 
 in the delightful certainty of shelter, if not of food. 
 Mahmoud had friends at Tokat, and took us, not 
 to the khan, but to their house. It was a square 
 
«H. II.] Family Life in a Kttrdish Village. 23 
 
 Ijuildiug of hewn stone, and apparently of great 
 .antiquity, an exact cube of fifteen feet, without 
 window or opening of any sort hut the door, which 
 was tAvo steps doAAm from the level of the street. 
 The inside AA-as Amulted with perfect regularity, and 
 had been freshly AvhiteAvashed to an appearance of 
 neatness and comfort we did not at all expect. 
 There was no fiooring but the rock ; but tliis Avas 
 perfectly level, and there Avere nice clean mats 
 spread OA^er half of it. Four huge sepulchral 
 chests, containing corn, occupied the corners ; and 
 ,a sarcophagus, as linen cupboard, stood in an 
 .arched recess opposite the door. On one side Avas 
 a fire-place, on the other a thing looking like a 
 dove-cote, aj)parently of eartheiware, and designed, 
 as pigeon-holes are in public offices, for holding 
 rubbish. The AAdiole place, cupboards, pigeon- 
 holes, sarcophagus and all, Avas beautifully AA'hite, and 
 looking as if cut out of one piece. Indeed it AA'as 
 .an extremely pretty room, off the fioor of AAdiich 
 jmu might, as they say, have eaten your dinner ; 
 and that is Avhat avc Avcrc soon doing. A tidy 
 Avoman AAuth a little hoy receiA'cd us, and AA^elcomed 
 Mahmoud Avith a torrent of amiable inquiries. She 
 brought a brasicr Avith a liA'O ember in it, and lit a 
 fire of sAvcct-smelling tAvigs, at AAdiich aa'c thaAved 
 our hands, and helped us to take off our Avet things 
 and lay out our beds upon the fioor. But, alas, 
 there Avas no coffee, nor anything to eat but half 
 a dozen eggs, Avith our broad and the remains of a 
 
24 
 
 Bedotlin Tribes of the Eriphrates. [ch. n. 
 
 fowl from Afrfn. But, all the same, it was a 
 delightful meal, and there was a jar of water in a 
 corner with a tin cup Avhere we could drink. 
 
 Our hostess was a good honest body as one would 
 wish to meet, Avho spent her time spinning cotton 
 with an old-fashioned wheel and rocking the child’s 
 cradle with her foot, like any English labourer’s 
 wife of fifty years ago. On little Akhmet, or as his 
 mother called him Akhmet Beg, she spent a deal of 
 affection, and everybody who came into the house 
 was called upon to do his share of nursing and 
 amusing. Mahmoud was made comfortable with a 
 dish of eggs and a pile of quilts on the fioor, and 
 we in oiu’ corner did our best to get warm. But it 
 was terribly cold, in spite of the brasier, and Ave 
 were chilled to the bones. We tried to conA'erse 
 Avith Adduba, as the Avonian AA'as called ; bnt her 
 Arabic and onrs did not agree, and we could not 
 get far. Indeed Ave found our feAV Avords of the 
 Egyptian dialect quite unintelligible, and Ave had to 
 begin everything afresh. The accent and eA^en the 
 words Avere all changed from those of Cairo. This 
 was very A^exatious. Adduba Avent on spinning 
 Avhile there AV'as light to see ; the spinning-AA'heel 
 Avas like a drum, and to the droning sound of it I 
 went to sleep at dusk. I Avoke up again just before 
 the lamp Avms put out, and saAV that the husband, 
 Halil, and his wife had rolled themseHes up in a 
 heap by Akhmet’s cradle on the fire-place side of the 
 room. Hadji Mahmoud lay comfortably snoring^ 
 
CH. II.] 
 
 We reach Aleppo. 
 
 25 
 
 a shapeless lumj) of quilts, on the arch or sarco- 
 j)hagus side. We had possession of the space com- 
 manded by the row of pigeon-holes, really the best 
 jjart of the room ; but we could not sleep for the 
 cold, and remained shivering. Outside, the rain 
 pattered and the wind blew all night. 
 
 I hurry over the remainder of our road, as in fact 
 we did the next day, chasing the minarets of Aleppo, 
 which we had caught sight of five hours before 
 reaching the city. It was still rahiing heavily 
 as, at the turn of a hill, we suddenly came upon 
 Aleppo with its border of trees and gardens, and its 
 fortress, towers and minarets, making one of the 
 most agreeable sights in the world. We did not 
 stop to admire, but, with a crowd of other travellers 
 and mules and horses and asses, hurried into the 
 city, and were soon at the lokanda door and at the 
 end of our troubles. Well, — as Bewick says, “ Grood 
 times and bad times and all times get over.” 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 “ Set you down this, 
 
 * ^ * that in Aleppo once 
 
 * * * * * * j* 
 
 ShJlKESPEAEE. 
 
 We are entertained by a wise man — Tales of my landlord — How 
 Jedaan laughed at the Pasha’s beard, and made his friend 
 Ahmet happy — The Anazeh and their migrations — We are 
 inspired with the idea of visiting the Bedouins — Seyd Ahmet 
 and the Jews — A sturdy beggar. 
 
 I SHALL always consider it a fortunate circum- 
 stance, little as we thought it to be so at the time, 
 that the severe storms, for which the winter of 
 1877-78 will long be remembered in Syria, held us 
 for a whole month weather-hound at Aleppo. Eot 
 that the town itself particularly interested us, 
 though it is an excellent specimen of a purely 
 Oriental city, but because the delay gave us time 
 to look about us, and to get some idea of the 
 country Ave Avere going to, and of the manners 
 and customs of its inhabitants, all of which infor- 
 mation Avas, later on, of the greatest possible service 
 to us. 
 
 We had hardly been more than a feAV hoiu's at 
 ■our lokanda, a poor cooped-up place Avith a court- 
 yard like a well, before Mr. S., the British Consul, 
 
<CH. III.] 
 
 Hospitable Entertainment. 
 
 27 
 
 to whom we had letters, called, in company with his 
 nmiahle Avife, and hospitably compelled ns to ex- 
 change our dismal lodgings for his OAvn comfortable 
 house. The Consulate, though partly ruined by an 
 ■earthquake fiA^e years ago, is an attractiA^e building, 
 set on solid stone arches across a riA’er. There is a 
 pDleasant sound of Ayater underneath the rooms, and 
 .a pleasant look-ont OA^er market gardens from the 
 AA'indoAA^s, just the sort of place Orientals choose, 
 AA'ho haA'e more love of trees and running Avater 
 than fear of damp. The house AA'as a coiwent once, 
 nnd still has a cloistral look. There is a grotto in 
 the garden where the nuns used to be buried, Avith 
 graA'es cut in the rock containing bones. I found 
 part of a skidl there and some ribs, lying in one of 
 them nncoA'ered, — but these things are common in 
 the East. Close by, like a fortress of lieAvn stone, 
 jstands a mill ; and there are a feAv AvilloAVS and 
 znulberry trees Avhich, Avitli the water, attract 
 croAvds of holiday makers on Friday afternoons, 
 snaking the rh^er bank a country imitation of the 
 SAveet Waters at Stamboul. 
 
 Here Ave found, besides the bodily comforts of 
 food and shelter, ample entertainment for our 
 minds, hungry for knoAvledge of the lands Avhich 
 lay before us. Our host, a man of sixty, with 
 nearly thirty years’ experience of Eastern life, Avas 
 in truth an authority on all matters connect('d Avith 
 Turkey, and, Avhat interested us far more, the Desert 
 and its strange inhabitants. Ilcre, for the first time 
 
28 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. m. 
 
 we learned the truth about the Euphrates valley, 
 and Mesopotamia, and the caravan roads practicable 
 and impracticable for travellers, Mr. S. had been 
 himself, in his younger days, a hold and enthusiastic 
 explorer of the desert. He had made friends with 
 the Eedouins, and passed among the tribes almost 
 as one of themselves. In him we found at last an 
 intelligent sympathiser with our love of adventure, 
 which the rest of om’ world had been at such pains 
 to discoiu’age ; and we owe it to him that our vague 
 scheme, of spending the winter in the neighbour- 
 hood of JIagdad, took definite shape, and resolved 
 itself into the plan of which this hook is the result. 
 
 It was, as may he imagined, a delightful surprise 
 to us to find thus, at the very threshold of the East, 
 so excellent an expounder of the Asian mystery ; 
 and, when the north wind blew day after day more 
 furiously, and the rain changed to snow, and reports 
 reached us of caravans brought to a standstill in the 
 mud or snowed up in the mountains, we were easily 
 persuaded to stay on, listening to the “tales of our 
 landlord,” and always with increasing interest. 
 These turned, as I have said, principally on Bedouin 
 life and manners, things at which we had hitherto 
 looked with the half contemptuous ignorance with 
 which the European world regards them, but which 
 we now found set before us under a new and 
 fascinating light. 
 
 The Euphrates valley, Ave discovered, was neither 
 an absolutely impracticable route nor a mere every- 
 
CH. III.] 
 
 The Euphrates Explained. 
 
 29 
 
 day excursion, to be undertaken witli a light heart 
 and a handful of Cook’s coupons. No line of 
 steamers ran as yet on the river, though one had 
 been projected and a Government boat had occa- 
 sionally made the voyage and even taken passengers 
 on board. There was, however, a caravan road, 
 more or less protected by a series of small forts and 
 patrols of soldiers, which in winter time was used 
 by the more adventurous merchants of Bagdad and 
 Aleppo for the purposes of trade. Down this we 
 should in ordinary times run no serious risk in 
 travelling; and, even now, though the war had 
 stripped the forts of their garrisons, our host was 
 of opinion that we might safely venture. The only 
 risk to which we should be exposed, would be that 
 of encountering roving parties of Bedouins ; and 
 these Mr. S. represented to us in a less alarming 
 light than they are generally shown. 
 
 The politics of the deserts bordering the Euphrates 
 he explained to us thus: — The left bank of the 
 river had from time immemorial been inhabited by 
 the Shammar, a numerous and powerful clan of pure 
 Bedouins, who exacted tribute from the tribes of 
 Mesopotamia, while the right bank was tyrannised 
 in like manner by the Anazeh, a still more numerous 
 and more powerfnl clan, which held the whole of 
 what is called the Syrian desert, from Aleppo in the 
 north to Nejd in the far south. These two great 
 tribes were constantly at war, and marauding 
 parties from either side occasionally crossed the 
 
30 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. m. 
 
 river to plunder and ravage the enemy’s territory. 
 Travellers, who should come across such a party,, 
 would run a certain risk of being plundered, though 
 there was no fear of their suffering personal violence. 
 The valley itself was inhabited by a number of 
 peaceable shepherd tribes, tributary to the fighting 
 tribes ; and from these there was nothing to fear. 
 About twenty years ago, moreover, the caravan 
 road had been occupied by the Turks ; and these 
 small tribes were now to a certain extent under 
 Government protection. Of the Shammar, and the 
 country east of the river, our host knew nothing, 
 bnt with the Anazeh he was on terms of familiarity,, 
 and, from the fact of his having often rendered them 
 little services with the Government, had claims 
 npon their good will. To them he promised to give 
 us such introductions as should secure us from 
 harm. 
 
 The Consul was an excellent narrator ; and some 
 of his stories seemed as though fresh from his 
 countryman Walter Scott. Among others we were 
 struck by those relating to a certain Jedaan, one of 
 the Anazeh Sheykhs, who at the present moment 
 figured as the Eob Eoy of the Desert. This Jedaan, 
 it appeared, was to a certain extent a soldier of 
 fortune, — that is to say, he did not belong to any of 
 the “ noble ” families of the Anazeh, but had worked 
 his wmy up from a rather obscure position, by his 
 military skill and courage alone, to the rank of 
 snpreme leader of the most powerful section of the 
 
CH. III.] 
 
 Tales of my Landlord. 
 
 3 ^ 
 
 Anazeli. A few tales of this hero may not be out 
 of place here, and will serve as an introduction to- 
 him and his fellows, Avhen they come in their turn 
 in person on our stage. The occasion on which 
 the Consul made his acquaintance with J edaan was 
 as follows : — In 1857, when Asmeh Pasha was 
 military commander of Aleppo, being a man of 
 some energy of character and desirous of distinc- 
 tion, he made an expedition against the Pedaan 
 tribe of Anazeh, of which Jedaan is Sheykh. Its 
 head-quarters at that time were on the plain of 
 Melakh, by the Euphrates. Mr. S. was asked 
 to join the expedition, as the Pasha Avished to- 
 have a European for witness of his skill. Asmeh 
 himself commanded the party, Avhich consisted of 
 two battalions of rifles, tivo squadrons of cavalry, 
 and four guns. They had about sixty miles to 
 march, and bivouacked the first night on the hill 
 above Jabul. There Avas no moon, and the sky 
 Avas cloudy, and in the morning it Avas discoA^ered 
 that the mules, which Avere used for the artillery, 
 had disappeared. Cavalry horses Avere hoAvevcr 
 impressed into the service of the guns, and a 
 second march brought the Turks to AAuthin ton 
 miles of the plain, Avhere they expected to meet 
 their enemies. But again, and in spite of extra 
 Avatching, a panic occurred among the animals at 
 night, and many Avero missing next day. Asmeh 
 Pasha AA'as exceedingly angry at this, but contimicd 
 his march undaunted, arriving early at the edge 
 
32 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [oh. m. 
 
 of the cliffs Avhieli overhang the valley of the 
 Euphrates. In the plain below a camp was visible, 
 with a tremendous stir going on in it. It was the 
 Anazeh hurriedly crossing the river. They had 
 fancied that the troops would have gone hack, after 
 losing their horses, and were now retreating with 
 all speed. Only a herd of some five thousand 
 camels remained undefended. These the Pasha 
 determined on securing. 
 
 The army was accordingly marched doAvn to a 
 jDoint on the plain where a little tell., or mound, 
 offered a strategical position on which to place the 
 guns ; and a party of cavalry was sent to intercept 
 the camels from a possible retreat in the direction 
 of the Euphrates. The manoeuvre was well executed 
 and the camels surrounded ; but, while all attention 
 was being directed towards these animals, a party of 
 eight horsemen appeared swimming the river, which 
 was then low ; and, before the lieutenant in command 
 was aware of his danger, the leader of these had 
 galloped up and run him through with a lance. 
 The soldiers, scattered and taken by surprise, gave 
 way ; and the whole party, soldiers and Bedouins, 
 came straight towards the mound, w'here the 
 main body of infantry and the guns were posted. 
 The Pasha ordered the artillerymen to fire, and 
 liimself pointed one of the guns, hut the result of 
 the discharge was only that one of his own men 
 was brought to the ground. The noise, moreover, 
 of the guns occasioned a stampede among the 
 
CH. 111.1 
 
 Rob Roy comes to Town. 
 
 camels, who went ofl in a body, trampling down all 
 that were between them and the river, Avhile the 
 Bedouins, calling out as they do liad-6-liad-6^'‘ led 
 the way and succeeded in taking the whole herd 
 across. The leader of this successful rescue was 
 Jedaan, whose brilliant exploit ended the expedi- 
 tion. Asmeh Pasha returned to Aleppo Avithont 
 other trophy of his valour than the loss of tAvo men. 
 
 This incident gave Mr. S. a great curiosity to 
 see more of the hero of the adA’enture, and circum- 
 stances favoured his Avish. !Not many Aveeks later 
 he received a message from Jedaan, begging him to 
 intercede with the Pasha, as he Avas desirous of 
 peace and of the privilege of trading Avith the 
 toAATi ; — at least, he ui-ged, the Consul might give 
 him a safe conduct, Avhen he came to make terms 
 at Aleppo. Such an appeal to a foreign Consul is 
 not an unusual proceeding Avith the Bedouins, who 
 are always alternating betAveen the pleasures of Avar 
 and the advantages of peace, and Avho are afraid 
 of negotiating straight Avith the Turks, on account 
 ■of their notorious ill faith. Mr. S., hoAVCVcr, 
 though Avishing to see Jedaan, could not guarantee 
 his safety in Aleppo, and declined to gAe him 
 the safe conduct. But either the letter aaus mis- 
 interpreted, or Jedaan Avould not be refused; so 
 one morning Avithout further announcement the 
 Sheykh appeared at the Consulate. He Avas asked 
 what broxight him there. ‘‘ Your letter,” Avas the 
 ansAver, and I claim your protection.” The case 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 1 ) 
 
34 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. m.. 
 
 required some consideration, but in the end it wa» 
 decided that though he could not remain under 
 British protection, protection to retmm should he 
 granted him. The Consul bade Jedaan be off, if 
 he valued his life, but, orderiag his own horses to 
 be saddled, mounted with him and, escorted by 
 the Consular cavasses, rode with him tlu’ough the 
 toum. In such company Jedaan was safe from the 
 police, and once outside was too well mounted to 
 be in any danger. At a mile from the gate they 
 parted. But Jedaan, with a feeling of gratitude 
 not common among the Bedouins, or in the ex- 
 pectation, if you will, of future favours, did not 
 forget the benefit, and has remained the Consul’s 
 faithful friend through life. 
 
 Mr. S. returned the Sheykh’s visit soon after- 
 wards, when the usual bribe had secured to the 
 latter a deed of amnesty; and the first thing 
 Jedaan took him to see in the Fedaan camp wms 
 a troop of artillery horses in their equipments, his 
 trophy from the war. 
 
 Jeddan since then has been sometimes outlaAved, 
 sometimes amnestied by the Government, but he has 
 never put his neck again in jeopardy by entering a 
 town. He is now the leading warrior of the Sebaa, 
 who have accepted him as their military chief, and 
 he has the reputation of being the longest headed of 
 all the Anazeh Sheyhks. 
 
 On another occasion, tired of war and listening 
 to the intrigues which the Government is always at 
 
CH. III.] 
 
 Adventures of Akhmet Beg. 
 
 35 
 
 pains to work among the tribes, the Fechian agreed 
 to acknowledge another Sheykh in Jedaan’s place, a 
 consin of his own and recommended by the Pasha. 
 Jedaan found himself deserted by his followers, but 
 would not accept the deposition they had voted. 
 He rode alone into his rival’s camp, met him at his 
 tent door, and killed him in the presence of all his 
 men. Hobody after this disputed his right to be 
 leader. 
 
 At the time when we first heard of him, he was 
 carrying on Avar with the Eoala, the most powerful 
 tribe of the Anazeh, and every day brought in ncAVS 
 of his valiant deeds. Of these I Avill give an account 
 later, when I come to speak of the desert feuds and 
 politics in Avhich Ave came to be mixed up; but 
 I have mentioned these incidents as an explanation 
 of the interest Avhich this pictxiresque outlaAV inspired 
 in us. What Avonder that it AAms soon our principal 
 desire to make his acquaintance ? 
 
 Another of the desert heroes Avas Akhmet Peg. 
 He Avas Sheykh of the Moali, a tribe founded 
 according to tradition in the eighth century, by 
 Theodoi'a, Avife of the Emperor Justinian the 
 Second, in honour of a son of one of the Ommiade 
 Caliphs of Damascus, to AA’hom she Avas attached.* 
 
 * Justinian the Second fled to the horde of the Chozars, who- 
 pitched their tents between the Tanais and Borysthenes. The 
 Khan entertained with pity and respect the royal suppliant ; Pha- 
 iiagoria, once an ojiulent cit}^ on the Asiatic side of the lake 
 Miootis, was assigned for his residence, and every Poman preju- 
 dice was stifled in his marriage with the sister of the barbarian^ 
 
36 Bedoilin Tribes of the Euphrates, [cn. nr. 
 
 The tribe originally consisted of slaves, bought by 
 her, and from this circumstance is known as the 
 Modli, or “ property ” tribe, and as such are held 
 in but moderate estimation by the pure Arabs. 
 But their Sheykhs, being descended from the 
 Caliphs, hold a great position, and are always given 
 the title of Beg, unknown, except in this instance, 
 in the desert. Akhmet was a man of herculean 
 strength and, standing over six feet high, was 
 considered a giant by his fellows. He was hand- 
 some and brave, and we have often since heard him 
 spoken of as the “ properest man ” ever seen among 
 the Bedouins. “Ah,” they say, “ you should have 
 seen Akhmet Modli ” (for the name of the tribe is 
 often added to that of the individual). He had 
 a passion for “great horses,” or rather for great 
 mares to suit his size and weight. The appearance 
 of him alone would put thirty men to flight. The 
 shaft of his spear too was sixteen feet long, “ like a 
 weaver’s beam.” He was covered with the scars of 
 old wounds, and had sworn not to “ die in bed like 
 a gentleman of Aleppo.” He was moreover an 
 honest and an honourable man, unlike J edaan, who 
 was always a “ wild felloAV.” On one occasion he 
 had rescued Mr. S. and his son from a band of 
 Shammar by whom they were siu’ronnded. The 
 .sudden charge of Akhmet on his great white mare, 
 
 viho seems, however, from the name of Theodora, to have received 
 the sacrament of baptism.” Gibbon, “ Decline and Fall of the 
 Homan Empire.” 
 
CH. III.] 
 
 Akhmet Falls zn Love. 
 
 37 
 
 had put them all to flight, and he had even pnrsncd 
 the party and recovered the Consul’s horse, which 
 they were carrying off. In this aflair he had 
 dropped his lance, and nsed only a dahus or mace 
 studded with nails, and had brought this do^vn on 
 the head of the man he was pursuing and killed 
 him on the spot. 
 
 This honest giant was once in love; and his 
 conduct of his aflair of the heart, with its nn- 
 romantic ending, is a good trait of desert manners. 
 There had been an old alliance between Akhmet and 
 Jedaan, and they had taken the oath of brother- 
 hood, which binds the swearers to give mutual 
 aid and protection in time of war; so the IVIoali 
 and the Fedaan had for some years fought side 
 by side. But it happened that, in one of Jedaan’s 
 numerous quarrels, he was left to flght it out 
 alone, although he had sent word of his difficulty to 
 Akhmet. As soon then as the fighting was over, 
 he dispatched a messenger to ask explanations of 
 his brother, and the answer he received Avas as 
 follows : “ Akhmet refuses to fight for the husband 
 of a woman he loves.” This was the first ncAvs 
 Jedaan had of his brother’s displeasure on account 
 of his marriage Avith a Moali girl tAvo years before, 
 and by Avhom he already had a son. Jedaau’s 
 conduct on the occasion AAms characteristic. “■’This 
 is too small a matter,” he said, “to stand betAveen 
 friends. Take her. She is yours,” and ho sent tlie 
 Avoman to the Moali Sheykh’s tent. She is still 
 
38 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. m. 
 
 living, I hear, with, the Moali, and has children by 
 both husbands. 
 
 Akhmet Beg got his wish of not dying in a bed 
 only two years ago. He was run through the body 
 in a ni^ltie with the Shanimar, and died without a 
 word. His place is noAV held by his cousin Mah- 
 moud, who has spent some years at Constantinople, 
 and is supported by the Turkish Government. 
 Mahmoud Beg is, however, unpopular with the 
 tribe, who are said to be only waiting to depose 
 him till Akhmet Beg’s son, now fourteen years of 
 age, shall be old enough to take his legitimate 
 position as Sheykh. 
 
 With such tales as these our December evenings 
 passed pleasantly enough ; and the original plan of 
 a mere journey down the river to Bagdad expanded 
 into the Avider scheme of a systematic progress 
 through the Bedouin tribes. A page from my 
 journal will show how the idea first took a definite 
 shape : — 
 
 “ December 15th. — ^Wilfrid was talking to-day 
 Avith Mr. S. about the Anazeh, and their annual 
 migration towards the Nejd; and a discussion 
 arose as to the limit of their wanderings south- 
 Avards, Mr. S. asserting his belief that these 
 occasionally extended even to Jebel Shammar and 
 the Hejd. Ho European, hoAvever, he admitted, 
 had ever accompanied the Anazeh on their journeys, 
 and he himself had visited them only in their 
 summer quarters, the upper desert of Syria. It 
 
•CH. III.] We Propose to Visit the Anazeh. 39 
 
 would be very interesting to solve this problem ; 
 and Wilfrid, without thinking that the answer 
 would be an encouraging one, asked whether it 
 would be possible for a European to tack himself 
 ■on to the tribe, and so make the journey with 
 them. Mr. S. to his surprise answered that it 
 certainly could be done, and why should not we 
 do it ? According to him it would not even be a 
 dangerons experiment ; and only tact and patience 
 would be required, in enduring the tedium of 
 Bedouin life during several months, and the 
 courage to be all that time beyond the reach of 
 Clnistian help. Wilfrid is now full of the idea. 
 Eor me I am only afraid of being away from 
 England longer than Ave intended ; and we shoxdd 
 get no letters all the time. Otherwise the plan 
 seems agreeable enough. The actual travelling 
 Avould not be tiring, as the Bedouins when on the 
 march go quite sloAvly ; ten or tAvelve miles a day ; 
 and Ave should haA'c an opportunity of seeing, AAdiat 
 has always interested me, the original home of 
 oiu’ English horses.” 
 
 It Avas settled then that Ave should start, as soon 
 as preparations could be made for so serious an 
 expedition, and join the Anazeh A\Eercver they 
 might be. They had already departed from the 
 neighboui’hood of Aleppo and Avere sxqij)oscd to be 
 somcAA'hcre to the south-east, betAA'cen Palmyra and 
 the Euphrates, and Mr. S., as a first stop, sent at 
 •once for a certain Seyd Akhmet, the Sheykh of a 
 
40 
 
 Bedotnn Tribes of the Euphrates, [oh. m. 
 
 small tribe living on the borders of the desert, tO' 
 get more certain information of the strength of the 
 Anazeh and their proceedings. 
 
 The next thing, and this was my especial 
 business, was to have a tent made, for the only 
 tents procurable at Aleppo are the round Turkish 
 ones, which are quite unsuited for an expedition- 
 in light marching order, such as we intended tO' 
 make. A Turkish tent is a very cumbrous ahair, 
 requiring half a dozen people to pitch it and a 
 camel to carry it. It is besides easily blown down 
 and is miserably draughty in cold weather. So- 
 we agreed it would be better to have a tent made 
 on our own plan, a plan which had stood the test 
 of more than one campaign, and always satisfactorily.. 
 It is low, but covers for its size a great deal o£ 
 ground and can in wet or windy weather be made- 
 almost air-tight, while under a hot sun it is trans- 
 formable into a gigantic umbrella. But I will not' 
 deseribe it further, although, as it was in great 
 measure the work of my own hands, I took some- 
 pride in it when it was finished, with its red lining; 
 bound with white braid. The actual sewing was 
 done by three Jews, who came every day to the 
 Consulate and stitched from dawn till dusk at the 
 rate of half-a-crown each, sitting cross-legged on 
 the fioor in an outer room ; very honest workers 
 and careful of every shred of stuff given them. 
 As I Avas standing by them, gBung directions one 
 morning and shoAving them how to turn the edge 
 
CH. III.] 
 
 A “ Sturdy Beggar d 
 
 41 
 
 of the outer seams, so as to keep the roof water- 
 proof, a strange figure suddenly strode into the 
 room with a loud “Wallah,” which made the 
 Hebrews start. This was Seyd Akhmet the 
 Sheykh of the Hannddy, and, as he was the first 
 Bedouin we saw, I will transcribe my impressions, 
 of him as I wrote them : — 
 
 “ Seyd Akhmet is a rough-looking ugly man 
 of fifty-five or sixty, without other distinction than 
 what his Bedouin cloak gives him, and his good- 
 natured countenance, considerably tempered with 
 craft. He is just what they used to call in England, 
 in the days of lonely farm-houses and unfrequented 
 roads, a “ sturdy beggar,” — a mixtui’e of good 
 humour, efirontery, and servility, neutralising each 
 other perpetually, and preventing you from either 
 wholly respecting or wholly despising him. You 
 are forced to laugh. I confess I am not displeased 
 with his face. I am delighted to find, too, that I 
 can understand his Arabic a little better than that 
 of the servants here. This is, I suppose, because he 
 comes originally from Egypt. He pronounces tho 
 g’s or j’s hard. The Bedouins, too, speak more 
 distinctly than the townspeople, who clip their 
 words and IcaA'c out their k’s, just as Londoners 
 do their h’s. Seyd Akhmet’s words come rolling 
 out one by one, and we have time to recognize at 
 least some of them. 
 
 “ He informed us that the Anazch left the neigh- 
 bourhood of Aleppo some weeks ago, and are at the 
 
42 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiphrates. [ch. m. 
 
 present moment congregated at the foot of the 
 Bishari hills some twenty miles north-west of 
 Deyr, a village on the Euphrates ; hut, as he ex- 
 pressed it, they all have their heads now turned 
 towards the south, and may he expected to start in 
 a few days for the Hamdd or Great Desert. There 
 they will linger perhaps for another few weeks, 
 and then move altogether southwards. We asked 
 him about Jehel Shammar and the ISTejd, hut he 
 does not seem to know much about this. His 
 own tribe never moves far away from Aleppo. 
 After telling us all he knew, he began to grow 
 plaintive, asking in a begging voice whether Ave 
 AA^ere going to gwe him ‘nothing to eat’ (a Bedouin 
 paraplu’ase for money). He had been sent for, he 
 said, from a long AA^ay off and Avas hungry. He 
 even performed the little pantomime of pulling an 
 empty purse out of a corner of his shirt sleeve, 
 to shoAV that he Avas penniless. It must have been 
 put there on purpose. He AA^as very funny AAdth 
 Mrs. S., aaEoiu he pretended to be much afraid of, 
 fearing her evil influence AAuth her husband ; and 
 creeping up, Avhen she was looking another AA^ay, 
 he suddenly tied a knot in her shaAAd, ,This, it 
 seems, is a form of appeal among the Bedouins 
 AAdien they Avould seek protection, and signifies that 
 the snpplicator appears as the ‘ individual ’ of the 
 person he Avould propitiate, ‘ sa chose,’ as one 
 Avould say in French. All this Avas not very 
 dignified, but there AA^as a good-humoured tAA'inkle 
 
CH. III.] Seyd Akhmet asks for Money. 
 
 43 
 
 in tlie Avortliy man’s eye wliicli half redeemed liis 
 action from servility, and he took the matter -with 
 the hest possible temper when Mrs. S. sent h im 
 about his business.” 
 
 I have given this description as that of the first 
 IBedonin we saw, and, though poor Seyd Akhmet 
 was not a very distinguished specimen of his race, 
 it will give an idea of the common Bedouin way. 
 The Hannady it must he remembered are not a 
 noble ” tribe, being in fact of Egyptian origin, 
 and they have been contaminated by their long 
 connection 'with the toAVUspeople of Aleppo. No 
 Anazeh Sheykh would condescend to such manners. 
 But as 3^et we knew nothing of this. 
 
 Thus started, the idea of visiting the Anazeh 
 rapidly grew into a settled plan, Mr. S. promising 
 to see us, at least some part of the road, on our way. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 “ En la Ciudad de Xere? 
 
 Se crio un zapatero, 
 
 Llamado Curro Lopez. 
 
 De nada tuvo miedo.” 
 
 Aitdalusian Ballad. 
 
 The Castle of Aleppo — Inscription relating to King David— 
 Legend of St. Zacharias and the Muedin — The prisons of 
 Aleppo — Strange justice — Curro the Kurd — We give half-a- 
 crown to a murderer, and offend public feeling. 
 
 All this while I have said nothing about the 
 toAvn of Aleppo, wliieh was to have been the 
 subject of last chapter, but the fact is both Wilfrid 
 and I are extremely poor sight-seers and care for 
 anything better than looking at mosques and monu- 
 ments, and it was with difficulty that at the end of 
 a fortnight we summoned up courage to pay a 
 visit to the citadel. It would certainly have been 
 foolish to omit doing so, for the fortress of Aleppo- 
 is probably unique in the world as a purely artificial 
 place of strength. It consists of a circular mound 
 half a mile across at top and some three hundred 
 feet high, cased with smooth stone after the fashion 
 of the pyramids. Around it runs a broad ditch, 
 about sixty feet deep and cut in the rock, to which 
 time has given all the appearance of a natural 
 ravine. The summit is crowned with massive 
 
CITADEL OF ALEPPO. 
 
. ♦ • 
 
 « ^ • 0 - 
 
 
 ■'Si; 
 
 -■. 4 - 
 
 .;:W^ 
 
 • _ ;v, 
 
 
 I'UBlWRy 
 
 
 OF THE .a 
 
 yf^fllVERStTY OF ILUNOlS 
 
 ■ 7 ?/^ 
 
 
 
 
 
CH. IV.] 
 
 The Fortress of Aleppo. 
 
 45 
 
 walls of red sandstone, and is readied by an 
 imposing gate and covered Avay containing a stair- 
 case, There is one clear tmbroken face of masonry 
 two hundred feet sheer, and an arch spans the 
 moat at little less than that height. Who first 
 made the mound nobody knows, but the existing 
 walls of the fortress were built by Khosroes, king 
 of the Persians, in the sixth century. Saladin 
 took it June 12, 1188, and Malek-ed-Daher, his 
 son, possessed it after his father’s death in IISO.* 
 A rampant lion, Khosroes’ device, may still be 
 seen on the walls. The whole is much rent and 
 dismantled by the earthquakes, which have visited 
 Aleppo at intervals of about fifty years ever since 
 the time of Justmian. Kothing less conld have 
 touched such masonry. It is strange that in these 
 days, when everytliing is known, so grand a monn- 
 nient should have so little notoriety ; bnt Aleppo 
 lies out of the track of the Syrian tourists, and to 
 more serious sight-seers, fresh from Babylon and 
 Kineveh, an antiquity dating from the sixth 
 centuiy seems but a Cockney affair. There Avas, 
 however, formerly an inscription in IlebrcAAq point- 
 ing to a much older date. It Avas on a AA’all, 
 close to the gate of the castle, and Avas throAA’ii 
 doAATi and buried by the earthquake of 1822. It 
 ran as folloAA's : — “ Joab son of Zeruiah, in the 
 days of David the king, took this castle from 
 
 * See Abulfeda and Kamel Alto vary kb in ‘‘ Kccucil des Ilisto- 
 riens des Croisades.” 
 
46 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. iv. 
 
 Hadaclezer king of Zober, whom he smote in the 
 Valley of Salt.” I have this on the anthority of 
 the chief Eabbi of Aleppo, who remembers it. It 
 may yet be re-discovered among the rubbish, 
 which chokes up the building, and seems worth 
 recording. 
 
 Besides the fortress, there is little of interest in 
 Aleppo, though the toAvn is handsomer than most 
 oriental cities, being built throughout of stone. 
 There is one great square tower, however — the 
 belfry of St. Zacharias — to which a curious story is. 
 attached, not yet, as far as I know, noticed by 
 travellers. It appears that, after Alejopo was cap- 
 tured by Elialed, the general of Omar, the Christian 
 churches were, according to custom, converted into 
 mosques, and a muedin Avas sent to each tower to 
 gh^e out the daily calls to prayer. But it so 
 happened that the muedin Avho first ascended the 
 toAver of St. Zacharias fell from the top and Av^as 
 killed. A second met AAdth the same fate, and, 
 Avhen a third was chosen, he, being an old man 
 and frightened at the end of his tAVO predecessors, 
 stopped beloAV in the church to pray instead of 
 going up the stair, and Avhile thus engaged Avas. 
 addressed by an aged man Avho told him not to 
 fear ; that he, the speaker, Avas Zacharias, and that 
 he Avould spare him from the punishment of his 
 sacrilege on one condition. This AA^as that at mid- 
 night he should ghm an extra call, repeating part of 
 the Greek liturgy. The muedin assented, and the 
 
on. IV.] 
 
 The MtMins Vision. 
 
 47 
 
 Christian call has been repeated ever since, handed 
 down orally from muedin to muedin to the present 
 day, but nnkno'wn to the faithful of Aleppo, wha 
 hear it but do not distinguish the words. These 
 are “ Kardus Allah, Kavdus el Kdivi, Kardus illesi 
 la yemut, erliamna^’’ or in Greek, Agios 'o theos, 
 agios ‘o tschyros, agios 'o athdnatos, eleison irndsi’’ 
 The story may be apocryphal, but the practice is 
 certain, and is the only instance in Islam of a 
 midnight call to prayers. Moreover the words are 
 strange, place and circumstance considered. 
 
 “ December 29. — e thought Ave should like to- 
 see the prisons and a certain celebrated robber con- 
 fined there, of Avhom we had heard tales which 
 interested us. Accordingly Ave Avent to-day to the- 
 serai and called on Kiamyl Pasha, the present valy 
 of Aleppo. He received us Avith the usual Turkish 
 politeness, conversed Avith us in English and at 
 once granted our request. But first he proposed 
 that I should visit his ‘ house,’ and himself led 
 the Avay through a couple of rooms Avhere scA^eral 
 secretaries sat Avriting, then along passages, up 
 and doAvn steps, round corners and lastly by a 
 steep stone staircase into a large square court Avith 
 a square tank of Avater in the middle of it. At 
 the door of a handsome room furnished AAdtli French 
 tables and chairs Ave Avere recciA'cd by the reigning 
 Avife, a young lady apparently about scA'cntccn years, 
 of ago and of an agreeable countenance Avith 
 almond shaped eyes ; she comes of a avcII knoAvn 
 
48 Bedoidn Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. iv. 
 
 family, being tlie granddaughter of Jessar Pasha. 
 She wore a crimson merino dressing-goAvn trimmed 
 with narrow black lace ; and a piece of gauze 
 passed under her two long plaits of hair and tied 
 in a how on the top of her head completed the 
 costume. We sat down on chairs and talked, 
 Kiamyl interpreting, for she speaks nothing hut 
 Turkish. When coffee was over I thought that 
 the visit might end, hut the Pasha would not move 
 until I had eaten some sweets and seen the children. 
 A fat nurse brought in a tray with some bergamot 
 which is better than the name promises, for in 
 taste it resembles clotted cream. The same nurse 
 then fetched the two children, a baby and a boy of 
 three, both dressed in dingy blouses of dark calico, 
 of whom their parents were evidently not a little 
 proud. After sufficiently admiring them I took 
 leave and was reconducted by the Pasha to the 
 reception room, where Wilfrid had been waiting 
 for an hour trying to make the time pass by 
 smoking cigarettes and conversing mtli Kiamyl’s 
 eldest son, a very shy young man who hardly 
 ventured to open his mouth. 
 
 “ The Pasha then sent an aide-de-camp to show 
 us over the gaol which adjoins the serai or official 
 government house. A prison is not usually a cheer- 
 ful place, but this was an exception ; and if ever it 
 is my fate to be shut up for six months, I trust it 
 may be at Aleppo, rather than at Lewes or Guild- 
 ford or any other of the well ordered establishments 
 
CH. IV.] 
 
 A Cheerftil Dungeon. 
 
 49 
 
 of a Christian country. Here the prisoners, apart 
 from the loss of their freedom, have little to com- 
 plain of. The gaol consists of a great open court, 
 with a row of buildings on two sides of it and a 
 cheerful south-easterly aspect. The walls on the 
 other sides are not so high but that there is a 
 pleasant view of the citadel and part of the town. 
 The cells for common prisoners are on the ground 
 floor, and those into which we looked seemed com- 
 fortable enough with carpets and cushions, just like 
 any peasants’ rooms in a Syrian village. Three or 
 four men inhabit each; and they enjoy there the 
 full privilege of eating, talking, quarrelling, or 
 sleeping, as it suits them, or of joining in the 
 general society of the prison yard, subject only to 
 the surveillance of a squint-eyed gaoler and the 
 occasional discipline of his stick. An upper storey, 
 with a cheerful balcony, low enough to allow of 
 conversation with those below, is reserved for the 
 more dangerous prisoners, mimderers, highwaymen 
 and debtors. Some of these were in chains, but 
 all looked fat and healthy, and, being dressed en 
 bourgeois, were undistinguishable from the most 
 respectable citizens of Aleppo. In fact the prison- 
 yard might, from its appearance, have been taken 
 for a rather animated part of the bazaar, only that 
 there were no shops, and that the honest fellows 
 lounging about were without visible employment or 
 occupation. One of those pointed out to us was a 
 boy of eighteen or nmetecn, the son of a former 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 E 
 
50 Bedotdn Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. iv. 
 
 cavass of the English Consulate. He was under con- 
 demnation of death, and the history of his trial 
 will serve to illustrate the strange way in which 
 justice is administered in the Ottoman Empire. 
 His father, a very worthy man, was, as I have said, 
 one of the Consular cavasses (armed men who 
 attend on European officials to protect them and 
 add to their dignity). He was a Mussulman, but 
 one day, being jeered at by some ill-conditioned 
 fellows in the bazaar as the servant of an infidel, 
 he had foolishly resented their laughter, maintaining 
 that his service was honourable, and had been hustled 
 by the mob and stabbed to death. The matter 
 was of course taken up warmly at the Consulate, 
 and the murderers were arrested and convicted 
 on the evidence of bystanders. But the execu- 
 tion of the sentence was stayed, on a memorial 
 being presented purporting to have been signed by 
 the principal inhabitants of the quarter where the 
 witnesses lived, and stating that these witnesses 
 were well known as professional givers of false 
 evidence. The men accused were about to be re- 
 leased, but, in deference to a telegram from Con- 
 stantinople, were detained until a commission should 
 arrive to pronounce upon the case. The commis- 
 sion, under Eeshid Effendi, reported the signatures 
 attached to the memorial to have been forged, and 
 ordered a new trial. How it is necessary iu Turkey 
 that, in cases of murder, the nearest relative of the 
 deceased should head the prosecution, and this had 
 
CH. IV.] Curro Lopez and Curro the Km'd. 5 1 
 
 1)6611 done on tlie occasion of the first trial by 
 Ibrahim, the yonng man we saw in prison to-day. 
 But, just as proceedmgs were being opened a second 
 time, another murder, in no way connected with the 
 first, took place in Aleppo. The cavass’s son was 
 arrested for this, tried and condemned ; and he 
 being, from his present position as a felon, disquali- 
 fied for prosecuting his father’s murderers in the 
 case he was conducting, the trial has fallen to the 
 ground. I think it hardly necessary to make much 
 comment on this, but I will add that Ibrahim’s 
 previous character was a good one, and that the 
 evidence on which he was condemned is considered 
 tmsatisfactory. I should he very sorry for the 
 young man, if I were not convinced that the matter 
 will he compromised, and that, on his assurance 
 that he will not prosecute his father’s murderers, 
 he will himself he released. The story is a curious 
 one, and I should like to recommend it to Lord 
 Salisbury’s notice. 
 
 We were disappointed of seeing Curro, the pic- 
 turesque brigand of whom we have heard so much, 
 as he was removed a few days ago to the prison at 
 Jaffa. His history is so like that of his namesake 
 Curro Lopez in Spain, that we might almost suspect 
 him of plagiarism. 
 
 Ho began life as a saptich (carahinero), succeeded 
 to a small property, a vineyard, at Ai'ntah in this 
 province, and for some years led a quiet unevent- 
 ful life. Unfortunately ho had a neighbour, who 
 
52 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. iv. 
 
 coveted his land and commenced a suit with him 
 for its possession. The neighbour was richer than 
 he and won the case; and Curro, disgusted with law 
 took to the hill (“ el jebel,” Arabic ; “ el monte,” 
 Spanish). His first exploit was the counterpart 
 of Jos4 Maria’s. He stopped a captain of infantry 
 on his way to Homs, took from him seven thousand 
 piastres, which happened to be just the price of 
 his vineyard, and sent him to Aleppo with a 
 bill for that sum drawn on the Valy. After this 
 he got together a band of followers. His plan in 
 choosing his men was to run a race with each 
 candidate to the top of a certain hill, and if the man 
 kept near him to enlist him. He was himself an 
 astonishing runner. He generally went on foot, 
 but on festive occasions, such as weddings, feasts of 
 circumcision and the like, he often appeared ex- 
 ceedingly well mounted. He was a little man, but 
 good-looking and excellent company, so he was a 
 favourite everywhere, and might be met at most of 
 the merry-makings in the country. He was polite 
 and brave, but, unlike his Spanish namesake, only 
 shed blood in self defence. This was remarkable 
 in a Kurd, for such he was by birth. He was 
 distrustful of his comrades, sleeping none of them 
 knew where, and joining them every morning at 
 daybreak. His exploits might fill a volume. They 
 were generally of a dramatic kind. He once met 
 a peasant carrying a basket of grapes on his head. 
 
 What are you carrying that heavy basket for ? ” 
 
CH. IT.] 
 
 A Gentleman of the Road. 
 
 53 
 
 lie said ; “ have you no donkey ? ” “No,” said the 
 
 man, “niy donkey died, and I have no money to 
 huy another.” “What do donkeys cost in your 
 village?” he asked. “Five hundred piastres.” 
 “ Well, here is the money. Get a beast to do 
 your work, or, when I come this road again and 
 find you with your baggage on your head, I will 
 cut it ofi.” Another time he came across a man 
 who had been working in Aleppo for a year, to get 
 money enough to marry a girl he was engaged to, 
 and who was going home to his village with the 
 produce of his year’s labour. The man begged 
 Curro to leave him his money, otherwise he said 
 he must go back and begin again. “ What,” said 
 Curro, “can you be married for six pounds? 
 Nonsense. You can never have dancing at your 
 wedding for that. Here is something to make the 
 sum respectable. I hate a pauper wedding.” The 
 man went on his way rejoicing. 
 
 A Turkish Efiendi travelling from Aleppo to 
 Orfa encamped near the village of Katma. The 
 villagers sent to invite some of his followers to a 
 merrymaking, and the Efiendi, unsuspecting, con- 
 sented. All, or almost all his servants went to 
 the village, the inhabitants of which being Kurds 
 were in league with Curro. In the middle of the 
 night the brigand lifted the flap of the Eficndi’s 
 tent and requested him to give up his money. This 
 done, Curro looked romid and saw several firearms, 
 and among them an English doublc-baiTclled fowling 
 
54 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. iv. 
 
 piece, which he took up and examined. “ I must 
 have this,” he said. The Effendi in vain besought 
 him not to take away this gun, he should never he 
 able to get another, and being a sportsman should 
 be miserable without it. But Curro laughed, and 
 handling the weapon found it was loaded. 
 “ Coward,” he said, “ and you did not dare to 
 shoot me ? ” 
 
 A Jew of Alej)po, a British subject, was robbed 
 by Curro of some merchandise, and made a claim 
 through the British Consulate of a£160. Curro 
 hearing of this wrote to the Pasha, beginniag his 
 letter “ My dear friend,” and explaining that the 
 total value did not exceed ^£27. He enclosed a 
 regular merchant’s invoice of the goods, with 
 samples, to show the truth of the statement, and 
 said he felt obliged to do this in the interests of 
 honesty. 
 
 Once, meeting a bridal party on the road between 
 two villages, he joined them and introduced himself. 
 They assured him they had no money, being poor 
 people, but he answered that the gold coins on the 
 bride’s neck were a legal tender. “ What,” said 
 the girl, “ and you call yourself Curro ! ” The 
 brigand gave up the coins. 
 
 Curro used to go into Aleppo in broad daylight 
 and openly walk about the streets and bazaars, 
 where everybody knew him, yet nobody for a long 
 while betrayed him to the authorities. But fate of 
 course was waiting for him, though he had escaped 
 
OH. IV.] 
 
 We make a Mistake. 
 
 55 
 
 it many times. He was taken at last in a trap 
 laid for Mm by a miller, a Christian, who was a 
 friend of Ms, and who used to lodge Mm at Aleppo. 
 Soldiers were Mdden in the mill, and Curro was 
 seized and delivered up to justiee. There was no 
 charge of murder made against him, but he has 
 been condemned to fifteen years’ imprisonment for 
 robbery. M^rim^e would have made a good story 
 out of tMs. 
 
 Before going, Ave asked to see the prisoner who 
 had been longest in gaol. He was called down 
 from the balcony and made to stand in an attitnde 
 of attention and display Ms singularly unattractive 
 features. He had committed a murder eighteen 
 years before, and seemed a brutal ill-conditioned 
 fellow, but Ave were sorry for his long imprison- 
 ment, and Wilfrid gave him a mejidie. (The 
 prisoners have to find themselves in everything but 
 bread and Avater.) The proceeding, we were sorry to 
 see, gave offence to the officials present, and we felt 
 rather ashamed at having thus publicly rewarded 
 crime, a feeling which increased when Mr, Hakdus, 
 the Consular dragoman who was with us, took us 
 aside and explained that we had made a mistake. 
 We begged him to assure the Governor of the gaol 
 that our intention was merely a charitable one, 
 “That is very Avell,” said Mr. Hakdus, “and I 
 perfectly understand your feeling ; but it should 
 have been a piece of gold, not silver, A croAm 
 piece Avas unAVorthy of a gentleman of the Bey’s dis- 
 
56 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. it. 
 
 tinction.” After complimenting the Pasha on the 
 excellent state of his prisons, we returned to the 
 Consulate much impressed hy all that we had 
 heard and seen. 
 
CHAPTEK V. 
 
 “Two pairs of boots, lined with fur, were also taken.” 
 
 Cockle’s Adveetisement. 
 
 We buy horses, being resolved to join the Anazeh — Hagar — N’ews 
 from the Desert — ^Wars and rumours of wars— Jeddan at bay 
 — The world is much “mixed up” — A chajoter on politics. 
 
 It was now definitely settled that we were to 
 joia the Anazeh, and throw in our fortunes with 
 them for the winter, and that we were to start as 
 soon as our arrangements should he completed, 
 and a break should occur in the weather. But a 
 jornmey of such uncertain duration could not be 
 undertaken lightly, and there was much to prepare 
 and much to be thought of before leaving Aleppo. 
 
 Besides the tent, which was now finished, we had 
 horses to buy and mules to engage. Seyd Akhmet 
 was of use to us in procuring the first ; and, as it 
 happened, the moment was a very favourable one 
 for purchasers. There had been fighting in the 
 desert, and nearly every day a mare would bo 
 brought in, often with spear-wound still gaping 
 in evidence of her being prize of war. These 
 mares were easily distinguishable from the beasts 
 possessed by the townspeople, by their ragged 
 unkempt appearance and their emaciated state, for 
 
58 Bedouin Ti'ibes of the Euphrates. [on. v. 
 
 many of them had been ridden day and night from 
 great distances to he brought to market. I cannot 
 say that in general they were good looking, hut, 
 here and there, there was an animal of tine shape 
 and evident breeding, though woefully disfigured, 
 may be, with broken knees or marks of firing. 
 
 After much picking and choosing, however, 
 "Wilfrid was fortunate enough to secure, for a very 
 moderate sum, one of those mares, rare enough, as 
 we found out afterwards, even among the Anazeh, 
 which make one understand the relationship existing 
 between our English thoroughbred and the Arabian 
 horse. She was not remarkably handsome, being 
 ewe-necked, and having a strange, wild head ; but 
 her depth of girth and her long muscular hind- 
 quarters gave promise of what she really possessed 
 in a wonderful degree, speed and staying power. 
 These we might find very necessary in our 
 adventures. Endm’ance of fatigue on the road 
 and hardiness under want of food are qualities 
 that may always be reckoned on in buying an 
 Arab horse, no matter what his looks or what his 
 pedigree; but speed is exceptional, and confined 
 to the best strains of blood. Hagar, as we called 
 her, was of the Xehilan-Ajuz breed, the fastest, 
 the stoutest, and the most English-looking of them 
 all. When purchased, she was in very poor 
 condition, having just gone through the severe 
 training of a campaign. She was bred by the 
 Gomussa, the most notable of the horse-breeding 
 
CH. V.] 
 
 A Desert Mare. 
 
 59 
 
 tribes, bad passed from them to the Eoala, and 
 had now been captnred and ridden some two 
 hundred miles in hot haste for sale to Aleppo. 
 She was a five-year-old mare, a bay with black 
 points. "We never met anything in our travels 
 which could compete with her over a distance, and 
 she has often run down foxes and even hares, 
 without assistance, carrying thirteen stone on her 
 back. She was of a mild, gentle temper, and 
 always went smoothly on, without fret or hurry, 
 and with the long low stride of an English race- 
 horse. She never galloped better than when she 
 seemed worn out with work. She had the 
 advantage, too, for Wilfrid, of being tall, fifteen 
 hands, an rmusual height among Arabians. 
 
 My own mare was to have been a ManegMeh, 
 also a powerful mare ; but, as it turned out, I 
 never rode her, for she got an accidental sore back 
 before we started, and it ended in my starting on 
 a horse lent me for the occasion, which I changed 
 later for something better at Deyr. 
 
 The Consul, who was to accompany us for a 
 part of our Journey, had provided himself with a 
 sorry-looking, cream-coloured pony, of no preten- 
 sions to breed or good looks, but which he knew. 
 It had formerly belonged to the courier who rides 
 with the post from Aleppo to Alexandretta, and 
 was bred at Beylan. It was the type of the low- 
 bred country horse of Syria, resembling very closely 
 the Assyrian war horses on the has reliefs at 
 
6o Bedotiin Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. t. 
 
 Nineveh. The likeness is striking, and the form 
 of both animals eontrasts cnriously with that of 
 the Arabian horse, not known at that time, perhaps, 
 in Assyria. 
 
 Then we had a cook to engage, and lit npon a 
 real treasure in the person of Hanna, a Christian 
 of Aleppo, who had never indeed been out of his 
 native town, and who spoke the most mincing of 
 town Arabic, but who proved a faithful and 
 courageous servant in all our subsequent adven- 
 tures, — this for only two hundred piastres (forty 
 francs) a month. 
 
 As for baggage animals, the first part of our 
 jornmey would be along the Euphrates valley, 
 where the ground in wet weather would not be 
 favourable for camels ; and it was agreed that we 
 should engage our old friend Hadji Mahmoud and 
 his mules again, and trust to purchasing camels 
 later, when we should have joined the tribes. In 
 this we broke through om* usual practice, which is, 
 to buy everything and hire nothing on a journey; 
 but beasts of burden seemed far from plentiful at 
 Aleppo, and we were assured that we should find 
 a better market for them at Deyr, which was 
 but two himdred miles off, and where we should 
 know exactly what our further proceedings were to 
 be. This, as it turned out, and as we ought to 
 have foreseen, hampered om’ movements consi- 
 derably, and obliged us to go, not where we 
 would, but where we could get oiu muleteers to go. 
 
CU. V.] 
 
 Presents of Ce^^emony.^^ 
 
 6i 
 
 Besides these things, Ave had cloaks, boots, tobacco, 
 and sugar to buy, as presents for the Sheykhs 
 whose hospitality we were about to claim. These 
 gifts are entirely conventional, and do not in any 
 way represent payment for services rendered. The 
 offering of a cloak is a complimentary usage, and 
 its value must be nicely graduated according to the 
 rank of the giver and that of the receiver. As we 
 afterwards found, it requires some tact to know 
 exactly whom to honour and whom not to honour 
 with these presents of ceremony; and an inch or 
 two of embroidery more or less may make the whole 
 difference in your position with a Sheykh you are 
 anxious to oblige, or with his neighbours whom you 
 cannot afford to offend. The boots are less necessary ; 
 but they also are usually given to be passed on to 
 servants ; while the tobacco and the sugar are offer- 
 ings which more nearly touch the heart, and are 
 added as something more than a symbol of good- 
 will. With them the inner tent is propitiated ; the 
 screened-off dwelling where the women cook and 
 chatter. 
 
 A few more pages from my journal will explain 
 the excitement in which the last few days of our 
 stay at Aleppo were spent : 
 
 Decemhet" 30. — This morning a wild-looking little 
 Arab, in a very tattered cloak, and monntcd on a 
 rat of a mare, rode into the garden with Seyd 
 Akhmet and his nephew, J cmda. lie was an Anazch, 
 of the Gomvissa tribe, who had been sent by Ibn 
 
62 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. v. 
 
 Mershid, their Sheykh, with his compliments and 
 a message that, hearing of our intended visit to 
 the Anazeh, he hoped to have the honour of re- 
 ceiviug us. The man had come in from Bishari, 
 a ten days’ ride; and the fact shows that the 
 Bedouins have a well organised system of obtaiu- 
 ing news, as it is not three weeks since our 
 journey was first talked of among ourselves, or a 
 fortnight since Seyd Akhmet heard of it. Besides 
 his message, he had a serious piece of news to 
 give. It appears that the Eoala are at open war 
 with the rest of the Anazeh. According to his 
 account, it was begun by their stealing some camels 
 belonging to the Sebda, a rich but unwarlike 
 tribe, who, in the fighting which accompanied the 
 raid, lost five of their men prisoners to the Eoala. 
 These, contrary to all law and custom, and for some 
 unexplained reason, had their throats cut by the 
 victorious tribe ; a thing the like of which has not 
 happened for generations, if ever ; whereupon, 
 fearing the vengeance which would certainly follow 
 on their crime, the Eoala fled to Homs, and put 
 themselves under the protection of Yusef Pasha, 
 the Turkish governor. He, pleased enough to 
 interfere, invested Ibn Shaalan, their Sheykh, with 
 a robe of honour and the title of Sheykh of the 
 desert, and sent a body of troops to help them. In. 
 this evil company they advanced against the Sebda, 
 who retired before them, sending to Jeddan for 
 assistance, which was at once given. The Feddan 
 
CH. V.] Wars and R^imonrs of Wai's. 
 
 63 
 
 and Sebda together now turned upon the Eoala, 
 put the soldiers to flight, and captured twenty of 
 their enemies, whom Jeddan at once treated as they 
 had treated the flve Sebda. He then returned to 
 the neighbourhood of Deyr, where he still is, while 
 the Eodla have fled south into the Hamdd. This 
 is an ugly story in every way, but it need not have 
 any etfect upon our own proceedings. The Eodla 
 will naturally keep clear of their offended kinsmen, 
 and will not go with them to Jebel Shammar this 
 year ; and it may even be fortunate, as their being 
 all in trouble may make Jedaan still more anxious 
 to do a service to so powerful a friend as Mr. S. 
 The Anazeh, however, are likely to hasten their 
 journey southwards, and we must start immediately 
 if we wish to And them still within reach. Wilfrid 
 sent at once for Hadji Mahmoud, and agreed that 
 he should take us, with flve baggage mules, to 
 Deyr, and that we should start on Wednesday . . . 
 
 January 3, 1878. — Great news has come from 
 Deyr. The Eodla, it appears, upon their defeat by 
 the Sebda, sent to Ibn Sfiik, the Shammar chief, 
 for help, and he despatched at once his nephew, or 
 cousin, Smeyr, to the Hamdd. This Smeyr, after 
 seeing the Eodla, went on to Jebel Shammar, to 
 claim the assistance of Mohammed Ibn Eashid,* 
 which in turn was granted ; and now the southern 
 Shammar, with Ibn Eashid at their head, are 
 marching with the Eodla to attack Jedaan and the 
 
 * Brother of Teldl Ibn Easbid, Mr. Palgravo’s friend. 
 
64 Bedoidn Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. v. 
 
 rest of the Anazeh in the north. Jedaan has left 
 Bfshari and has taken a more defensible position 
 at Esserieh, where the Weldi, a tributary and 
 friendly tribe, are encamped, and where there is a 
 line of hills about half way between Palmyra and 
 Deyr. The latter town is frightened at these pre- 
 parations for war, and troops are being sent there 
 from Aleppo. On the whole, a pretty kettle of 
 fish ; and our prospects of getting to Jebel Sham- 
 mar this year are growing doubtful. "Wilfrid says 
 our best chance is to join Jeddan at once, help him 
 in his fight with Ibn Eashid, and then, if victorious, 
 go down with him south as he pursues the Sham- 
 mar. But this will depend on the chances of war ; 
 and Mohammed has guns, while the Anazeh have 
 none. Another plan he thinks would be, to join 
 the Eodla, by which means we might easily make 
 friends with Ibn Eashid, and go back with him ; 
 but our sympathies are more or less pledged to the 
 Sebaa now, and we could not side against them 
 in a crisis like this. Mr. S. is on friendly terms 
 with both ; but his principal ally is Jeddan : so to 
 Jeddan we must stick. Besides it is a far cry to 
 Jebel Shammar ; and Mohammed can hardly take the 
 field in any great force. The Eodla muster perhaps 
 twenty thousand lances; but the Sebda can bring 
 twice as many into the field; and Ibn Eashid’s 
 matchlocks will hardly make matters equal between 
 them. Jeddan, too, has the reputation of being a 
 great warrior and a prudent general, and has 
 
CH. V.] We Prepare for a Campaign. 65 
 
 chosen his ground. Let us hope for the best. If 
 fighting takes place during our stay with the 
 Anazeh, Wilfrid will be expected to take his share 
 of it. He would not wish to use firearms, unless 
 firearms were used against him ; but it is as well 
 to be ready, so we have spent the morning casting 
 revolver bullets and making cartridges. To quote 
 Canon Tristram: “As we dropped our bullets into 
 our fowling pieces, I breathed a fervent prayer that 
 no blood might be shed.” 
 
 January 4. — Seyd Akhmet came again with con- 
 firmation of the war news from Deyr. Everybody 
 is of opinion that Jedaan will be beaten, and 
 perhaps even forced to surrender, at Bishari; for 
 it is by no means certain that he will be able to 
 make good his retreat on Esserieh. Ibn Sfuk and 
 the Shammar from Mesopotamia have probably 
 ah’eady crossed the Euj)hrates to cut him off, and, 
 if they succeed in this, he will be isolated, as the 
 Moali and the rest of his allies are still far to the 
 north. Wilfrid fancies they make too much ac- 
 count of Ibn Eashid’s guns, which are no doubt 
 VTetched pieces of ordnance, and it appears there 
 are only two of them ; but everybody here thinks 
 J eddan lost. This is likely to be the greatest war 
 ever kno-wn in the desert since the Anazeh drove 
 out the Shammar two hundred years ago. If 
 Jedaan has to surrender, the Scb;ia, who are the 
 richest and most civilised of all the tribes, Avill be 
 reduced to poverty and, with them, the Ecdiian, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 
66 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. v. 
 
 wlio have the name of being the greatest warriors. 
 The laws of war Avill give everything they possess, 
 mares, camels, sheep, tents — do\vn to the pots and 
 pans — to the conquerors ; and these great tribes 
 will have to depend on the charity of the Moali 
 and the Beni Sakkhr, or even their old tributaries, 
 the Weldi, Aghedaat and others. 
 
 We had a council of war in consequence of this 
 news, — Seyd Akhmet, who has agreed to go with us, 
 giving us a lively picture of the state of things in 
 the desert. “ The world,” he said, “ is much mixed 
 up at present ” [maJcloot^ mesclada, m^le), and it may 
 he better to wait events ; “but the Beg, whose servant 
 I am, must decide. When he says the word ‘ mount,’ 
 I am ready.” Wilfrid is all forgoing on at once to 
 Deyr, where we shall be nearer to what happens, 
 and where at least we shall see something new, and 
 be on the spot to act as circumstances may suggest. 
 It may be an excellent opportunity, too, he thinks, 
 for buying horses ; as, after the battle, property will 
 change hands, and is very likely to be sent to the 
 hammer. I hope Jedaan may prove a match for 
 his enemies ; but I don’t quite like throwing in our 
 lot with him just now. 
 
 January 5. — There is a new account to-day of 
 the origin of the war in the desert, which just now 
 interests us a thousand times more than all that is 
 happening in Bulgaria and Armenia. It appears that 
 Meshur, the young sheykh of the Gomiissa, a Sebda 
 tribe, the very one who sent us the polite invi- 
 
cir. V.] 
 
 Wa7' in the Desert. 
 
 67 
 
 tation a few days ago, has been the principal cause 
 of it all. There was some dispute about camels 
 between the Sebaa and the Roala, both Anazeh 
 tribes, but old rivals ; and the Turkish government, 
 being on bad terms with the former, supported the 
 latter in its pretensions. Sotamm Ibn Shaalan, the 
 Eoala chief, thinldng to settle matters, called upon 
 Heshiir, and, contrary to all etiquette, did so in 
 company with some Turkish officers who were 
 staying with him. This Meshiir resented, and, in 
 the dispute which followed, Ibn Shaalan was run 
 through the body by the young man with his sword. 
 Mehemet Ali, a former cavass of the Consulate, and 
 a man who Imows the desert well, brought us this 
 news; but he only half believes it, and does not 
 believe at all the story of prisoners’ throats having 
 been cut on either side, as it is a practice quite 
 unknown among the respectable Bedouin tribes. 
 
 Hadji Mahmoud has backed out of going with 
 us, and insists upon double the usual price for the 
 hire of his animals, on account of “ war risks,” 
 there being some possibility of onr meeting a Sham- 
 mar expedition on its way to help the Eoala. Mr. S. 
 Avould be no protection to us against these, as he has 
 ahvays been on bad terms with the Shammar, and 
 is known as a friend of dcdcian. We shall probably 
 have to take an escort, after all, from the Pasha, who 
 is sending troops for the protection of Deyr, which 
 place seems to be in danger of pillage by one party 
 or the other. It is tiresome, as we shall lose our 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. v. 
 
 independence ; but T\'e know so little of the country 
 as yet that it is best to be on the safe side.” 
 
 Thus filled Avith doubts and fears, and reports of 
 Avar, and anticipations of adventure, the last days 
 of our stay at Aleppo passed. Hoav little the sequel 
 justified our apprehensions Avill presently appear. 
 In the meantime, before finishing the chapter, I 
 Avill explain Avhat proved to be the real nature of 
 this desert quarrel of AAdiich aa'o heard so much. 
 We did not learn it Avith any certainty till long 
 aftei’Avards. 
 
 The real history then is as folloAVS : — The Turks 
 haA'e at all times held it as a maxim, in their 
 goA^ernment of Syria, to keep the Bedouin tribes 
 Avholesomely engaged in internecine Avar ; securing, 
 by this means, for the country districts adjoining 
 the desert, immunity from molestation by their un- 
 quiet neighbours. It is also a time-honoured practice 
 Avith the Pashas to remove quietly such of their 
 political opj)onents as they conA'enientty can, by any 
 of the old-fashioned methods noAV disused in Euro]De ; 
 and the result, I am bound to say, generally justifies 
 the means, morality apart. It AA^as thus that, tAva 
 years ago, finding Sviliman Ibn Mershid, the 
 Gomussa sheykh, assuming too poAverful a position 
 Avdth the Sebaa tribes, the then gOA’ernor of Deyr, 
 in the interest of the public safety, iuA’ited him to 
 dinner, and, haAung entertained him honourably, 
 sent him back, AAdth presents in his hand, to die of 
 an unexpected and hardly natural death in the 
 
CH. V.] 
 
 07 'igin of the War. 
 
 69 
 
 desert. Siilinian’s people, who adored their chief, 
 were displeased at so sudden a result of the Pasha’s 
 hospitality, attributing the Sheykh’s disease to a 
 certam cup of coffee he had imprudently partaken 
 of alone ; and a coolness ensued between them and 
 the Turkish authorities in consequence. This Avas 
 adroitly used to produce further complications 
 detrimental to the Bedouins. The Sebaa have, 
 from time immemorial, enjoyed the right conceded 
 to them by desert custom of the pasturage 
 opposite Homs and Hama; wliile the Eoala, their 
 rivals, haA^e occupied the neighbouring district of 
 Damascus. This year, it happened that the latter, 
 groAvn rich in camels through a succession of 
 faA’ourahle breeding seasons, Avere looking round 
 them for additional pasturage, Avhen they bethought 
 them of the differences existing hetAveen the repre- 
 sentatives of Siiliman Ihn Mershid and the Turks. 
 
 It is the Aveakness of the Bedouin position, in 
 regard of the GoA'ernment, that, though quite 
 independent of their control during great part of 
 the year, they are obliged, in spring, to seek a 
 market for their young camels, horses and wool, in 
 the neighbourhood of some one or other of the 
 toAAOis. They also haA^o their year’s supply of 
 corn to purchase, dates, coffee, tobacco, and even 
 clothes. For this they depend on the goodAvill of 
 the Pasha in poAver, Avho ahv^ays makes them pay 
 a round sum for the privilege of trading ; and 
 their necessity gives him the opportunity for any 
 
70 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [cn. r. 
 
 intrigues "wliich he may he planning among them, 
 A fixed price was paid yearly by the Sebaa for 
 theii’ privilege, and the use of the pasturage of 
 Hama and Homs. 33nt Sotamni, the Eodla sheykh, 
 came forward, this year, Avith an offer of nearly 
 tAvice that sxim and, by a prAate gift of mares 
 to the goA^ernor of Hdma, secured his support in 
 occupying the pasturage in their stead. The Sebaa, 
 coming up from the south, found the Eotila already 
 in possession; and, refusing to retire, Avere pre- 
 sently attacked by them, and by a body of Turkish 
 infantry, Sotamm’s allies. The camps of the 
 Moayaja and Gomnssa, tAVO of their tribes, Avere 
 sacked, tents, household furniture, camels and mares 
 taken ; and the Sebaa Avere driven back to the 
 southern desert. These noAV called upon Jedaan, 
 their new aldd or military chief, to help them Avith 
 his OAvn tribe ; and, thus reinforced, they turned 
 the tables on the Eoala, Avho, deserted by the 
 Turkish Government, Avhich had got all it wanted, 
 were left to fight it out alone. Jedaan defeated 
 them in a pitched battle near Jabiil, taking many 
 mares and killing some fifty of their men (a large 
 number for a Eedonin battle) ; and they Avere 
 forced back in confusion to their old quarters near 
 Damascus. It was then that they sent to Ferhan, 
 the sheykh of the Shammar, and to Ibn Eashid, for 
 help ; and that Smeyr, Ferhan’s cousin, aaus dis- 
 patched on a diplomatic mission to Hiyel to 
 negotiate matters for them AAuth his kinsmen of 
 
CH. y. 
 
 End of the Feud. 
 
 71 
 
 Jebcl Shanimar. There seems, at one time, to 
 have been an expectation of the latter’s really 
 helping them; but Ibn Eashid never conld have 
 seriously thought of dragging his pieces of ordnance 
 five hundred miles across the desert on such an 
 expedition. Smeyr’s mission failed ; and the Eoala, 
 being still pressed by their enemy, retreated to 
 their winter quarters in the Wady Sirhan, leaving 
 Jedaan with the Sebaa to enjoy their triumph at 
 Bishari till, at the usual time, they followed them 
 in their migration into the Hamad. At the time 
 we left Aleppo Jedaan Avas still at Bishari. 
 
 This rather long and, I fear, dull account is 
 necessary for the right understanding of the Bedouin 
 politics Avhich so much interested us all through the 
 Avdnter. Later on, and when the chief actors of the 
 drama come upon my stage, I hope to make these 
 matters more generally entertaining. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 “ Shall packhorses. 
 
 And hollow pampered jades of Asia, 
 
 Which cannot go but thirty mile a day, 
 
 Compare with C 83 sars and with cannibals. 
 
 And Trojan Greeks.” 
 
 SHAKESPEi.EE. 
 
 We leave Aleppo — Wandering in the dark — An Arab village — The 
 Desert — First view of the Euphrates — A Weldi camp — Zaptiehs 
 — A melancholy exile and a dish of francolins — Bivouacking 
 by the river. 
 
 January 9 , 1878 . For a party of old travellers, 
 such as Ave are, our start this morning certainly was 
 disgraceful. Upon a journey, it is prudent to make 
 the first day’s march an easy one ; and, for tliis 
 reason, we had chosen Jahvil as our stage, only 
 fifteen miles from Aleppo, hoping to be in early 
 enough in the afternoon to get our things about us 
 before it should he night. It had been arranged 
 Avith Seyd Akhmet that he should take us to the 
 house of one of his people there ; and we thought 
 that the arrangement Avould save us trouble, and 
 that AA’e should find food and shelter ready for us 
 on this, the first night of our journey. But all has 
 gone Avrong. 
 
 Wilfrid of course Avas up at cockeroAv, and had 
 the baggage out in the yard, almost before the sun 
 
CH. VI.] 
 
 Off with a Bad Start. 
 
 73 
 
 was up ; but the rest of the preparations were not 
 so fonvard, and it was half past nine before the 
 baggage animals could be dispatched. So far, 
 hoAvever, so good; but with ourselves it was a 
 different matter. First, a message arrived from the 
 Serai to enquire whether we really intended to start 
 this morning ; for, in the East, it is not usual 
 to start on the day fixed, and the escort we had 
 agreed to take was but half ready ; then Mr. S. 
 discovered that he had certain matters of business 
 to transact, before leaving the Consulate, and 
 despatches to write ; a mare too, Avhich had been 
 piu’chased to share Creamy’s duties, was found, 
 unaccountably, to have a sore back; and Seyd 
 Akhmet had not appeared. Lastly, it was agreed 
 that, so much time having been lost, it would be 
 imprudent not to wait a little longer, and have 
 breakfast first. 
 
 In the course of the morning, the zaptiehs, or 
 mounted police, four men and a sergeant, arrived, 
 representing, they informed us, the body of fifty 
 regulars promised by the Pasha. The fewer the 
 merrier, we thought ; for, in truth, they are not 
 very attractive companions, if looks bo any index to 
 character. The sergeant, Suliman Aga, is a broad- 
 shouldered, powerful Turk, with a heavy dark 
 countenance made darker by a black head-dress. 
 He wears a sort of military cloak, but is not other- 
 wise in uniform ; and his men are uudistinguishable 
 from the country people, at least to unpractised 
 
74 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [oh. vi. 
 
 eyes, except by the colour of their Icefhjes (hand- 
 kerchiefs for the head). They seem good- 
 humoiu’ed though, and perhaps will improve on 
 acquaintance. At half past one the horses were 
 saddled ; and, a little after, the last adieux made. 
 Then we all moimted ; and, accompanied by a crowd 
 of retainers from the Consulate, crying, as the 
 custom is, and Idssing the consular stirrups, Ave 
 rode aAvay, Avith only four hours of daylight before 
 us. and no chance of getting in before dark. Seyd 
 Akhmet, moreover, had neither come nor sent ; and 
 it Avas doubtful Avhere Ave should find our baggage, 
 as the house of rendezvous Avas not exactly in the 
 village of Jabvil. 
 
 HoAveA'er, we Avere too pleased to be off to think 
 much of possible mischances. It Avas colder than 
 ever ; and, as Ave took our Avay across the desolate 
 hills toAvards the south east, the Avind Avas just in 
 oiu’ faces. The sky Avas like lead, and seemed to 
 threaten snoAV. The track Ave Avere folloAving was very 
 like that by AA^hich Ave arriA^ed from Alexandretta, 
 stony and muddy ; but I shoidd liaA^e proposed 
 a canter, as soon as we were outside the toAvn, 
 to Avarni ourseh^es, and make up for the lost hours 
 of the morning, if it had not been that Creamy AA^as 
 hardly equal to it, and could not be left behind. 
 
 This, hoAvever, is to be our last day in cultivated 
 ground, and Ave must have patience. To-morrow 
 Ave shall be in the desert. Every here and there, 
 we passed the sites of old villages, or perhaps towns ; 
 
CH. VI.] 
 
 All Hanndcly Settlement. 
 
 75 
 
 blit tlieii’ names are forgotten. Just at sunset, ive 
 caught sight of the salt lake on which Jabiil stands, 
 and presently we descended from the upper country 
 into a j)lain, just noiv turned into a swamp by the 
 heavy rains we have been having. Through this 
 we floundered for an hour or two, Creamy coming 
 even once or twice to his knees, a not very pleasant 
 accident for his rider, as the water was almost 
 freezing ; and at one moment there seemed a prospect 
 of our having to spend the night out of doors. At 
 last, however, we heard dogs barking, and then saw 
 a light, which we knew must be a village, though 
 it Avas not Jabiil; and to this we rode tlu'ough 
 V'ater up to our horses’ knees. It is rather a 
 disagreeable thing to hai’e to ride into an Arab 
 Aullage in the dark, as it is sure to be surrounded by 
 a honeycomb of ivells, and holes for storing corn ; 
 and, more than once, I found myself on the brink 
 of one of those ; but horses seem to see in the dark ; 
 and there is an Arabic proverb to this effect ; so I 
 let my beast grope its oivn way with a loose rein. 
 The village ivas not Jabiil ; but its inhabitants 
 directed us on our Avay, and, half an hour later, ive 
 Avere much relicA^ed at hearing a horse gallopping 
 toAA'ards us. It Avas a scout sent out by our anxious 
 host to shoAv us the Avay to his house. A Avrctchcd 
 j)lace it is, as all the fixed habitations of Arabs arc, 
 comfortless as a tent, Avithout doors, or AvindoAVS, or 
 floor and, being immoA'able, inconcch^ably dirty. 
 Ho Avonder the licdouins refuse to change Avandcring 
 
76 Bedouin Tribes of the Ettphrates. [ch. vi. 
 
 homes for such as these. We were shown into 
 a little room about eight feet square, with a bit of 
 dirty sacking hung up before the door, to keep out 
 the wind, and a bit of dirty carpet laid down on the 
 dirtier floor, and a couple of dirty cushions in a 
 corner. In this our baggage was piled, all muddy 
 and squalid and comfortless. A m'etched night, but 
 we have agreed it shall be our last under a roof, be 
 the cold what it may. 
 
 After all, Eyssa, our host, received no notice of 
 our arrival till the baggage came ; so he has not 
 had time to make us a feast. We have devoured 
 our dinner almost in darkness, the cold legs of a 
 turkey provided, fortunately, by Mrs. S., and are 
 looking forward, with no pleasant prospects, to our 
 night’s rest. A girl of fifteen, Eyssa’ s sister-in- 
 law, was sent to milk some ewes just now, which 
 are folded in a yard about a hundred yards off from 
 the house ; but she did it in fear and trembling, on 
 account of wolves, she said, which the cold weather 
 has driven doum to the villages. One came into 
 the yard this very afternoon. 
 
 Eyssa’ s father, Batran, was slieykh of the 
 Hannady, when they were sent from Egypt by 
 Mehemet Ali ; a brave man, but ill-famed for his 
 cruelty. On one occasion, having taken prisoners 
 thirty of the Shammar, he cut their throats and 
 thi'ew them into a cave near here. At his father’s 
 death Ej^ssa was too young to succeed as sheykh, 
 and Iris luicle, Seyd Akhmet, took his place. We 
 
CH. VI.] 
 
 Last Night indoors. 
 
 77 
 
 asked Eyssa hoAV lie eoiild be eontent with the life 
 of di. fellah (or cultivator of the soil) when his father 
 had been a Bedouin. He said it paid better. He 
 was grooving rich. The fact is, these Hannady are 
 Egyptians, hardly true Bedouins. Ho Anazeh, I 
 suppose, would consent to such a transaction. Mr. 
 S. asked him too what had become of Seyd Akhmet. 
 
 What ! ” he answered, “ you have knovm Seyd 
 Akhmet these twenty years, and you have ever 
 known him to keep his word ! ” 
 
 January 10. — Jabiil by daylight is not more 
 attractive than Jabiil in the dark. Like all the 
 villages bordering on the desert, it is the type of 
 WTetchedness and squalor, and life in such places 
 would seem to have no redeeming feature to make 
 it tolerable. Pastoral life, to be attractive, needs 
 to be nomadic, and the Arabs, even after they 
 settle and become ploughmen, insist on keeping 
 sheep. The consequence is, the ground, for some 
 miles round their villages, is poisoned and trodden 
 down by their flocks, and is a barer wilderness 
 than any part of the desert. A fixed sheepfold, 
 especially in rainy iveather, is as disgusting as a 
 pigstye. As we looked out in the grey morning 
 and took note of all this, it was not hard to under- 
 stand the contempt a Bedonin feels for his fellows 
 who have become “ fcllahin.” 
 
 Warned by the discomforts of our arrival yester- 
 day, we made an earlier start ; and a very few miles 
 brought us fairly into the desert. The sun came out, 
 
78 Bedouin Tidies of the Euphrates, [ch. yi. 
 
 and there seemed a chance of more genial weather ; 
 and with it onr spirits rose. There was at first a 
 kind of road or track leading across a perfectly level 
 plain towards a conical hill between ns and the snn ; 
 bnt this gradually disappeared, or we left it, and, 
 as we got beyond the poverty-stricken radius of the 
 village, the ground assumed a more cheerful aspect. 
 The loose stones had disappeared, and onr path was 
 over a light crisp soil thinly covered with grass \ 
 nothing to break its uniformity bnt occasional lines 
 of mole-hills straight and regular as if drawn mecha- 
 nically, and sometimes a couple of hundred yards 
 long, and here and there clusters of jerboa holes, — 
 except for these, the most beautiful galloping ground 
 conceivable. At the foot of the tell, or mound, 
 when we arrived there, we found the first tents. 
 Shabby as they were, they had a look of neatness 
 after the houses we had left. They belonged to 
 the Hannady, Seyd Akhmet’s people ; and in the 
 neghbomdiood were flocks of sheep, each with its 
 shepherd. It was an agreeable scene, and made ns 
 regret that we had not made a better day’s march 
 yesterday and pitched our own tents alongside of 
 these. Wilfrid and I rode up to the top of the tell, 
 from which there is a really fine view of level plain 
 stretching green on every side. It is interesting 
 too as being the scene of Jediian’s late battle with 
 the Eoala; and Wilfrid’s mare, Hagar, who pro- 
 bably took part in the fight, grew very fidgety as 
 Ave got near the place. This may perhaps have 
 
CH. VI.] 
 
 We I'each the Desert. 
 
 79 
 
 been an accident, but it helped us to realise the 
 scene of battle. The name of the tumulus is Khsaf. 
 
 Some ten miles to the south-east appeared another 
 hill, which was pointed out to us as the next land- 
 mark for Avliich we had to steer. We left Mr. 
 S. and the zaptiehs to escort the baggage, and 
 pushed on. Everything was new and delightful to 
 us ; and there was a lightness in the desert air 
 which made us long for an adventure, if adventures 
 had been possible in such a place and in such com- 
 pany as the tiresome Turkish police. We rode up 
 to one or two of the shepherds and asked them a 
 few questions, which they answered amiably enough. 
 They were very busy separating the neAV-born lambs 
 from their mothers ; for Aveaning begins here almost 
 from the day of birth. Then AA^e saAV a flock of 
 something we took for gazelles or bustards, but 
 Avhich turned out to be cranes from the lake. There 
 were, besides, rooks, grey croAVS, kites, and seA^eral 
 small haAvks. Presently we came to a little stream 
 AAuth a border of greener grass on either side, AAdiere 
 there Avere more shepherds. We let our horses 
 drink, as they had had no water since yesterday. 
 This bit of desert is more attractive than any AA^e 
 have seen in Algeria or Egypt. Any part of it 
 would make a race course. 
 
 From the second hill avc Avcrc to sec a guard- 
 house ; but of this there Avas no sign, so Ave Avaited 
 till the caravan came up. It consists of seven 
 baggage beasts (six horses and a mule) driven by 
 
So Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. vi. 
 
 two hatter jis (irmleteers), Hadji Mahmoud’s brother 
 and another. Our cook, Hanna, (a Syrian Christian, 
 and not a woman, as his name would seem to imply, 
 for Hanna is Arabic for John,) is mounted on the 
 very pony Wilfrid rode from Alexandretta. He 
 has got himself up in a Bedouin disguise, of which 
 he is as proud as Punch ; and Mr. S.’s servant, 
 Jiirgy, (Oeorge), in similar attire, rides a colt of his 
 master’s, and leads the mare with the sore back. 
 Siiliman, the sergeant, has a cross-bred Arab which 
 is a good walker, and seems up to his rather heavy 
 weight ; and the other zaptiehs have rough-looking 
 beasts, one of them only a two-year-old. Mr. S., 
 in a long black cloak and with a yellow handkerchief 
 bound round his hat, gives dignity to the procession. 
 We have come too far to the right, it appears, and 
 now strike a line due east and follow this all day, 
 till at about three o’clock we come to broken ground, 
 announcing the neighbourhood of the great valley 
 of the Euphrates which we are in search of. Mr. S. 
 enlivens the road with tales of Bedouin life and 
 manners, and relates the story of his rescue by 
 Akhmet Beg (mentioned before), on the spot where 
 the adventure happened. Suddenly we come to the 
 edge of the plain, and the valley is before us. 
 Much as I have expected of this, and often as I 
 have tried to imagine the scene since we first 
 decided on our journey, the reality surpasses all. 
 
 The valley of the Euphrates is a deep, broad 
 cutting in the desert, Avith chalky cliffs bounding 
 
CH. VI.] Fh'st Sight of the Euphrates. 
 
 8t 
 
 it abruptly on either side. At the point where we 
 came upon it, it is about five miles wide, and 
 perhaps a hundred and fifty feet below the level 
 of the upper plain. The valley is a long, level 
 meadow, green as emerald, and covered with fioeks 
 of sheep. We counted twenty of these, with 
 perhaps a thousand sheep in each. Above, were 
 the tents of the Wdldi, an honest and thriving 
 tribe of Arabs, who often take charge of sheep for 
 the Anazeh, when they go south, or for the towns- 
 people of Aleppo, with whom they share the produce. 
 A sheep here may be worth five or six shillings. 
 This part of the valley is called the plain of 
 Melakh; and it was here that Jedaan had the 
 skirmish with Asmeh Pasha. We could see the 
 river winding to and fro in this great meadow far 
 away, fringed with a deep, bro'wn belt of tamarisks, 
 in great curves and reaches. It seems as big as 
 the Danube at Belgrade. On our way down the 
 clifi, which was by a side ravine, we passed the 
 grave of Abd ul Aziz, one of the Shammar chiefs, 
 who was killed in battle here by the Anazeh, ten 
 years ago. It is only a cairn of stones. 
 
 After this, we turned to the right and went on 
 close under the line of cliffs, for an hour, to a place 
 where the river, having crossed the valley, sweeps 
 round in a fine bend. Here it has been proposed 
 to make the station for steamers, so soon as they 
 shall run. Indeed, the steamer, which has been 
 occasionally sent up for Government purposes from 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vi. 
 
 Bagdad, already makes this its extreme point up the 
 river; and a little fort and some buildings have 
 been erected for the protection of the place. It is 
 called M^sqnineh, and is not marked on the maps. 
 We found all deserted on account of the war. We 
 have looked inside the huts, and have decided that 
 we will sleep out of doors. 
 
 January 11. — Mr. S., who has not been on 
 horseback for several years, was so much fatigued 
 last night that we were really alarmed about him. 
 As soon as we arrived at Mdsquineh, he got off his 
 horse, lay down on the grass, and went sound 
 asleep; nor coidd we wake him even for dinner. 
 He is well again to-day. I suppose our day’s 
 journey yesterday must have been close on forty 
 miles. It was fortunately a warmer night than 
 most of those we have been having lately ; for the 
 katterjis arrived so late that we had not time to 
 think of pitching a tent. We only got out oiu: 
 carpets and blankets, and slept as we were — on 
 rather short commons too, for no arrangements 
 have been made for onr commissariat; and the 
 remains of the turkey and bread was about all we 
 had. Poor, however, as our night’s lodging was, 
 we all agreed that it was far better than another 
 such experience as that of Jabul. 
 
 One advantage of sleeping out of doors is, that 
 everybody is ready to get up in the morning. It 
 v/as so cold that, long before dawn, the servants 
 were astir, making a fire and boilmg water for 
 
CH. VI.] 
 
 A Night out of Doom's. 
 
 8 
 
 the cottee. There is plenty of good firewood from 
 the iarfa^ or tamarisk jnngle, which fringes the 
 river ; and, as soon as it was light, we had break- 
 fast, packed np, and were off. Onr course lay 
 along the right bank of the river, which here has a 
 general direction of nearly dne east. "We passed 
 •close to the rnins half way np the cliff of Bdllis, or 
 Ballesis, principally remarkable for a very tall 
 octagonal tower of Saracenic architecture ; an im- 
 posing structure, and giving a notion of the im- 
 portance of this region in former times. 
 
 A little further on, we passed another ruined 
 castle, Dipsi, standing on the extreme edge of a 
 jutting piece of cliff, and secured, formerly, from 
 assault by a deep cleft, cut across the tongue of 
 rock connecting it with the upper desert. In all 
 probability there was once a drawbridge across 
 this. The river just below gives a sweep right 
 under the cliff, so that there is no means of passing 
 below, and one is obliged to climb to the upper 
 plain again. The cliff here is composed of a sub- 
 stratum of chalk, with a conglomerate crust above. 
 The chalk, being the softer of the two, is in many 
 places hollowed out into caves and recesses, which 
 the conglomerate overhangs. These are much used 
 by birds and beasts. Jackals and foxes occupy the 
 more accessible caves, and haAvks, jackdaAvs, and 
 rock pigeons, the higher ones. I thinlc I noticed 
 a Bonelli’s eagle roosting in one last night, but I 
 cannot bo quite sure. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 Bedotlin Tribes of the Euphrates, [cu. vi. 
 
 The road now cuts off a bend of the river, cross- 
 ing a bit of very stony desert, and then goes down 
 again into the valley. From the high ground there 
 was a fine view over miles of tamarisk jungle, in 
 which the river is lost ; and on the plain below 
 were a number of mnd-huts in ruins, called Abn- 
 Ghr^ra. This is one of a series of villages made 
 by order of Aslan, an enterprising Pasha, about 
 four years ago, for the Anazeh, whom he thought 
 he had persuaded or bullied into abandoning their 
 nomadic life and becoming felMhin. This, of 
 com'se, they never had the remotest intention of 
 doing, and the huts were never inhabited. 
 
 As we skirted the river, we came upon numerous 
 flocks of ducks, geese, plovers, and, in a small 
 lagoon caused by a late flood, some hundreds of 
 coots. The sergeant, Siiliman, could not resist this 
 sight, and unswaddling his gun (for he had it well 
 ■wrapped up in a red leather case, besides other 
 coverings), went off to stalk his game. But the 
 coots would not sit still for him to take aim, and 
 fluttered away; so he prudently reserved his fire. 
 Wilfrid had left his gun with Hanna, which was 
 vexatious, as we were grievously in Avant of pro- 
 visions. A little before sunset, we came upon a 
 Weldi camp, set at the edge of a tamarisk jungle. 
 Some five-and-tAventy soldiers Avere already quar- 
 tered on the Arabs ; and our escort were, of course, 
 delighted at the prospect of talking, Avhich is one 
 of the dearest pleasures in the East. So Ave Avere 
 
CH. VI.] 
 
 We Encamp with the Wddi. 
 
 85 
 
 made to dismount and accept the officer’s hospi- 
 tality (the Weldi sheykh being thrust unceremo- 
 niously into the background), and sit on his carpets 
 and drink his coffee, while he entertained us with 
 stories of wild beasts, which, he informs us, in- 
 fest the neighbourhood. Like all Turks in this 
 country, he is very sorry for himself, bewailing his 
 dreary exile from Stamboul, complaining of the 
 Arabs and the place where he is quartered (it 
 seems to us a garden of Eden), and of the 
 boils with which his hands are covered. He is 
 indeed a piteous sight. He was left at this camp 
 when the rest of the troops were Avithdrawn for 
 the war, and has been here nearly six months, 
 having no occupations, amusements, or what are 
 called ‘‘resources Avithin himself.” He urged us to 
 spend the night in his tent, instead of sleeping out 
 of doors, as Ave should certainly be carried oft’ by 
 lions in the night. Only a fortnight before, some 
 mules had been seized and devoured in broad day- 
 light; and a child had been taken out of a tent 
 someAvhere close by. He Avas delighted to see 
 traA'ellers ; and condoled Avith me very earnestly on 
 the hardships of the road, hinting that he Avas accus- 
 tomed to quite a different kind of life, comforts and 
 luxuries “ such as these poor Arabs,” Avaving his 
 hand, “ had never dreamt of.” Ho asked about the 
 Avar, or rather, about the prospect of peace, and 
 Avhen Avo told him that this Avas likely, Avent on 
 repeating hi a plaintive A'oico “ Inshallah, in- 
 
86 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vi. 
 
 shallah” (please God, please God) for nearly a 
 quarter of an hour. 
 
 Hanna had by this time come up ; and Wilfrid, 
 taking his gun, went down into the jungle to see if 
 he could get us something for dinner ; for he had 
 heard birds calling in the wood, which he thought 
 must be some kind of partridge. He was away till 
 quite dusk ; and we heard him fire several times. I 
 confess that until he returned the lion stories 
 haunted me, and I had not a quiet moment. He 
 came back, however, and told us that he had fol- 
 lowed the birds he had heard a considerable way, 
 and had found that they were calling, as pheasants 
 do when they fly up to roost; but he had not 
 succeeded in getting a shot at one. The wood was 
 full of magpies, and it was difiicult to distinguish 
 in the thickets what birds the others were. He 
 had killed a magpie in mistake for one, and then, 
 coming to an open space, had sat down. Pre- 
 sently woodcocks began flying over his head, and 
 he had got three. The jungle abounds with 
 jackals, which we heard all the evening whining 
 close to the camp ; but Wilfrid neither saw nor 
 heard any other wild beast. We made our 
 bivouac under a bush just outside the camp, 
 where the soldiers talked and sang half the 
 night. This, with the barking of dogs and the 
 fldgeting of the soldiers’ horses, made the evening 
 not one of undistxxrbed repose ; but we were tired 
 and slept well. 
 
CH. -VI.] Francolin Shooting. 87 
 
 Although, the nights are cold, -vve do not suffer, 
 as we have plenty of things — first an oilskin cloth 
 on the ground, then a turkey carpet, then each 
 a cotton quilt folded double, to serve as bed. Over 
 us we spread our eiderdowns ; and, over these again, 
 a Turcoman carpet, and another oil-skin over all. 
 In this way we do not feel even the heavy dews 
 which fall at night. 
 
 January 12. — It was a bright morning ; and 
 across the river there Avas a beautiful vieAV of Jaber, 
 an ancient castle, and once a place of importance.* 
 We had no sooner left the camp than we saAv a pair 
 of francolins enjoying the sunshine, just outside the 
 jungle ; and Wilfrid was fortunate enough to get 
 them both. The cock francolin is certainly one of 
 the most beautiful birds in the Avorld ; and seems to 
 stand about half way betAveen the partridge and the 
 pheasant. He has a magnificent plumage, black, 
 spotted Avith white ; his back and wings russet, and 
 his legs red. The hen is plainer, and might be 
 taken for a hen pheasant that had lost her tail. 
 Like pheasants, they seem to roost in trees, and they 
 Avere, no doubt, the birds that Wilfrid heard calling 
 last night. Hanna Avas in ecstasies at the sight of 
 such capital provisions, and has given us a dish this 
 evening Avorthy of Brillat-SaAmrin. Indeed the 
 
 * Kalat Jaber, besieged in 1146 by Zengui, ruler of Mosul. 
 He was assassinated, and his army retired. Jaber sustained 
 several other sieges. See Abulfeda (Recueil des Ilistoriens des 
 Croisades) ; Benjamin of Tudela (Charton, Yoyageurs Anciens ot 
 Modemes). 
 
88 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. vi. 
 
 francolin seems to realise tlie poet’s dream, wlio 
 wrote, 
 
 “ If the partridge had the woodcock’s thigh 
 It would be the best bird that ever did fly.” 
 
 Besides these birds, of wHch another brace was 
 brought to bag, Wilfrid got three or four rock 
 pigeons, than which there is nothing better for the 
 cooking pot. So we are now in clover.” 
 
LlbHARY 
 
 OFTHt 
 
 umvusiTv or ilunuis 
 
 V ■ 
 
 C' \ ' 
 
 * 
 
 iKx / 
 
 Bi ■ 
 
SARACENIC MILL ON THE EUPHRATES. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 “Now the hungry lion roars, 
 
 And the wolf behowls the moon.** 
 
 Lion district of the Euphrates — The Afuddli hunters — A Bedouin 
 
 Barnum — The Kaimakam of Eakka — A wild ass — Sport in the 
 
 tamarisk jungle — A wonderful horse — We arrive at Deyr. 
 
 \ 
 
 “We have been riding to-day along a narrow track 
 between the cliff, which is here very ahrnpt, and 
 composed in part of white marble, and a dense 
 jungle of tamarisks, overgrown and matted together 
 into huge thickets by brambles and honeysuckles. 
 This seems to he some miles deep, and is said to be 
 much frequented by wild beasts. It was just here 
 that, three years ago, a Bedouin of the name of Bozdn 
 was killed and eaten by a lion. The lion of the 
 Euphrates, or Babylonian lion, is not usually a 
 dangerous beast ; hut every now and then there is 
 one, which, having accidentally tasted human flesh, 
 becomes a man eater, just as tigers do in India. 
 These are much feared by the Arabs ; and, on this 
 particular occasion, the friends of the man killed 
 seem to have behaved with great cowardice. They 
 were Khryssa Arabs, an Anazeh tribe, and were 
 riding home one evening, in a party of half a dozen, 
 
90 
 
 Bedo^tin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vn. 
 
 when they observed a lion following them. Bozan 
 was the only one of the party with fire-arms, the 
 rest carrying the usual Anazeh lance ; and he, out 
 of bravado, fired his pistol at the Hon, who growled 
 and disappeared ; and the party went on their way, 
 without hurrying or indeed thinking anything more 
 of the matter; but, about half an hour later, it 
 being then nearly dark, the Arabs heard a shriek, 
 and found that Bozan, who was ridiag last as they’ 
 were going along the narrow track in single file, 
 was missing. They were frightened, and, without 
 more ado, galloped away. In the morning however, 
 they returned to see what had happened, and found 
 the remains of their companion’s body about fifty 
 yards inside the jungle. I was rather glad when 
 we were well out of this disagreeable neighbour- 
 hood, and in a more open country. 
 
 The valley was here again very broad ; and 
 there were wide grassy plains, interspersed with 
 tamarisk bushes. In some places there were acres 
 of land furroAved up, as if with the plough, but in 
 reality by the Avild boars, Avhich must be very 
 numerous. Ho Avonder the peasants, in cultivated 
 countries, dislike them. Here there is nothing to 
 be injured. The sun Avas getting Ioav, as Ave passed 
 some ruins, Greek or Eoman, Avhich are marked on 
 the map as Zenobia’s baths. They are of flat bricks 
 and concrete, mere bits of ruined Avail, still called el 
 Hammam (the baths). Hear these we found a camp 
 of Afiiddli Arabs, a Ioav tribe, but interesting as 
 
CH. VII.] The A ftiddli Lion-Hunters. 
 
 91 
 
 having the reputation of being brave men and lion 
 hunters. Their camp is peculiar and unlike any 
 other we have seen. 
 
 The Afuddli are hardly nomades, as they only 
 occasionally move their camps, and never leave this 
 jungly district of the river. They have no sheep 
 and but few ordinary cows, but keep great herds of 
 buffaloes, on whose produce they live. The buffalo, 
 they say, is not afraid of the lion, and so can 
 inhabit even the thickest parts of the tamarisk 
 wood, without danger. The herdsmen always go 
 armed with guns, as well as short spears, and are 
 said to be good shots. The Afuddli have no tents, 
 properly speaking, but make themselves huts out 
 of the tamarisk boughs, laced together while still 
 growing, and roofed with a bit of tenting. The 
 camp, near which we now are, is about two himdred 
 yards inside the jungle, and is reached by lanes, or 
 passages cut through it, and fenced with a kind of 
 wattle made by interweaving the branches. These 
 lanes twist and turn about so as to form a labyrinth, 
 which it is difficult to get into or out of. The huts 
 thus become an irregular village, connected by 
 streets, and in front of each there is generally a 
 small clearing of half an acre or so. We rode in 
 just before sunset, pell mell with the cattle, which 
 were cantering home for the night Avith their tails 
 in the air. The people Avere hospitably anxious 
 that Ave should sleep in their huts ; but these Avero 
 not inviting ; and the open spaces in front of them 
 
92 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [oh. vn. 
 
 were covered with the sharp points of underwood 
 Avhich had been cleared, and would have made hut 
 uncomfortable lying; besides, there was not a blade 
 of grass there for the horses, which are now reduced 
 to what they can pick up. So Wilfrid decided that, 
 lions or no lions, we should sleep in the open to- 
 night. We have chosen our bivouac on a high 
 bank, where there is grass, and with a deep hollow 
 between us and the jungle. Wilfrid has taken his 
 gun and gone for a walk, while Hanna and I have 
 been very busy getting dinner ready, — and a very 
 good dinner, I think, it will be. 
 
 Mr. S. has quite recovered from his fatigue 
 now. The Aftiddli have been telling him how they 
 shoot the lions. Whenever one is heard of, they 
 try to surround him, taking then* buffaloes with 
 them, and, if they manage to wound the Hon, these 
 soon trample him to death. The Turkish Govern- 
 ment has offered lately a reward of ^63 for every 
 skin brought into Deyr ; and the people here have 
 claimed it several times. 
 
 Only a fortnight ago they managed to kill two 
 lions under the following circumstances : A cow 
 had been found one morning killed and partly 
 eaten ; and, a man of a neighbouring tribe, the 
 Subbkha, volunteering to make the attempt, a pit 
 was dug near the carcase and the man left in it to 
 watch by night for the lion. He was partly covered 
 over with tamarisk boughs, and when his friends 
 came in the morning they found a lion sitting on 
 
CH. VII.] 
 
 A Tale of Two Lions. 
 
 93 
 
 the top of these, apparently in his turn watching 
 the man. The Arabs fired, and then rushing in 
 with them spears managed to kill the beast, and 
 brought it to the little fort we passed to-day for the 
 reward. Then, they assure us, during the following 
 night, while the dead lion was lying in the yard of 
 the fort, a hideous roaring was heard outside, and 
 presently a lioness appeared and made an attempt 
 to get inside. But the door was fast, and, after 
 firing a great number of shots with no effect, they 
 at last killed her too. 
 
 Both these lions were skin n ed and stufied and 
 are now being carried round among the tribes on 
 a donkey by an enterprising Barnum, who, they 
 assure us, is making his fortune by the show. 
 
 This is of course the Babylonian lion, whose 
 peculiarity is that he has no mane. He is, I 
 should think, one of the rarest of beasts.* 
 
 Sunday., January 13. — A wet and heavy fog. 
 Got some good buffalo milk from the Afuddlis, and 
 were off by eight o’clock. The sun rises now 
 about half-past seven. Ali Beg, a Circassian, the 
 new Mudi'r of Palmyra, overtook us this morning. 
 He is well mounted on a handsome bro'vvn Scglawi 
 Jedrdn horse, and left Aleppo two days after Ave 
 
 * Three of these lions were shot from the English steamer 
 which plies between Bagdad and Bussora, only three years 
 since. One of them, when wounded, charged into the water, and 
 attempted to board the boat. This happened on a part of the 
 Tigris where there is no jungle. 
 
94 
 
 Bedouin 'Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vir. 
 
 did. He is on his way to his post, to which he 
 is just appointed by his brother-in-law, Kidmyl 
 Pasha. He gave a heart-rending account of the 
 night which he passed in an Afriddli hnt. This is 
 the first bond fide traveller we have seen on the road. 
 
 The country was much like that of yesterday 
 until, after crossing a bit of desert to cut off a 
 bend of the river, we came in sight of Eakka, the 
 only inhabited place, since Jabtil. Prom a dis- 
 tance, we supposed it to be a large town, and 
 indeed it was so once, but now there are but 
 half-a-dozen inhabited houses. It stands on the 
 opposite shore of the river, in Mesopotamia, and 
 has to be reached by a ferry two miles below 
 it. We should not have gone across but that 
 Suliman was anxious to show us a mare there, 
 which had a great reputation ; and we were a little 
 curious to see the place nearer. We left our 
 horses with one of the Zaptiehs, and were ferried 
 to the opposite shore in an unwieldy boat, some- 
 thing like a Hoah’s ark cut in two. The Euphrates 
 is about a quarter of a mile wide at this point ; and 
 there is a sloping beach on either shore, which 
 is unusual on the river. I thought I should have 
 had to walk up to the town ; but Suliman, in the 
 high-handed way common to Zaptiehs, took posses- 
 sion of a mare and foal tethered hard by, and 
 impressed her into our service. Wilfrid walked, 
 and shot a good many francolins, which abound 
 here. Mr. S. rode the sergeant’s horse, which 
 
CH. YII.] 
 
 Is the Siiltan victoriotcs f 
 
 95 
 
 lie had managed to bring over with him in the 
 boat. There is some cultivation here, and we met 
 a number of Arabs, men and women, on their way 
 to the ferry; the former I thought very good- 
 looking, with regular features and teeth dazzlingly 
 white. The women, who were driving donkeys 
 before them loaded with brushwood and looking 
 at a distance exactly like porcupines, stopped us to 
 ask news of the war. “ Sultan mansur ” (“Is 
 the Sultan victorious?”) Sliueya,’’’’ we answered 
 (“Hot very ”), and they burst into roars of 
 laughter. The fact is, there is little love lost here 
 between the Arabs and the Turks. This was 
 when Suliman was out of hearing, or we should 
 have said “ inshalldh,” the proper way of turning 
 an indiscreet question. 
 
 Ealdca was a Saracenic town, built, it is said, 
 by the Caliph Haroun al Eashid as a summer 
 residence. The walls only of the city are standing, 
 with two gates, in what we call the Moorish style 
 of architecture — that is to say, they are built of 
 brick, ingeniously and fantastically arranged about 
 a horse-shoe arch.* They are crumbling away at 
 the base. All ruins seem to perish in this way, 
 like trees, at the root, I hardly know why. 
 
 We were disappointed at finding no houses 
 within the walls, nothing but a few tents. The 
 Kaimakam received us with much formality, and 
 
 * Zengui, son of Ak Sonkor, assassinated "before Jaber, was 
 buried at Eakka. 
 
g6 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vn. 
 
 the usual cups of coffee, and a narghileh for Mr. 
 S., who conversed with him in Turkish. He 
 was a little man, in a loose, wadded smoking-coat 
 and worked slippers, European trousers and a fez. 
 He had a fair complexion and rusty heard, un- 
 trimmed and very dirty. He seemed stupid and, 
 like all the Tm'ks in this country, supremely 
 wretched. A little bright-eyed secretary, probably 
 a Greek, explained to him all he was too slow to 
 understand; for the talk was of politics and the 
 war. After this he took us out to see the mare 
 which had been sent for, a Seglawfeh J edran, own 
 sister, they told us, to a celebrated horse we had 
 seen at Aleppo. She was a handsome bay, but 
 without action ; and hef hocks were badly capped. 
 We had thought of exchanging the Maneghieh with 
 the sore back for her ; but the negotiation did not 
 proceed far. Some other mares were then driven 
 in from below the town, and came galloping up, 
 headed by a little wahash, or wild ass, which had 
 been caught as a foal. It was now a year old, and 
 seemed tame enough till touched; then it lashed out 
 furiously. In colour it was ruddy, Avith a broad 
 dark line down the back. It had short ears, a 
 drooping hind-quarter, and legs like a deer. The 
 Haimakam complained of its mischievous disposi- 
 tion and of a trick it had of biting the tails of the 
 mares it was with. We asked for news of leddan 
 and the Anazeh; but nobody could give us any 
 information, so we wished the official and his 
 
cii. vir.] A Visit to Rakka — The Kaiinakam. 97 
 
 friends good-bye, and departed the -vyay we bad 
 come. Once over the ferry we had a long gallop 
 to find OUT caravan, wliich had stopped at some 
 tents on the plain opposite Eakka. 
 
 January 14. — Hagar, who is generally “ as good 
 as gold,” played ns a trick this morning after she 
 was saddled, by galloping off to some mares, which 
 were grazing on the plain half a mile from where we 
 • had camped. It was a brisk morning, and, I sup- 
 pose, she Avanted to Avarm her limbs, poor thing ; 
 besides, she had had a good feed of barley over- 
 night, instead of the usual millet. Suliman and I 
 set off in pursuit, but she Avonld not let him get 
 near her, and I had a good deal of cantering about 
 too before I could persuade her to let me take the 
 rein. This delayed ns, and Ave made but a short 
 day’s journey, nothing more remarkable occurring 
 than a successful stalk of pigeons, Avhich brought 
 eight to the bag at a double shot. We are of 
 necessity “pot-hunters,” and Wilfrid has no cart- 
 ridges to AAmste on fancy shooting. It Avas a deso- 
 late day’s ride, or else the sameness of the river 
 scenery is beginning to tell on ns ; and Ave haAm 
 been glad to stop at the first pleasant spot Ave came 
 to early in the afternoon. This is a little different 
 from the camps Ave haA'e chosen or had to choose 
 lately. The cliffs on the side of the A’allcy hero 
 gh'o place to green slopes, not unlike doAAms ; and 
 in the holloAVS of these, a little Avay back from the 
 rh'er, avc found a camp of Subkha Arabs AA’ith 
 
98 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vh. 
 
 their flock of lambs, which never goes far from the 
 tents, in a circular depression, well sheltered from 
 the wind and green as a spinach botvl. Here we 
 have stopped, and laid onr beds out on the slope, 
 where they look most comfortable. "Wilfrid is ofl, 
 as usual, to the river and the tamarisk woods, where 
 he likes to tvander till it is dark. I have asked 
 him to write a description of one of these woods. It 
 is as follows : — 
 
 “ The tamarisks are about as high as a ten years’ 
 growth of alder copse in England, and stand about 
 as close together. They are generally open at the 
 stem, so that you can make your way tlu’ough 
 them with a little stooping. There are paths, too, 
 made by the wild boars, which it is easy to follow ; 
 and the ground is clear of rubbish, so that yon 
 need make no noise in walking. It is as well, be- 
 fore plunging in, to take your bearings by sim or 
 wind, as the jungle is lower than the surrounding 
 land, marking, in fact, the high water level of the 
 river in times of flood ; and you cannot often see 
 more than a few yards before you. The boughs 
 above are thick with magpies’ nests, the accumula- 
 tion of years, and their OAvners chatter and scream 
 at you as you pass. You go forward cautiously, 
 recollecting the AAnld beast stories the Arabs told 
 you, and at Arhich you laughed a little Avhile ago. 
 HoAvthe snapping of a tAvig makes yon look quickly 
 roimd, half expecting to see the quiet eyes of a lion 
 glaring at yon tlu’ough the nnderAVOod. But this 
 
€H. vir.J 
 
 A Stroll in the Jimgle. 
 
 99 
 
 is soon forgotten ; for yon hear birds calling, about 
 fifty yards in front of yon, apparently from tbe trees. 
 Tbe fran Co lin s are just beginning to roost ; and yon 
 stop, and listen till they call again. A bird seems 
 close to yon, and yet yon cannot see bim ; and, at 
 last, be fiutters down from a great tbicket, Avbere 
 be bad bis percb, and is bidden again before yon 
 can get yom* grin to your sbonlder. "While you are 
 looking into the tangled mass of brambles and 
 honeysuckles around you, out jumps a pig with a 
 great rush, and you fire 'without seeing bim. It is 
 just as well to miss, for if yon chance to wound 
 bim, and he turns, he has yon here at his mercy. 
 Your shot, however, has probably flushed the fran- 
 colin, and you get a snap shot at bim as be rises. 
 Yon wander on and on, still lured by tbe expecta- 
 tion of something new ; and, following a fairly 
 straight track, Avell trodden by the feet of pigs, 
 yon come suddenly on the river flowing silently and 
 swiftly, a mass of turbid water, some dozen feet 
 below yon. There you see geese, if there happens 
 to be a bit of backwater, or maybe a pelican. Yon 
 are glad, at any rate, to correct your dead reckon- 
 ing hero by a look at the open sky ; and yon gener- 
 ally find that you are considerably out. Ihit the 
 sun has set, and it is time to go home, in as straight 
 a line as yon can keep. The jackals arc be- 
 ginning their Avhining chorus ; and far away across 
 the river you hear a roar. Is it a lion or a camel ? 
 Most probably the latter. On your way back, you 
 
lOO Bedoum Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vn. 
 
 come to an opening cnt by the Arabs for firewood, 
 and sit doAvn to take breath. A bird flits noise- 
 lessly past you, and alights on the ground almost at 
 your feet. It is joined presently by another, and, 
 for an instant, you think they must be owls. You. 
 jump to your feet and fire. They are woodcocks^ 
 You wait for another flight, but cannot wait long, 
 for it is getting dark. You are afraid now of being 
 benighted, and stumble back through the wood as- 
 fast as you can, coming now and then upon a jackal 
 slinking across the path. Yon look with some 
 anxiety for the w*atch-fire your friends will have- 
 lighted on some high ground to guide you back. 
 The moon begms to show, and by its light, just as- 
 you are at the edge of the wood, you perceive walk- 
 ing parallel with you, and apparently intent on cut- 
 ting you off from the open ground, a gaunt, red 
 beast, moving swiftly through the trees. Your- 
 heart jumps to your mouth, as it stops with a loud 
 impatient roar, and you feel that you have been a 
 fool to stay out so late — only an instant, and it 
 moves on, and you recognize a belated cow hvury- 
 ing back to her calf, tied up suice morning in the 
 camp where you have stopped. So, as romance 
 ■writers say, you ‘ breathe once more,’ and follow 
 her. Then, in another minute, you are emptying^ 
 your pockets, amid the ‘ mashallahs ’ of Hanna, 
 Jnrgy, and yoru other friends.” 
 
 January 15. — In the middle of the night we Avere 
 woke by a startling clap of thunder just over our 
 
€H. A'll.] 
 
 Thunderstorm at Night. 
 
 lor 
 
 heads, and by the horses breaking loose and careering 
 wildly about. Another flash and a clap almost 
 together sent Hagar right over ns ; and it is lucky 
 nobody was hurt. Then the rain came down. We 
 thought that we were in for a regular ducking, but 
 fortunately it did not last long enough to wet us 
 tluough, and we slept on again quietly till morning. 
 We resolved, however, to take this as a warning, 
 uud to pitch our tents for the future. They will 
 save ns, at least, from the heavy dews, wliich are 
 almost as bad as rain. 
 
 At daybreak we heard cries and lamentations in 
 the Subkha camp. A man had died in the night, 
 and they were taking him to the top of the hill to 
 buiy him. We asked how old he was. They said 
 
 His beard was not yet white.” 
 
 This has been a short day’s journey ; a good deal 
 of time wasted stalking red geese, only one of which 
 was bagged. While waiting for the bird to bo 
 blown on shore (for it fell into the river) I saw 
 three enormous wild boars on the opposite bank, up 
 Avhich they presently scrambled and disappeared in 
 the tarfa. About midday we came to some lagoons, 
 or perhaps inlets from the river, quite covered with 
 ducks and coots ; and seeing this wo agreed to 
 halt for the day. We have been very busy putting 
 up the tents. Ours looks very comfortable Avith its 
 red lining ; and the prospect of sleeping in it seems 
 an unheard-of luxury after all these nights spent 
 out cf doors. It is just as avcII though, for the sky 
 
102 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vh. 
 
 is very threatening, and it is very cold, Wilfrid 
 came back from exploring the lagoons and a penin- 
 sula beyond tliera, with ducks and woodcocks, and 
 is so pleased with the place that Ave are to stay here 
 the Avhole of to-morrow We saw a good-looking 
 mare to-day hobbled, some way from any tents. 
 She has probably been left on account of some 
 defect by the Anazeh, Avhen they went south. 
 They often do this, it appears, if for any reason 
 their mares cannot traAml, giving part ownership 
 in them to some Subkha, Weldi, or other Ioav 
 Arabs. The neAV OAvner has a right to the first 
 filly born. This mare was very like an English, 
 hunter, but AAdth a better head. She may have 
 been fifteen hands high. 
 
 January 16. — A nice quiet day in spite of the high 
 wind blowing. — Wilfrid out shooting most of the 
 time. I give his bag : — nine francolins, one duck, 
 one teal, one pochard, and three wood pigeons. He 
 also saw a couple of Avolves and an infinite number 
 of waterfowl, but had more Avalking than shooting. 
 However, our kitchen is noAV in fine order. Hdnna 
 has turned out to be a capital cook, and he is very 
 careful of the provisions given him. Our Aleppo 
 bread still holds out Avell, and is eatable enough 
 AAdien toasted. We had it baked hard to start AAuth, 
 Avdiich is the best plan. 
 
 I forgot to say that yesterday Ave passed the 
 graAms of tAVO Germans, murdered four years ago 
 on their way up from Bagdad to Aleppo. They 
 
CH. VII.] 
 
 Mtirder of Two Germans. 
 
 103 
 
 had started, we were told, without any baggage, but 
 were well mounted. The people of Deyr, desirous 
 to get their mares, followed them when they had 
 passed through the town and Avaylaid them. I 
 suppose they made some resistance ; anyhow, here 
 by the wayside their journey ended, and their 
 lives. 
 
 I woke in the night, hearing a sound of lapping 
 in the tent, and found a four-footed animal close to 
 my pilloAV, with its nose in the milk pail. I had 
 no time to think what it Avas, bnt canght it by the 
 hind legs and drove it out. Some think it AA^as a 
 jackal, others a dog. 
 
 January 17. — A Avild morning, flights of geese 
 passing OA^erhead at daybreak, and immense flocks 
 of rooks and jackdaAvs, Avheeling and clamouring, 
 as they do in England before a stomi. We AA^ere 
 half inclined to put off our j oumey again, especially 
 Avhen rain began to fall ; but the tents Avere soon 
 doAATi, and Ave started, Avrapped in our thickest 
 cloaks and overcoats. The road to-day led up the 
 cliffs, and over a long tract of desert, across AAdiich 
 the Avind bleAV pitilessly, and presently it began to 
 snow so thickly that avc could only see a hundred 
 yards or so in front of us. The Avind Avas fortu- 
 nately at our back. There Avas no track Ausiblo ; 
 and it seemed doubtful Avhether any of the party 
 kncAV the right direction ; but avo came upon a 
 shepherd Avho put us right, and by degrees tho 
 storm abated, and before midday tho sun struggled 
 
104 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vn. 
 
 out, and then we got do'wn into the valley again, 
 and halted some minutes under the lee of the 
 cliffs. However, it was no use stopping, as we 
 hope to get to Deyr to-morrow ; and we pushed on 
 all day till near sunset, when we came to a ruined 
 wall at the edge of a tamarisk wood, where there 
 were some tents and a flock of kids feeding under 
 shelter of the wall. We were soon busy making a 
 fire and warming, at least our fingers, if no more. 
 I don’t think I ever remember such a piercing 
 wind, except perhaps when we were snowed up on 
 the Shdtt el Sherghi in Algeria four years ago. 
 It was quite dark before the katterjis arrived, 
 and we were frozen to the bones. How we 
 have got the tents up and are out of the wind. 
 There is nothing so snug as a tent in windy 
 weather, for there are no draughts. It is nearly 
 full moon, and the sky is clear. The tent is already 
 frozen stiff. So are my hands. 
 
 January 18. — The water in the pail under the 
 eaves of the tent had an inch of ice on it tliis 
 morning ; and a rope, wliich had given way during 
 the night, still stuck out straight and stiff where 
 it had broken. Hdnna has enlivened the morning 
 by a little theatrical scene about a piece of cord, 
 secreted by some of the Arabs who have supplied 
 us with milk. These are Agheddat, another low 
 tribe ; and small thefts must, I suppose, be ex- 
 pected. However, Hamia insisted upon the lost 
 article being restored, and appealed to Hr. S. 
 
€H. VII.] 
 
 A Remarkable Horse. 
 
 105 
 
 Seeing tliat the matter was becoming serious, the 
 Aghed^at began to accuse each other, and at 
 last gave up two men as the culprits, and with 
 them the lost cord. It was amusing to hear 
 Haima lecturing these poor thieves on the folly 
 and wickedness of their conduct ; and to see 
 him theatrically fastening horse hobbles to their 
 ancles. Siiliman, more j)ractically inclined, gave 
 each a sound box on the ear ; and there the 
 matter ended. 
 
 These Agheddat, it appears, have some good 
 mares, which they get from the Anazeh ; and there 
 had been some talk over night about an extraordinary 
 horse of the Maneghi Hedruj breed to be seen 
 somewhere in the neighbourhood ; so when, shortly 
 after starting, we met some men who offered to 
 take us to see this beast, we readily agreed to go with 
 them. The Maneghi breed, though much esteemed, 
 is not usually handsome; but this they declared 
 was an exception. “Maneghi ibnSbeyel”* they 
 kept on repeating, in a tone of tenderness, and as 
 if tasting the flavour of each syllable ; for the 
 reverence of blood here amounts to fanaticism. 
 AVe turned out of the track, and went for a mile 
 or so through brushwood, coming at last to an 
 open space where some w'omcn were rolling xip a 
 tent they had just pulled down. The “ goodman ” 
 Avas aAvay, they said, on his horse, gone to borroAV 
 
 * Ibn Sbeyel, of the Gomussa, a triboof Scbaa Anazeh, possesses 
 the most esteemed strain of Mdnegbi Ilednij. 
 
io6 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vn. 
 
 donkeys to move his camp Avith to fresh quarters. 
 A horse of the Maneglii’s nohility could not of 
 course he used for baggage piuposes. We had 
 hardly done talking, when Mohammed appeared, 
 driving half-a-dozen asses in front of him, and 
 mounted on a meek-looking little black pony, all 
 mane and tail. This was the celebrated sue of 
 Avhich we had heard so much ; and I fdel sure that 
 the jpeople about had a real belief in his good 
 qualities, and could not understand why we should 
 find fault, merely on accomit of his looks, with an 
 animal so nobly bred. We did not stop long, but, 
 excusing oiu'selves for our lack of enthusiasm by 
 saying that black was not our lucky colour, we 
 departed. 
 
 We were now determined to reach Deyr to-day, 
 so, leaving the baggage to follow, and sending 
 Suliman forward to announce our arrival, we pushed 
 on. It seemed a long way to our impatience, but 
 at last from some rising ground we caught sight of 
 a point on the horizon which we knew must be the 
 minaret of Deyr. A little later, we met three travel- 
 lers, merchants of Bagdad, the only wayfarers 
 except Ali Beg whom we had met Avith in oiu ten 
 days’ ride, who told us the town was close at hand. 
 Then, as Ave Avere crossing a little plain, behold a 
 caA'alcade of horsemen adAmncing towards us, and 
 in their front, an elegant young gentleman in 
 European clothes aaEo introduced himself as the 
 Pasha’s secretary, and delivered a polite message 
 
cii. vir.] Honoti,rs are thrust tipon tis. 
 
 107 
 
 from liis master entreating ns to honour h im with 
 oiu' company at the Serai, where the oxen and fat- 
 lings had been killed for us, and all things were 
 ready. This we were not at all prepared for ; and 
 we at first hoped that some compromise might 
 be come to in the way of pitching onr tents in the 
 Pasha’s neighbourhood; hut the young man was 
 inexorable, and would hear of nothing less than an 
 unconditional acceptance. So we consented, and 
 "Wilfrid, rising to the dignity of the occasion, 
 assumed all possible gravity in answering the 
 salute of the fifteen men, who represent the military 
 force of the Pashalik, di’awn up by the roadside in 
 onr honour. !N’ext, a deputation of the principal 
 townsmen, on their best horses, and in fact every- 
 hody who could get up a four-footed beast, came out 
 to escort us to the toAvn, forming a cavalcade of 
 some forty or fifty horsemen. These from time to 
 time, and instigated by the young man who again 
 led the way on his sorry nag with his trowsers 
 much tucked up and showing a pair of neat “ side- 
 spring boots,” started to perform the fantasia^ the 
 common form of polite welcome among Turks and 
 Arabs alike. This I need not describe. Lastty, at 
 the first house of the town, mounted on a handsome 
 black mule with trappings and tassels of black and 
 gold, and attended by half a dozen servants, stood 
 Ilis Excellency Hiiseyn Pasha waiting in state to 
 receive us. There was no refusing such noble offers 
 of entertainment, so wo are now at the Serai, not 
 
io8 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vn. 
 
 altogether loath, after all, to exchange onr rough 
 life out of doors for clean rooms ■with carpets spread, 
 and, oh luxury ! in an inner chamber the parapher- 
 nalia of an almost Christian bed ! ” 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 “ This accident may, at least, serve as a warning for us all, to let well alone.’*- ■ 
 Mabia. Edgewoeth. 
 
 Huseyn Pasha’s paternal government — The Ottoman policy in^ 
 the Desert — “ Divide et impera” — We are placed under surveil- 
 lance, and hospitably thwarted in our design of visiting the 
 iGiazeh — Deyr, the best market for pure Arabian horses — 
 Pirst talk of the Shammar — Their hero, Abd-ul-Kerim, his 
 adventures and death — They threaten Deyr — A dishonest 
 zaptieh— I fall into a well, and am rescued — Wo depart for 
 Bagdad. 
 
 Htjseyn Pasha, Governor of Deyr, is a man of 
 fifty or tliereabonts, with a dignified exterior, and 
 decidedly handsome features, in spite of a grizzled 
 beard and of the inevitable button which afflicts all 
 faces in these regions. He is an Aleppine by bu’th, 
 and in sympathy is an Arab rather than a Turk, 
 being only Ottoman in so far as he represents the 
 traditional policy of the Empire by paternally mis- 
 governing his province. I do not say this to his 
 discredit, for I believe him to be as honest an 
 official as can be found between Aleppo and Diis- 
 sora ; but the Turkish Government has never sanc- 
 tioned any other system of administration in Arabia 
 than one of opj)ression towards the weak and deceit 
 towards the strong. This Iliiseyn loyally carries 
 
no Bedoiiin Tribes of the Eiiphrates. [ch. vnr. 
 
 out. In manner lie has all the courtesy of the Turk 
 joined to something of the Arab frankness, which 
 impressed us very favomubly, and made us hesitate 
 in the final adoption of a title for him wliich more 
 than once suggested itself to us, that of the faux 
 honliomme. I am still ashamed to say anything but 
 what is good of a host so hospitable and a protector 
 so lavish of kmd protestations as was this amiable 
 muteslierif ; and, if it were possible to dissociate his 
 early reception of us from the tiresome insincerity 
 of his subsequent behaviour, I should say that he 
 Avas one of the best and kindest friends we met ivith 
 on our travels. A disagreeable suspicion, however, 
 recurs, as I ivrite, that from the first his hospitality 
 was not altogether without motiA^e. I sometimes 
 fancy that, even before our arriAml at Deyr, he must 
 have had notice of the object of our journey, and 
 received a hint to throAV pleasant obstacles in our 
 Avay, and that, being a shreAvd man, as Orientals 
 are shreAvd, he had resolved on a little plan of 
 action which should load us Avith civilities and 
 polite attentions from the outset, and conduct us in 
 the end AAuth all honour and dispatch to the nearest 
 pouit of his frontier. K’or is this improbable. 
 
 The Turkish Giovernment has ahvays been very 
 jealous of foreign intrigues among the Bedouin 
 tribes, Avhom it is their policy to keep as children 
 in ignorance of all that passes in the outer world. 
 It has equally been their policy to soav dissensions 
 among them ; and, as I haA'e already described, by 
 
CH. VIII.] 
 
 Pate^mal Govermne^it. 
 
 1 1 r 
 
 good fortune or good management, tlie most 
 dangerous tribes were tbis Avinter hotly engaged 
 in ciyil war. It would be a pity, the authorities 
 doubtless thought, that so satisfactory a state of 
 things should be interfered with by mere busy- 
 bodies from Europe, who might possibly inform 
 the Bedouins of the ill turn things had taken for 
 the Sultan in Bulgaria, and of the denuded state 
 of the garrison to’svns and military roads of Syria. 
 “ Divide and rule ” was an excellent motto ; and 
 Etu’opeans had before now attempted to unite the 
 tribes against Ottoman rnle, or patch up peaces 
 between them ont of foolish humanitarian motives. 
 Moreover, any day might bring the news of a crisis 
 in the affairs of the Empire ; and England was 
 laiOAvn to have her eye on the Enpln-ates. What 
 then more likely than that ours should be a semi- 
 official mission, to spy out the nakedness of the 
 land ? A British Consul Avould hardly have come 
 so far from his post without political motive ; and 
 Mr. S. was with us. Hiiseyn, Avise in his gene- 
 ration, may Avell haA^e argued in this Avay. Only 
 he Avould liaAm been Aviser still if he could haA'c 
 guessed that honesty in dealing Avith us Avould 
 be the best policy, and that, by sending ns under 
 pledge of silence to the Arabs, he Avoidd have 
 gained all his object. The details of his plan, if 
 plan there Avas, Avcrc ably carried out. Ilis hos- 
 pitality Avas absolute and complete, as that of any 
 desert Sheykh. lie Avould alloAV no Avord or 
 
1 12 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vm. 
 
 suggestion of our occupying any other house but 
 his O'wn, or of our pitching tents and living outside 
 the towm. “That would do him too great dis- 
 honour.” He had ah’eady abandoned his ovti 
 apartment to us, and had hu-ed a room for himself 
 elsewhere. We should stay a week, ten days, a 
 month, the whole winter, with him, and he should 
 still be less than satisfied. He was our servant 
 and valdl (agent) in all that we might require at 
 Deyr, whether horses, if we wished to buy them, 
 or mules and provisions for the road, when the 
 time should come. But of this he would not speak. 
 A feast was ready for us indoors, and the wind was 
 blowing furiously down the street. Even Wilfrid 
 allowed that oru' vow of spending the whole winter 
 ont of doors must be broken here. “At> liatj 
 rimcdioi'’ We consented, and were at once installed 
 in onr honourable captivity. Once within the walls 
 of the Serai, Ave Avere of course under our host’s 
 eye, and nobody could come in or go out AAuthout 
 Ins sanction. It would be difficult for us to com- 
 municate Avith the toAATLspeople of Deyr, except 
 tlu’ongh the Pasha’s seiwants; and no agent of 
 Jcddan’s AA^as likely to A^enture inside His Excel- 
 lency’s coiu’tyard to gHe us information. Mr. S., 
 fatigued AAuth the joinney, Avould be only too 
 Avilling to stay quietly indoors ; and aa'c Avere 
 strange to the Avays and language of the place, and 
 could not go about alone asking questions in the 
 bazaar. All information, then, could be cooked for 
 
€ir. VI ir.] 
 
 Htlseyn Pasha’s Advice. 
 
 1 1 
 
 us, before being served up, and we were practically 
 lielpless. That this was the case we afterwards 
 had ample proof. All the Sheykhs of importance 
 have spies and correspondents in the town, Avho, 
 if we had been encamped outside the town, would 
 at once have come to us, hearing the report of our 
 intended journey; but Huseyn, as we discovered 
 later, gave orders to have strange Arabs carefully 
 “ consignes ” at his door. It was impossible to get 
 anyone to speak on the subject of Jeddan. 
 
 Husejui himself was an agreeable talker, but 
 conversed more readily with Mr. S. in Turkish, the 
 ■official language, (no employe., were he from I^ejd, 
 would speak Arabic) than in Arabic on the subject 
 of mu* visit to the Anazeh. He could not recom- 
 mend onr even attempting it in the present state of 
 things. "War, as we knew, was raging in the Syrian 
 desert, wliich was infested 'with gJiazus, or marauding 
 parties, of forty or fifty men each, over wdiom Jedaan 
 himself had no control. From these the Pasha 
 could of course give us no security. It was all 
 he could do to preserve his communications with 
 Pagdad. Moreover, Jeddan’s position was exceed- 
 ingly precarious. He had beaten the Eoala ; but 
 these had gone to the Jof to get help from Ibn 
 Pashid, who might any day appear in the Hamdd. 
 The Shdmmar of Mesopotamia were in arms, and 
 sure to attack him as soon as they saw their 
 opportunity ; and lastly, there was a split among 
 the Sebaa themselves. Pcsidcs all this, it was too 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 I 
 
I ] 4 Bcdotiin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. -viir.. 
 
 late. Jeddan was gone from Bishari, “and who' 
 Imows where the Bedouins are, when once they 
 move ? ” They were probably by this time far away 
 south pursuing the Eoala. "We should do better 
 to stay quietly at Deyr with him, the Pasha, for a 
 month, when the Anazeh would be coming north 
 again, dming all which time he would be oiu’ soli- 
 citous and grateful host. Then, when the tribes- 
 had renewed their rayamdn with the Government 
 (an annual convention for trading purposes), he 
 would, inshallah, take us himself to Jedaan. “ In- 
 shallah” was all we could answer, thanking the 
 Pasha for his kindness. 
 
 In the meauAvhile, we Avere treated AAuth almost 
 royal honours. A guard of honour had orders to 
 attend us AA^erever Ave should go, on foot or on 
 horseback, outside the gates of the Serai ; and the 
 inhabitants of the toAAui, little inclined as Arabs 
 are to shoAV respect to j)ersons, Avere constrained to 
 stand up as Ave passed in the streets, a rather tire- 
 some piece of ceremony to us, who Avould rather have 
 made friends Avith them. "We felt inclined to say, 
 en hons princes — “Thank you, good people, for 
 your loyalty, but do sit doAvn.” 
 
 Our first day AVas doA^oted to receiving deputa- 
 tions, alAA^ays hoAA'ever in presence of oiu’ host. 
 First there Avere the toAAm councillors, grave elderly 
 Arabs in Bedouin dress (for here the Syrian tunic 
 and turban are unknoAvm), aaEo came in barefooted, 
 and sat uncomfortably on the edges of the Pasha’s 
 
CH. viii.j Greatness is thrtist upon tis. 115 
 
 cliairs, or on tlie ground, according to their rank on 
 the “local hoard.” From these no information 
 could he had, except that Jedaan was “ hey id ^ 
 heyid^ andi el Hamad'''’ (far, far away in the desert). 
 Then there were Christians, of whom there is a popu- 
 lation of about a hundred at Deyr, headed by their 
 priest, a long-nosed Chaldean from Mdsnl, who 
 were more familiar and more talkative. These alt 
 had grievances. They had come from their homes 
 at Aleppo or Mosul to make money, and had not 
 made enough. They sought our protection for the 
 recoA’ery of had debts. Then there was the army, 
 represented by a lieutenant ; and a man who had 
 farmed the taxes of last year, and could not get his 
 aiTears paid on account of the war; and women, 
 — bnt here onr patience was exhausted, and we 
 begged that the rest might come another day. 
 
 In the afternoon we rode a little way from the 
 toAvn to exercise the horses, who seemed to he as 
 much in want of fresh air as we were ourselves. 
 My horse had broken out into a sort of rash caused 
 by the hot stable, and Ilagar seemed to have caught 
 a cold. W c went towards the hills, which are hero 
 about a mile back from the river, and got what 
 view was to be had of the to'wn. Deyr is built of 
 mud and, like most of the villages on the upper 
 Euphrates Avhich we afterwards saAV, stands in a 
 dreary Avildernoss. The river, picturesque as it 
 generally is, Avith its Avild tamarisk Avoods and 
 glades of grass, is bare and hideous Avherever the 
 
ii6 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vm. 
 
 Arabs have made a permanent settlement. The 
 sites also are usnally the least interesting, being 
 chosen for some agricultural advantage, an island, 
 or a low alluvial tract near enough to the river level 
 to be easily irrigated. The ancient cities, as we 
 see by their remains, were, on the contrary, perched 
 on commanding positions on the clifi ; and this pro- 
 bably represents a difference hi circumstances be- 
 tween the past and present divellers in the valley. 
 Formerly, as I imagine, the towns defied the 
 Bedouins of the desert round them ; now they pay 
 them tribute and live on sufferance. This was 
 certainly true till a few years back. The conse- 
 quence is, the villages lie undefended and without 
 regard to strategical position. They seem to 
 depend on their poverty for protection. Deyr is 
 especially uninteresting. Even the river loses its 
 dignity there, being in fact but a narrow branch, 
 the main channel passing on the other side of a low 
 flat island, made hideous by rude attempts at culti- 
 vation. All is bare for miles round, except where 
 the ground is broken by patches of ill-ploughed, ill- 
 sown, ill- watered fields of barley. Nature may be 
 hard-featured in the desert, but here it has been 
 made repulsive, as a plain face is by painting. The 
 town itself stands on a little eminence, its omi 
 ruins ; for there is evidence of its antiquity in the 
 mounds and traces of canals which extend behind 
 it, while the wilderness of graves around is that of 
 a large city. 
 
CH. 
 
 Deyr as a Horse Market. 
 
 117 
 
 Deyr has been further disfigured by the ein- 
 bellishmeuts of an enterprising Pasha, who gave 
 it, some few years ago, a grotesque imitation of 
 a Eiu’opean faubourg. That is to say, a broad 
 straight road was traced, with a barrack, a “ public 
 garden ” enclosed with an iron railing, and half-a- 
 dozen hoiises Avith a second story. The principal of 
 these is the Serai. Outside the towoi, among the 
 graA'es, if the evening is fine, Avomen AAmlk or sit ; 
 boys throAV stones, or play at rounders and hockey, 
 AAdiile young men ride about cantering in eights, to 
 break in the colts they have bought from the 
 Anazeh, and teach them to change their leg easily. 
 This is the only cheerful sight. 
 
 Dejn* is Avell knoAAOi as a horse market, and is 
 perhaps the only toAAm north of Jebel Shammar 
 AAdiere the inhabitants have any general knoAvledge 
 of the blood and breeding of the beasts they 
 possess. The toAvnsmen indeed are but a single 
 step removed from the Pedouins, their undoubted 
 ancestors, and haA'e presoiwed all the inejudices 
 and beliefs common to the desert tribes almost 
 untouched. They usually purchase their colts as 
 yearlings, either from the Gomnssa or some other 
 of the Sebtia tribes, and, haAung broken them 
 thoroughly, sell them at three years old to the 
 Aleppo merchants. They occasionally too haA'c 
 mares left AA'ith them in partnership by the Anazeh ; 
 and from these they breed according to the strictest 
 desert rules. It is therefore, for a stranger, by 
 
1 1 8 Bedoidn Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. vm. 
 
 far the best market for thoroughbreds in Asia; and 
 yon may see some of the best blood at Deyr that 
 can be found anywhere, besides having a guarantee 
 of its authenticity, impossible under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances at Damascus or Aleppo. There are, I 
 may say, no horses at Deyr but thoroughbreds. We 
 made several purchases, a chestnut mare, Saadeh 
 Togan, well-known, as we afterwards found, in all 
 the desert round as one of the handsomest and 
 best but thought to be barren ; a tlmee year old bay 
 filly, Maneghieh Slaji, which beat Ilagar over a half 
 mile, and a pony mare, also Maneghieh, for which 
 we exchanged the horse I had been riding, as it was 
 thought more convenient that we should have only 
 mares upon our journey. All these at very mode- 
 rate prices, thanks to the penniless state of the 
 country, the scarcity of purchasers, and our friend 
 Iliiseyn’s kind authority. Suliman, the Turkish 
 zaptieh, negotiated the purchase of the first, which 
 gives too good a trait of mamiers to be omitted. 
 The mare belonged to a liojja., or learned man of 
 the town, who had had. her some years, but could 
 not ride her on account of her high spirits ; and who, 
 finding that she had failed the last two years to 
 produce a foal, was anxious to sell her.‘“' Suliman, 
 Avithout letting him knoiv the name of the purchaser, 
 agreed with him on a price ; the money named Avas 
 piaid, and he Avas sent to hand it OA^er to the OAAUier. 
 
 Dut the Turk could not find it in his heart to 
 
 * This is almost always a reason for selling. 
 
*CH. VIII. J 
 
 Saliman zs Dishonest. 
 
 119 
 
 let liim have all the money, and kept hack five 
 pounds. The hojja complained, and came to ns 
 for the mare, saying he would have her back ; 
 whereupon it was discovered that another fraud of 
 ten pounds had been committed on ourselves, the 
 man having, in fact, received fifteen pounds less 
 than the sum we had given to Suliman. This 
 tale is typical, not only of the dishonesty, but 
 .still more of the stupidity of the ordinary zaptieh„ 
 If Siiliman could have been content with cheating 
 us, nothing would have ever come to light about 
 it ; but his greediness spoilt all. The Pasha was 
 very grave when he heard what had happened, 
 saying that it brought disgrace upon his house ; 
 and he made the sergeant refund the money. 
 Suliman did this reluctantly, pleading that he had 
 a wife and children to support. Wilfrid would 
 have given the ten pounds to the poor man who 
 had been cheated, but Huseyn begged that the 
 matter might drop there. The man had had his 
 money. So we were fain to be content, and eveax 
 to forgive Suliman, who came next day Avitli ashes 
 on his head and a face of repentance. I am sorry 
 we did so, as he afterwards proved quite unworthy. 
 Dishonesty in money matters is not confined to 
 Turkey, I fear ; but less shame is attached to 
 being found out there than with us. We after- 
 wards discovered that the miserable sergeant had 
 not only made this large coup about the mare, bxit 
 liad kept most of the small sums, mej idles and 
 
1 20 Bedoum Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. vm. 
 
 besliliks, ■wliich we had entrusted to him during 
 our journey from Aleppo, as payment for milk and 
 bread, in the places where we had stopped. 
 
 Hiiseyn had several horses and mares in his 
 stables which he was proud to show us ; but, 
 except on such occasions, they never left their 
 mangers, as he is a timid rider, and afraid to trust 
 others on their backs. Among the rest, he had a 
 fine Hamdani Simri, badly broken-laieed ; but 
 broken knees are a defect no one here considers of 
 consequence. I suppose the horses who have them 
 are thrown dovm as colts ; for, when full grovm, 
 no Arabian ever falls, however careless he may be 
 about tripping. During all our travels we never 
 saw an accident of this sort. hTow I retium to my 
 journal. 
 
 Sundap, January 20. — K’ew plans. The Pasha 
 assures us that it is quite out of the question our 
 going to the Anazeh at present, and proposes- 
 instead that, as we are unwilling to stay longer 
 than need be at Deyr, we should pay a visit to tlm 
 Shammar in Mesopotamia. We are loath to 
 abandon our original plan; but the main feature 
 of it, the visit to Jebel Shammar, is at any rate 
 impossible this year ; for, whatever else is doubt- 
 ful, it seems certain that Jechian cannot now go 
 nearly so far south. Indeed we are beginning to 
 think that the tale of the Anazeh going there at all 
 is untrue. Por myself, I am quite as ready for the 
 new plan, thinking that we should be doing a 
 
CH. yiii.] 
 
 Shaniinar Politics. 
 
 121 
 
 foolish thing to entangle oni’selves just now in the 
 Anazeh disputes. 
 
 The Pasha has explained to ns the political 
 position of the Mesopotamian Shaminar. They 
 are a large and powerful tribe, indeed the only 
 fighting tribe east of the Euphrates; and have 
 been the rivals and enemies of the Anazeh ever 
 since they first came into the country. Their 
 Sheykh is Ferhan ibn Sfuk, in whose family the 
 dignity of chief is hereditary. Fie is on good 
 terms with the government, and has lately been 
 made a Pasha, Avith an allowance from the Pashalik 
 of Bagdad of about £3000 a year. In considera- 
 tion of this, he has engaged to keep his people 
 quiet and, if possible, to induce them to settle 
 doAvm as cultivators in the valley of the Tigris, 
 giving the example himself by living at Sherghat, 
 a place about sixty miles south of Mosul. Huseyn 
 lioweA-er thinks that there is more shoAV than 
 reality in the arrangement, as far as Ferhan is 
 concerned. It is certain that the Shammar are 
 not at all pleased Avith the Sheykh’ s submission. 
 They look upon him Avith some contempt even, as 
 he is the son of a Bagdad Avoman, and talks 
 Turkish, Avhieh he learned at Constantinople many 
 years ago, Avhen he Avas hostage there. The more 
 independent members of the tribe seceded long ago 
 from Ferhan, and put themselves under his half 
 brother Abd ul Kerim, about Avhom avc have already 
 heard many stories. 
 
122 Beaouin, Iribes of the Etiphrates. [cn. vm. 
 
 As Abd ul Kerim is a great liero in recent 
 Bedonin Instoiy, I may as "well put doATO here all we 
 afterwards learned of him. His mother Avas of the 
 Ta'i, a tribe held to be most noble by the Bedouins, 
 though tributary to the Shaniinar; and on this 
 account he AA^as preferred by his people to Ferhan. 
 He led them in all their AA^ars ; and, as long as he 
 lived, his elder brother had no authority out of 
 Bagdad. He appears to have been of that chival- 
 rous type so much admired by the Bedouins, open- 
 handed, generous and braA'e. He neA'er Avould make 
 j)eace AAuth the Turks, and they often suffered 
 severely at his hands. He and Jedaan had knoAAm 
 each other as children, being of the same age, and 
 Jedaan had been sent during one of them truces 
 (for the Shammar and Fedtian are ahvays enemies) 
 to stay some months, as a sort of pledge of peace, 
 in the tent of Abd ul Kerim’s father Sfuk. Abd 
 ul K^rim had indeed been a sort of patron of 
 Jedaan’ s in early life, haAung gwen him money 
 and camels, and set him up, more than once, Avhen 
 Jedaan had got into difficulties ; but afterwards 
 the hereditary hostility of their tribes made them 
 enemies. Jedaan, from haAuug been a poor man 
 of no particular account among his people, rose, 
 through his skill and braA’ery, to be leader of the 
 Fedaan, and then of the AA'hole Anazeh clan ; and 
 consequently, he and Abd ul Kerim Avere at con- 
 stant rivalry and AA^ar. On one occasion, Jedaan 
 Avith fifty folloAvers AAms surprised and surrounded 
 
cir. VIII.] 
 
 Add td Kdrim’s Mare. 
 
 123 
 
 ■at nightfall by a large body of Shammar, Avho, as 
 the custom is in the desert, waited till daylight to 
 make their attack. The Fedaan had little chance of 
 escape, and were resigning themselves to capture 
 and spoliation in the morning, for their mares Avere 
 tired and the enemy was fresh, Avhen, in the 
 middle of the night, a man came to them from the 
 Shammar Avith a message to Jedaan from Abd nl 
 K4rim. He AA'as riding a AAdiite mare ; and the 
 message was to the following effect : Abd nl 
 
 Iverim, in token of their ancient friendship, sends 
 his OAATi mare to Jedaan, begging that he Avill ride 
 her to-morroAV. She is the best in all the Shammar 
 camp,” Thus mounted, Jedaan fought his losing 
 battle the next day, but escaped capture, thanks to 
 Abd ul Kerim’s mare, his men being all taken 
 prisoners. The story takes us back to the days of 
 Saladin. 
 
 Abd ul Kerim AA^as a proud man, and took eA^ery 
 opportunity of insulting and annoying the Turks, 
 sending the Valy of Bagdad back Avithout receiA’ing 
 him, one day AAdien he came out to Ausit him. He 
 AA'as therefore looked upon as a mere outlaw at 
 Bagdad. To this he OAA’cd his death. The circum- 
 stances, as I heard them related, Avcre as folloAvs : 
 
 Abd ul Kch-im Avas in loA'e Avith a cousin of his 
 OAAui, a daughter of his mother’s brother, and conse- 
 quently a Tai, aaJio Avas equally attached to him ; 
 
 * The Tai women are reputed tlie most beautiful of any in tho 
 Desert, 
 
124 Bedotdn Tribes of the Etiphratcs. [cu. vm. 
 
 and lie had intended to many lier ; bnt, for some 
 reason not explained, she was given by her father 
 to another snitor. The girl sent a message to Abd 
 nl K^rim, telling him what had happened, and beg- 
 ging him to take her away from her new husband. 
 This the lover made haste to do, arriviag with all 
 possible speed, and followed by twenty horsemen. 
 But the plot was discovered; and, when Abd ul 
 Kerim anived, he found the husband there with Ms 
 friends, who, drawing his sword, cut the girl in pieces 
 before Ms eyes, calling out to him, “You wanted 
 her. Look, she is yours to take or to leave.” What 
 happened at that moment I do not know ; but Abd 
 ul Kerim seems to have gone crazy for a wMle, and 
 to have roamed about the country for several days 
 destroying everyone he met. They say (but this of 
 coiu’se is an exaggeration) that he sacked forty vil- 
 lages. On this the governor of Mosul sent out a 
 large army to attack him, and he was chiven south 
 across the EupMates, into the Mdnteflk country, 
 where he took refuge with Kassr, the Montetik 
 Sheykh, who, being on good terms with the Govern- 
 ment, sent him prisoner to Bagdad. He was for- 
 warded thence to Mosul, Avhere the Pasha hanged 
 him publicly on the bridge, like a common felon. 
 The news of Abd xd Kerim’s death spread conster- 
 nation through Mesopotamia ; and, for a time, the 
 independent Shammar seemed permanently broken ; 
 and, there being no other of the Sfiik family old 
 enough to be their leader, Ferhan regamed his 
 
€ 11 . 
 
 We first hear of Farts. 
 
 125 
 
 credit, and was once more acknowledged Slieykli of 
 the whole tribe. Meanwhile the Tai Avoinan, Ahd 
 id Kdrim’s mother, a person of great dignity and 
 influence, fled with her youngest son Faris and 
 the rest of her belongings, into FTejd, Avhere they 
 remained tAVO years or more. I!^oaa', hoAA^ever, they 
 liaA'e returned, and Faris is gradually resuming 
 his brother’s position, all the more Avarlike of 
 the Shammar liaYing jomed him. But of this 
 later. 
 
 Faris, it appears, is a young man of high 
 spirit and of great personal attractions, “a great 
 schemer,” the Pasha says, and has succeeded in 
 getting together a large number of folloAA^ers avIio 
 live independently of Ferhan and of all other con- 
 trol, in the northern half of Mesopotamia. He 
 Avould be an interesting person to see, especially 
 as he has probably iieA^er spoken to a European 
 in his life. The Pasha thinks he might send a 
 message to him proposing a Ausit. That Avould 
 be much better than going to Jedaan, and I 
 th ink it probable Ave shall do it. Otheiwise 
 there seems nothing possible but to go to Bagdad. 
 The difficulty is to get started AAuth the tribes, as 
 Avithout help or introduction of some sort, it is im- 
 possible to go to them. "WhateATr Ave do had 
 better bo done quickly, as 'VYilfrid is fretting at 
 this life indoors. 
 
 Janiiarij 21. — A noAV complication has arisen, 
 and I really begin to suspect that the I’asha docs 
 
126 Bedouin Bribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. vm.. 
 
 not intend ns to go anywhere but back to Aleppo.. 
 A man came in this morning with news that a band 
 of Shammar have made a pounce on the Buggara, a 
 small pastoral tribe occupying the left bank of the- 
 Euphrates, just opposite Deyr, and have carried oft 
 eighteen mares and five thousand sheep. It sounds, 
 rather like an excuse for putting ofi our new expedi- 
 tion ; but the Pasha appears really frightened. He- 
 talks of Deyr being sacked, as indeed it might be any 
 day by the smallest tribe in the country, and has- 
 sent off a messenger to Aleppo threatening to resign 
 his post if not speedily supjjorted by troops. He- 
 has got just fifteen men here, including Suliman 
 and the others who came with us, and, though he 
 has plenty of arms and ammunition, he cannot get 
 any of the townspeople to come forward and help in 
 the defence. He has sent a message to the tovm 
 council ofiering arms to all Avho will enroll them- 
 selves ; but the councillors have prudently sent ne 
 answer. I suppose they are not so frightened as the- 
 Pasha. Wilfrid suggests ditches being dug across- 
 the ends of the streets, or still better, that negotia- 
 tions be entered into at once with Paris, who is only 
 fifty or sixty miles off. It appears that it was not 
 his men who took the Buggara sheep, but people- 
 from the south under Mijuel, one of Ferhan’s sons, 
 who are on bad terms Avith Paris; and Mr. S. 
 thiuks that Paris might be induced to help the- 
 Government agahist his ncjfiiCAA", if properly ap- 
 plied to. 
 
CH. Ylll.] 
 
 Bedei' Agu wants his Pay. 
 
 i2y 
 
 January 22, — Another story of marauders, 
 Mfjuel, according to report, came yesterday and 
 claimed tribute from some tents close to Deyr. 
 Each tent had to gAe a carpet, a sheep, or a sack 
 of barley. The Pasha is more than ever frightened 
 and perplexed. Wilfrid suggests that we should go 
 on a mission to Paris ; hut this Hiiseyn will not hear 
 of, without first sending a messenger. He sent for 
 Beder Aga, the captain of the zaptiehs, and told him, 
 in our presence, to get ready for a long ride, and then 
 VTote a letter to the effect that, “ if Paris wished to 
 gain favour in the eyes of the Government, now was 
 his time. Deyr was just now without troops ; but 
 some were expected, and, in the meantime, Paris 
 would do well to keep the country quiet ; he would 
 be paid for it, and would earn the Pasha’s grati- 
 tude.” A postscript was added, so Hiiseyn assured 
 ns, informing Paris of our desire to make his ac- 
 quaintance and intention of paying him a visit, 
 Beder Aga took the letter, and then sat down, as 
 if awaiting orders. “You understand,” Hiiseyn 
 said, “you are to take it to Paris.” “Yes, 
 Etfendi.” “And you are to go at once.” “Yes, 
 Effendi.” “ How directly.” “ Yes, Effendi.” 
 “Then why don’t you go?” — Beder Aga made 
 no answer, hut held out his right hand, moi'ing the 
 thumb and fingers suggestively, as if counting 
 money. The Pasha was silent. “ How am I to 
 go ?” says Beder Aga. “Why, on horseback, to 
 be .sure,” says Ilis Excellency, “And my ivifo 
 
128 Bedouin Tribes of tJte Euphrates, [ch. vm. 
 
 and cliildren, are they to go too ? ” “Of course 
 not.” “ They must have something to eat then. 
 Give me a month’s pay of my arrears, and a month 
 for each of my men.” Hiiseyn seemed embarrassed, 
 “l^onsense,” he said, “what do yon want Avith so 
 much ? Take a week’s pay.” The captain saluted 
 and went out in silence. 
 
 Wilfrid has been shooting to-day on a small 
 island, and came home Avith a dozen francolins. He 
 saw several boars. 
 
 January 23. — I haA^e just had a wonderful escape. 
 We were all riding quietly doAAm the high street 
 of Deyr this morning with tAVO zaptiehs fol- 
 loAving ; AAdien, AAnthout the slightest Avarning, and 
 in vieAV of everyone, I disappeared, mare and all, 
 into the ground. It was like the stories of people 
 being SAAmlloAved up in earthquakes. I had no time 
 to think or to call out. Doavii Ave Avent AAitli the 
 soil from the street above pattering on my head, as 
 it seemed to me, into the boAvels of the earth. It 
 Avas a Avell which Omar Pasha, in his modern im- 
 provement of widening the street, had lightly 
 bridged over AAdth planks, and left, a pitfall for the 
 unAA^aiy. The planks had rotted aAvay and we fell 
 through. Portunately the well Avas not deep, and 
 the recent rains had filled it Avdth mud. With my 
 arms stretched up, I could just reach the hands 
 which were stretched doAATi to me from aboA^e, and 
 AAms out in an instant. With the mare it Avas a 
 more difficult matter. Poor beast, she Avas AA^edged 
 
CH. VIII.] 
 
 Adventure in a Well. 
 
 129 
 
 so tight that she could not even struggle, and had 
 to vait there an horu’ or more before she could be 
 dug out. A sloping way was made to the bottom 
 of the well, and then ropes were passed round her, 
 and she was dragged up the incline by main force. 
 "When initied, she jumped to her feet and neighed, 
 having till then made no attempt at struggling. A 
 human being could not have shown greater sense. 
 In the midst of onr anxieties, the good Pasha 
 arrived, shaking his head ruefully with an expres- 
 sion of being dreadfully shocked at such an accident 
 having occurred under his jurisdiction. “ Wah., 
 tv ah., tv ah P'’ he repeated, holding up his hands “ Oh 
 dear, oh dear, oh dear ! ” 
 
 The Pasha’s house is certainly very well ordered. 
 He has a capital butler and a caj)ital cook, and all his 
 other servants are attentive and polite. The stable 
 is liberally provided Avith all that horses can Avant, 
 and our mares are getting fat and frisky. "We 
 keep them out of doors, in spite of the cold Aveather, 
 snoAV and rain, much to the horror of the head- 
 groom ; but they certainly do better so AAdien Avell 
 clothed, and ours haA’e three blankets, the outer 
 one reaching to the heels. In travelling it does 
 not do to let beasts sleep out of doors one night 
 and in the next. The open air is ahvays best for 
 them ; but they ought, except in A'ery hot Aveathcr, 
 to be thickly clothed. Want of sleep at night 
 makes horses thin sooner than Avant of food. Be- 
 sides the blankets, our mares have coats of their 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 K 
 
130 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. \'iir. 
 
 own a good inch long, and we never clean or dress 
 them in any way. They look rough, but they keep 
 in health. 
 
 January 24. — Beder Aga has not returned, if 
 he ever went, nor has the Pasha alluded in any 
 way to his message to Paris. I think the whole 
 thing was, perhaps, a mystification, to turn our 
 attention from Jedaan and the Anazeh ; or he may 
 have repented when he saw that we took the 
 proposal seriously. Now he only talks of our 
 going on to Bagdad, and even Mr. S. thinks 
 this will be best. He cannot himself go further 
 with us, as his consular district ends here. It 
 seems an “impotent conclusion” to our vast ambi- 
 tions ; but we console ourselves, as the French did 
 after the battle of Worth. Nous reculons pour 
 mieux sauteri’’ The Pasha thinks of nothing but 
 the possible sack of Deyr and his own forlorn 
 position far away from house and home. He has 
 none of his family with him here, and is a true 
 Aleppine in his horror of the desert and fear of 
 danger. “ Why, why did I leave my home ? ” is 
 the burden of his complaint. “ What false ambi- 
 tion lured me, what love of the name of Pasha ? 
 Woe worth the day, woe worth the hour when I 
 turned my face from Aleppo and came out to die 
 in this wilderness.” We know not how to comfort 
 him, our hearts being all in the desert and not at 
 all in the tovm. He talks of packing up and going, 
 if not speedily relieved from anxiety by the arrival 
 
cir. VIII.] We Resolve to go to Bagdad. 1 3 1 
 
 of troops. We and our affairs are quite forgotten 
 in this deeper grief. 
 
 January 25. — A caravan, escorted by some 
 soldiers, has arrived from Aleppo. It will go on 
 to-morrow for Bagdad, and we, in despair of any- 
 thing better, have agreed to travel mth it. We 
 cannot stay all the winter at Deyr, — it is too 
 terribly dull; — and we may as well occupy the 
 time, between this and the return of the Anazeh 
 northwards, in seeing the lower portion of the 
 river and the city of the Caliphs. Mr. S. will at 
 the same time retium to Aleppo, promising to meet 
 ns here again the first week in March, and this 
 time really take us to Jedaan. We are to try in 
 the meanwhile to get to our friends, the Shammar, 
 tlu’ough Colonel Ifixon’s help at Bagdad. The 
 Pasha there must have troops to send with us, if he 
 likes to do so. It seems a roundabout way to go 
 to work through Bagdad, which is three hundred 
 miles away from the direction we wish to take ; but 
 I have some confidence that, when thrown entirely 
 on our oum resources, we shall manage better than 
 now when we are under tutelage. Wilfrid, of 
 course, has hitherto left all arrangements to the 
 Consul, who knows the country, which he does 
 not ; but, when shifting for ourselves, we have 
 never yet been prevented from going where wo 
 had a mind to. So we hope for the best. 
 
 Noav that it is settled we are to go to Bagdad, 
 the Pasha is most energetic in hastening our pro- 
 
132 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [oh. vin. 
 
 parations of departure. "We have hired two mules 
 for the baggage and a pony for Hanna, paying a 
 thousand piastres, £8, for the whole journey, half 
 in advance. "We wordd gladly buy beasts instead 
 of hiring, and be independent ; but we promise our- 
 selves that luxury at Bagdad. There we shall get 
 camels and go where we like and do what we like. 
 The great thing now is to escape from Deyr, where 
 we feel as in a prison. 
 
 A colonel of regulars, with twenty men, mounted 
 on mules, has arrived from Tudmor to reinforce the 
 garrison here ; so Hiiseyn Pasha is happier again. 
 He will also be able to send three or four men with 
 the caravan, which starts to-morrow morning. "We 
 are leaving our heavier luggage here, many of the 
 things required for our expedition to the Jebel 
 Shammar being now unnecessary. Mr. S.’s tent 
 too will stop here, and our own things go into two 
 large bags we had made in England for the purpose, 
 — ^just a mule load, — the tents and provisions on the 
 second mule, and Hanna on the pony. He, Hanna, 
 is very doleful and out of heart at the prospect of 
 going on with us alone, and he has an attack of 
 fever ; but we must get on as we can. Siiliman 
 begs to be taken on ; and, having forgiven him, we 
 have not been able to refuse. I fear he is a bad 
 man ; but at least we knoAv him. 
 
 January 26. — A false start. The katterjis, in- 
 stead of coming at eight o’clock, came at twelve, 
 and then only brought one mule. Wilfrid insisted 
 
cn. Tin.] Delays and Disappointments. 
 
 133 
 
 upon tlie other two animals being produced, and had 
 the baggage taken down into the yard. A deputa- 
 tion from the caravan waited on us, begging us to 
 put off going till to-morrow ; but Wilfrid had the 
 luggage loaded, and then only yielded to the 
 entreaties of our amiable host. Indeed it was too 
 late to start at two o’clock now, in the winter ; bnt, 
 without some show of determination, one might be 
 pnt off from day to day for a week, before getting 
 aAvay. This has occupied us the whole day; and 
 now I am too busy to write more. I feel as if I 
 should never wish to see Deyr agam. Yet we are 
 to be here again in six weeks — inslialldh I 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 “ While you and I, within our cots, 
 
 Are comfortably lying, 
 
 My eye ! what tiles and chimney pots 
 About their heads are flying.” 
 
 Sea Song. 
 
 A fresli start — We join a caravan bound for Bagdad — The son of 
 a borse — Turkish ladies on a journey — How to tether a fidgetty 
 horse — Salahiyeh — An encampment of Agheyl — The Mudir of 
 Abukamal — Wolves at night — Wild boars and others — The 
 Boatswain’s log — Palm groves — ^^^e arrive at Ana, 
 
 January 27. — We have left Deyr, and are once 
 more comfortably housed, thank Grod, under onr 
 OAvn tent roof ! It has, all the same, been rather a 
 trying day, though the sun was out, and we had 
 our faces to the south. Mr. S. has left us, and we 
 are at last thro'wn upon our o'wn resources. We 
 feel now for the first time the miserable deficiency of 
 our Arabic; and already Sfiliman, relieved from 
 the control of Consular authority, shocks us by the 
 lightness with which he bears his disgrace. He 
 has assumed a patronising, half contemptuous tone, 
 which makes us look forward to a long journey in 
 his company with anything but pleasure. Even 
 Hanna, the precious Hanna, looks very green and 
 gloomy, complaining of a swimming in his head, 
 the effect of twenty grains of quinine he took this 
 
CH. IX.] 
 
 We join a Caravan. 
 
 135 
 
 morning. At any moment, we are afraid, he may 
 break do'vvn. 
 
 The caravan with which we are travelling, consists 
 of some thu’ty mnles and horses laden with square 
 hales of cotton goods, probably from Manchester, 
 and half a score of katterjis dressed in gay Syrian 
 tunics of red and gold, partly on foot, partly 
 mounted on diminutive asses, wliich they use as 
 a sort of extra set of legs, their own touching the 
 ground as well, the whole led by a jaunty pony with 
 bells on Iris neck, whose evidently superior breeding 
 carries him in front under a load which might crush 
 two animals of meaner spirit. We could see at once 
 by his face that he was born for better things, and 
 the poor little beast seems to feel it too, for every 
 time we pass the caraA'an he makes prodigious 
 efforts to join us, moAung thereby the Avrath of his 
 masters, Avho decline to haA'e the caravan put out of 
 its pace for any one’s whim. “A pretty beast ” we 
 remarked, the first time Ave Avent by. “ Praised be 
 God ! ” ansAvered the man, completing our sentence, 
 which to conciliate ill luck should by rights have 
 ended so, “ his father AA^as a horse.” “ Ibn hosan ” 
 “ the son of a horse ” is a term used Avhen the dam 
 is less than thoroughbred, and though comj)limentary 
 enough to a baggage pony, is an insulting expres- 
 sion Avhen used about an animal of more pretension. 
 A little apart from the rest of the caraA'an, and form- 
 ing a conspicuous feature, there is a tall mide carry- 
 ing an immense pair of hooded jianniers, led by a 
 
136 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [cit. ix. 
 
 countryman in breeches open at the knee, gaiters, a 
 red sash, a jacket, and a handkerchief twisted round 
 his head, who might very well pass in Andalusia for 
 a native arriero with his hat off, for the costume is 
 the same. He would be called there an “ hombre de 
 confianza,” for he is in charge of two Turkish ladies 
 who sit in the panniers. They are the wife and 
 mother-in-law of a major of regulars at Bagdad, and 
 have undertaken this very serious journey, I am 
 sure, without the least suspicion of what they were 
 doing ; for it is impossible to suppose that any 
 amount of devotion to the major, could have faced 
 the thought of a four weeks’ journey, penned up in 
 this way like fowls in a coop, and looking out from 
 a pannier, lurching all day long like a ship at sea on 
 a world darkened by a thick cotton veil. Or why 
 do people say that there are no real domestic ties 
 among Mahometans ? 
 
 There are four zaptiehs with the caravan besides 
 Siiliman; and one of them, Mahmoud, being an 
 Aleppine, has made friends with Hanna. He seems 
 a good sort of man, and has helped us wdth our 
 tents and mares. "We are encamped about half a 
 mile from the village of Mieddin, in a sort of penin- 
 sula w'here there is grass, and where, from its posi- 
 tion, we are not likely to have any attempt made 
 to steal our mares. The caravan and Suliman and 
 the rest of the zaptiehs, all but Mahmoud, are gone 
 to spend the night in the village, and we are here 
 at last in peace and quietness, the MudiT of the 
 

]V11EIJ1JJ>^ AND LEANING iMOitQUE. 
 
CH. IX.] Honesty in Horse Dealing. 
 
 137 
 
 village 'witli his friends, who came out to pay their 
 respects, having been politely got rid of. The sky 
 is clear, the night starlit, and we can plainly see 
 Mieddin with its leaning minaret. Our mares are 
 tethered close to ns, with their noses inside the 
 tent, being prevented from coming inside altogether 
 by heel ropes. They are enjoying a huge feed of 
 corn, after having picked up all the grass they 
 could get for a couple of hours. We have only 
 got Hagar and Tamarisk (my new pony) with us, 
 the rest having gone hack to Aleppo with Mr. S. 
 Mahmoud, the zaptieh, rides a little grey colt not 
 two years old, which is very playful and friskj', 
 and manages to break away from its tether every 
 five minutes. Tamarisk, too, is very fidgetty. 
 
 January 28. — A cold and frosty morning. Siili- 
 man, though he had spoken very wisely over-night 
 about the advantages of early rising, did not appear 
 till eight o’clock, and even then the katterjis had 
 to he waited for. As we were at last riding away, 
 the MudiT joined us with as much of a cavalcade as 
 he could get together to do us honour. There was 
 the usual fantasia, in which we especially distin- 
 guished a hay mare, an Aheyeh Sheraak they told us. 
 It is curious that all the best gallopers arc bays. 
 
 A very pretty filly was brought to us, by the 
 way, yesterday, a “ mahwardi,” or rose-coloured 
 “ Kehileh.” She was so handsome that avc en- 
 tered into negotiations with the owner, who was 
 probably an Aghedaat or Buggara. He could not, 
 
138 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [oh. ix. 
 
 however, tell us anything more of her breeding 
 than that she was “Kehileh” without any addi- 
 tional name, Avhich is as much as to admit that she 
 is not “ hadxida,” * so we did not pursue the matter 
 fui’ther. This is a good instance of a fact we have 
 ah’eady once or twice tested, namely, that Arabs, 
 except in the toAvus, will not tell a falsehood about 
 their horses’ breeding. There was nothing hut 
 principle in this case to restrain the man from 
 lying, for there were no lookers-on ; and by his 
 honesty he lost a good price for a beast he was 
 anxious to sell. This is the more remarkable, as in 
 all other matters, truth is the exception, not the 
 rule, among the Arabs, f 
 
 To-day’s march was through a cultivated district, 
 and consequently uninteresting, except from the 
 large flocks of sand-grouse^ we came across from 
 time to time. These birds are too well-known to 
 need description, and the variety we here find is 
 not different from some that we have seen in Egypt 
 and elsewhere. Wilfrid got a family shot from his 
 mare as a large pack rose in front of him, and 
 brought doxvii five. Though pretty birds, they are 
 poor eating. At about mid-day we came to a large 
 
 * Hadud, or fit to breed from. 
 
 t Compare practice in Great Britain and elsewhere, and see 
 chapter on horses. 
 
 t Sand-grouse. Gutta, Kata, “a partridge-like bird,” according 
 to Palgrave. Compare Marco Polo’s account of birds : “ grands 
 comme des perdrix, ont les pattes faites comme les perroquets, la 
 queue comme les hirondelles, et volent moult bien.” 
 
CH. IX. 
 
 A Night among Wolves. 
 
 139 
 
 lagoon covered witli ‘vvild-fowl, but there ^yas no 
 cover near it, and no chance of shooting. We 
 wasted so nineh time here that the caravan passed 
 ns, and before we caught it up it had come to a 
 halt at some Aghedaat tents, in the middle of a 
 barley field. 
 
 This camp had probably been there all the winter, 
 and was disgustingly dirty, and full of noisy dogs ; 
 so, to the grief of oim followers, zaptiehs, katterjis, 
 and even Hanna, Ave insisted upon proceeding. In 
 A’ain Siiliman, AA’ith a mixture of impertinence 
 and entreaty, assured ns that there Avas neither 
 grass nor AA'ater on the road before ns, and that, 
 horror of horrors, Ave should have to sleep in the 
 herriye (desert). We told him to mind his OAAm 
 business, and to come on or not as he pleased. 
 He followed us sulkily. Before long Ave came 
 to a very nice place just under the clitf, Avith 
 plenty of good grass, bushes for firoAVOod, and a 
 little pond Avhere there Avere ducks and teal. Here 
 Ave haAm stopped ; and a A’ery pleasant place it is, far 
 from all sounds of man and beast. Abeady Ilamia 
 has got a capital fire lighted, and the sand-grouse 
 and pigeons cooking. The tAVO zaptiehs are in good 
 humour again, as I hear them laughing and talking 
 incessantly. But for the red sunset, Avhich threatens 
 rain, avc should haA'e not a care in the Avorld be- 
 yond that of digesting Hanna’s immense dinner. 
 
 Janiiarij 29 . — Tamarisk AAms a great trouble to us 
 all night, stamping and paAving and breaking aAAuy 
 
140 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. ix. 
 
 in spite of all her feet being hobbled. This was 
 perhaps on account of the jackals, wolves, and 
 hyaenas which cried and liowled round ns so as to 
 frighten Mahmoud into keeping up a fire. He 
 remarked very ruefully in the morning that it was 
 a “ terrible thing to sleep in the desert among the 
 wolves.” I confess I like them better than I do 
 the Arab dogs and fowls, and the incessant talking 
 of the men. My mare is certainly a very tiresome 
 creature, and in spite of her good looks I cannot 
 get fond of her. She is full of “ tricks and sub- 
 terfuges,” and seems to have a fixed determination 
 to go back to Deyr. This may account for the story 
 we heard of her when we bought her. She was 
 stolen about six months before and was away nearly 
 two months, but appeared one evening at the ferry 
 opposite Dep’, and insisted upon being taken across. 
 She had a Bedouin pad on her back and had no 
 doubt been among the Shammar, but had given 
 them the slip as she is trying to do with us now. 
 Though tied and fettered hand and foot she manages 
 repeatedly to draw her peg ; but Wilfrid has hit 
 upon a plan which seems to be effective. It is to 
 shackle the fore feet and then pass the head rope 
 loosely through the fetter before tying it to the peg. 
 This gives her nothing fixed to pull against and 
 she seems much disconcerted. 
 
 Towards sumise a bitter wind rose and blew into 
 the tent freezing us to the bone as we were packing, 
 nor could Ave get off till the katterjis came, for they 
 
CH. IX.] How to Tether a Fidgetty Marc. 
 
 141 
 
 had gone back to the caravan to spend the night. 
 This is one of the miseries of travelling with hired 
 animals, bnt they shall not he let out of sight again. 
 We had two or three hours to-day of desert and 
 passed the ruins of Salahiyeh, a town of the same 
 date and much the same size as Eakka. It has a 
 fine gate in the middle of the west front, called the 
 “ Bab esh Sham,” the Syrian Gate. Salahiyeh 
 was probably the town where the Damascus road 
 formerly branched off from the Euphrates, after 
 following the river westwards from Ana. All is 
 deserted now. On retui-ning to the valley we found 
 a large plain of green barley before us, interspersed 
 with thorn bushes, which the Arabs had not thought 
 it necessary to clear away. Across this we went 
 for a mile or so without following any track. In- 
 deed, the path we have so long pursued has now 
 disappeared, except in places where there is a nar- 
 row passage between rocks or some other natural 
 feature which compels the few travellers to tread in 
 each other’s footsteps. In many places, too, the 
 track has been broken into by the river, and an 
 incautious person going along it in the dark might 
 very well be led, before he knew what he Avas 
 doing, OA’er the bank, which is very abrupt, and into 
 the river. This portion of the A'alley is much the 
 most thickly inhabited and the best cultivated that 
 wc have seen yet. After the barley fields Ave found 
 ourselves in a sort of open Avood of large tamarisks, 
 each tree groAving on a separate mound of sand. It 
 
142 Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiphrates. [ch. ix. 
 
 is difficult to know wlietlier the mound causes 
 the tree or the tree the mound. "We found some 
 Agheyl encamped here with their camels, and 
 stopped to drink coffee with them, which, as usual, 
 they hospitably offered. They were on their way 
 from Bagdad to Aleppo. 
 
 The Agheyl are a peculiar race (perhaps I should 
 say tribe), for they are pure Arabs, though not 
 “ noble,” whose head-quarters is Bagdad, They 
 never seem to stay much at home, hut travel 
 backwards and forwards on the great caravan roads. 
 They go very slowly, so as not to tire their camels, 
 eight to ten miles a day, and carry goods “ ^ tr^s 
 petite vitesse ” between the towns. They have the 
 reputation of immaculate honesty and seem good 
 friends with everybody, townsman, Turk, and 
 Bedouin, They do not carry tents, but pile their 
 camel loads in a circle at night and sleep inside. 
 They are cheerful, good-natured people and very 
 hospitable. They leave their women and children 
 at home at Bagdad, and only the men travel. 
 
 We passed through the wood till the sun was 
 getting low, and still there was no sign of Abu- 
 Kamdl, where Ave were to pass the night. If the 
 katterjis had been with us, we should have stopped 
 and camped Avhere we were, but now that the track 
 had ended we did not care to risk missing them 
 altogether by Avaiting for them to come up ; so 
 after Wilfrid had climbed to the top of a tell or 
 tall mound, Avhere there were four graves, and 
 
CH. IX.] 
 
 The Fort of Abu-Kamdl. 
 
 H3 
 
 which overlooked a large tract of country, and seen 
 nothing of the caravan, we agreed to gallop on and 
 get into the fort before dark, Wilfrid had caught 
 sight of it about three miles off in front of us. 
 This we did, and had a delightful gallop. Tamarisk 
 keeping up with Hagar much better than I had 
 expected. The zaptiehs were soon left behind, 
 and in about a quarter of an hour Ave foimd 
 OTU'selves at the fort of Abu-Kamal. The man in 
 charge, who has the rank of MudiT, receded us 
 Avith much amiability, and immediately had a lamb 
 caught for us and slain. He took us on to the 
 roof, and tried to make us come inside a little 
 pepper-pot of a turret Avhere he lived and in Avhich 
 a huge fire had been lit. We preferred stojiping 
 outside and lying doAvn on the roof, AA^here we Avere 
 soon sound asleep, for Ave have had a A^ery long 
 march to-day. When Ave Avoke, it was nearly 
 dark, and the moon and stars were out. Hanna 
 had anWed Avith some rugs, and his cooking- 
 apparatus, Avhich never leaves him. There is no 
 A\dnd, and Ave have got a candle on the terrace, 
 so that I can Avrite ; and noAV dinner is ready, three 
 dishes, all made of the same lamb, AA^hile our host, 
 Arho AAull not sit doAvii, stands shivering by to AAuit 
 on us. The night looks frosty, but the katterjis 
 are announced, so avc shall have our bods and not 
 bo obliged to take refuge in the turret. 
 
 January 30. — These forts on the Euphrates all 
 consist of a square courtyard enclosed by a imid 
 
144 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. ix. 
 
 wall twelve feet high, and without other opening 
 to the outer world than a single gateway. Inside 
 are low rooms along three sides, used by the 
 zaptiehs or by travellers, the flat tops of which 
 make a terrace, where there is generally an upper 
 chamber like a box in which the head man lives. 
 Prom this he looks down on all the country round, 
 and spends his time watching for caravans which 
 do not come. A dull life. Our host informs us 
 that after all the Anazeh are still in his neigh- 
 hoiu'hood only two days ofl ! So we have been 
 befooled by the Pasha. He tells us, too, that 
 Jedaan passed by here quite lately, with one 
 hundred and fifty horsemen, coming hack from 
 across the river, where he had been on a camel- 
 lifting raid against the Shammar. It is very 
 provoking, and too late now to change our plans. 
 
 Our road to-day was through a pleasant country, 
 no more cultivation or inhabitants of any kind 
 except birds and beasts, — great ponds surrounded 
 with brushwood, where Wilfrid got some shooting. 
 One drive which I made on Tamarisk was especially 
 successful, producing five ducks of different sorts. 
 This is much the nicest part of the whole river, 
 and would he a capital place to make one’s head- 
 quarters for a shooting excursion, as there are pools 
 and marshes with plenty of geese, ducks, snipes, 
 and other aquatic birds, while the big tamarisk 
 woods are full of francolins, woodcocks, and ■wild 
 hoars. Wilfrid saw several of these, and had a 
 
CH. IX.] 
 
 Wild Boars and others. 
 
 145 
 
 snap shot at a wolf, who went away Avith a 
 broken leg. 
 
 It is a great comfort to have got rid of the 
 caraA'an, Avhich stayed behind someAvhere yesterday. 
 We are now encamped at a place called Gdyim, 
 where there is a little stream of running Avater (the 
 first Ave liaAm crossed) and a nice open plateau of 
 grass aboAm it, Avith a fine vieAV of the river and of 
 the tamarisk Avood beloAV. There is another guard- 
 house at a little distance, to Avhich Ave have sent for 
 corn. The guard-houses on this side of Deyr are 
 most of them still garrisoned in spite of the Avar — 
 that is to say, they contain two or tliree zaptiehs 
 each, and it is considered prudent to encamp more 
 or less in their neighbourhood, as there are 
 ghazus (marauding parties) about, and Jediian 
 is close by. The caravan itself Avould not, I am 
 sure, for any consideration spend the night outside 
 their walls. * * * 
 
 I was rejoicing in the solitude and beauty of 
 the place, Avhen lo and behold ! an immense caravan 
 AAuth dates from Ana, Avhich, finding us encamped 
 here under the protection of Suliman, has settled 
 itself doAvn beside us and intends passing the night. 
 There are hardly any camels in this party, but 
 about a hundred donkeys, Avhich bray incessantly, 
 almost droAvning their masters’ Amices, and that is 
 saying a great deal. The blessings of wood, AA^ater, 
 and grass arc dearly purchased at the expense of a 
 night of noise and watchfulness, for Ave shall have 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 L 
 
146 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. ix. 
 
 now to sleep with one eye open and fixed on our 
 mares, for fear they should be stolen. The zaptiehS’ 
 are not of the slightest use as guards, for they sing 
 one half of the night, and then sleep soundly the 
 other half. Howeyer, we must make the best of 
 it, and Hdnna has made us a capital dinner of teal 
 soup, hurghul with little bits of meat in it from 
 yesterday’s lamb, and a fowl with fried onions. I 
 hear the howling of jackals and wolves; and 
 doubtless the huge fires of the caravan do much to 
 keep away wild beasts. Mahmoud, like all Alep- 
 pines, is very timorous about these, and declares 
 that the mares see them at night whenever they 
 look out into the dark. I now have to alter the 
 stuffing of my saddle, which is not quite right, so 
 T leave off. 
 
 January 31.- — The donkey caravan was ofi this 
 morning before we were, and its place was im- 
 mediately occupied by hundreds of magpies hopping 
 about and looking for scraps. 
 
 We have got into a new sort of country. The 
 cliffs on the right bank of the river have entirely 
 disappeared, and low downs intersected with ravines 
 have taken their place, while on the opposite bank 
 there is a fine headland marking the corner where 
 the river, after a good many miles of nearly southerly 
 course, takes a general direction eastwards. Tho 
 valley has narrowed considerably and is not, I 
 suppose, more than a mile across, while the tamarisk 
 woods have disappeared, they tell us, for good. We- 
 
cH. IX.] ZyOSS of the Ettphrates steamer. 
 
 147 
 
 have also crossed to-day and yesterday a number of 
 ■wadys leading to the river, the most remarkable 
 being the Wady Ali. iNone of these had any -water 
 in them, in spite of the rainy Avinter we are haAung, 
 and it is difficult to understand under what circum- 
 stances they can ever be rivers, though the Avater 
 marks in their beds attest that they must sometimes 
 be full. It is somewhere near this bend of the riA’er 
 that Colonel Chesney lost one of his steamers in a 
 hurricane when he Avas surveying the Euphrates. 
 There is a curious entry about it still preseiwed 
 among the Consular archives at Aleppo. It is the 
 account of the storm given by the English mate of 
 the surviving steamer, Avho Avas in charge Avhen 
 the accident happened. His creAV Avas an Arab 
 one, picked up, I believe, at Ana. This is all I 
 remember of it : “ The Avindy and watery elements 
 raged tremendnons, prayers and tears Avas had 
 recourse to, but, being of no avail, I up anchor and 
 round the corner.” 
 
 In the afternoon, after having again crossed a bit 
 of desert to cut off an angle where we made a 
 successful grouse drive, Ave came upon a ruined mill 
 built out into the river. At first Ave could not 
 make out Avhat it Avas, as the Avheels had long ago 
 disappeared. It is probably of the Saracenic period 
 or even later, the upper part seeming to be the most 
 modem. It must have been used for raising Avater 
 to irrigate the valley, and as I see many mills 
 marked on the map, this is probably the first of' 
 
148 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. ix 
 
 several. It is strange that one should find none in 
 the upj)er part of the valley where the soil seems so 
 much more capable of being cultivated than here, 
 but perhaps they depended there on rain for their 
 crops. There is no cultivation anywhere about here 
 now, or any inhabitants. We cannot make out 
 many of the places marked by Colonel Chesney on 
 his map. Either he put them down wrongly, or 
 the names have changed within the last forty years, 
 
 February 1, — A wearisome day. The desert now 
 comes quite down to the river on both sides mthout 
 any intervening space of green. We were out of 
 sight of it most of the day, stumbling along over a 
 most disagreeably stony tract, both the mares tired, 
 Mahmoud’s colt has quite got over his disposition 
 to romp, and has now to be led by the bridle, as 
 have most of the zaptiehs’ horses. It was a great 
 relief at last to catch sight of a group of palip. trees, 
 the first we have seen, peeping over the horizon and 
 growing, as presently appeared, out of the river bed, 
 which is here very narrow and sharply cut through 
 the rocky desert. These were the outposts of the 
 oasis of Ana. Two hours more brought us to the 
 edge, whence we looked doAvn upon the river, and 
 there lay Ana, a comforting sight indeed to weary 
 eyes. As the view was quite unlike anything Ave 
 have hitherto seen on our journey, I must try and 
 describe it. 
 
 The Euphrates, as I haA’e said, is very narrow 
 here, having cut itself a way through a low line of 
 
CH. IX.] 
 
 First palm Village. 
 
 149 
 
 limestone hills which crosses its course at right 
 angles, and so has formed a deep winding gorge a 
 good many miles in length. Along the bottom of 
 this cleft the river runs in a series of rapids, and it 
 is fringed on either side with palms. The town, 
 which is a very ancient one, consists of a single 
 long street of low mud houses with flat roofs, each 
 having its little space of garden, but connected 
 together by a continuous wall, with occasional side- 
 alleys to the river. It is about six miles long, they 
 say, (longer than Brighton), but we have only come 
 through part of it as yet. Opposite the point where 
 we first came upon the town there is a fine reach of 
 Avater sweeping round a bold promontory, on which 
 a castle has in late years been built. Ana k in 
 the pashalik of Bagdad, and this they tell us is one 
 of a series of castles made by Midhat Pasha’s orders 
 to protect the Euphrates road. Though modern it 
 is not in bad taste. It figures prominently in a 
 sketch I made, but I found it impossible to repre- 
 sent fairly the depth of the gorge and the extreme 
 beauty of the dark-green palm groves against the 
 red face of the rocks. To those who have seen 
 Egypt, the character of the scene will be familiar. 
 
 After a seemingly interminable ride along tlie 
 main street of the toAvn, where the inhabitants had 
 assembled in groups to see ns pass, politely return- 
 ing our salutations, Ave came at last to an open 
 space fronting the riA^or, Avherc Ave found a caravan 
 already encamped. Here it Avas proposed that avc 
 
150 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. ix. 
 
 should stop, and though we would rather have had 
 the place to ourselves, we had nothing better to 
 suggest, and so have pitched our tents under a 
 group of palms. 
 
 The river is very fine here, and the buildings 
 pictm*esque. Moreover, we are well sheltered from 
 the wind, and though there is no grass for the 
 mares, we have promise of straw and corn in abund- 
 ance. The Kaimakam of course came to pay his 
 respects to us, and a number of other bores not 
 easily got rid of, but thank goodness they are gone 
 now, and we can eat our dinners peaceably, and, as 
 there is no fear of our mares being stolen here, we 
 shall get a good night’s rest, of which we are sorely 
 in need. 
 
CHAPTEK X. 
 
 Beenardo. ’Tis here. 
 
 Horatio. *Tis here. 
 
 Marcellus. ’Tis gone.— Hamlet. 
 
 A Bedouin foray — We converse with a ghost — Engagement of 
 Zenil Aga — We resolve to depart — The Kaimakam accom- 
 panies us — Entertained by Sotamm — A Bedouin meal — News 
 from home. 
 
 February 2. — To-day has been one of blessed 
 idleness. First there was a grand inspection of the 
 mares’ backs, and the saddles which have rubbed 
 them. Hagar is looking rather wretched with a 
 wrung wither, but I am in hopes that by shifting 
 the stuffing of the saddle, I may have made things 
 right for her. It has fortunately been a fine day, 
 and the sun has been almost hot, which the mares 
 enjoy, rolling on the sand to their hearts’ content. 
 While I arranged the saddle, Wilfrid took a walk 
 on the hill with a young zaptieh, a native of the 
 place, who has been told ofi to us as guard while 
 we are here. They came back at twelve with two 
 brace of partridges, little bii’ds of a pale dove-colour, 
 like that of the rocks among which they live. 
 They have yellow legs and orange bills, and orange 
 eyes with black pupils. The hills were quite bare 
 
152 Bedotdn T^'ibes of the Eiiphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 and desolate. As lie was coming back he met a 
 number of people running towards the top of an 
 eminence, who informed him that a party of Anazeh 
 had come down and were carrying off some sheep. 
 It is curious how little communication there seems 
 to be between the Valley and the Desert. Except 
 on the occasion of a foray of this sort nothing seems 
 to be known or heard of the Bedouins outside by 
 those who live on the banks of the river. Perhaps 
 at other times of the year this may be different, but 
 now the Berriye seems to be a debateable territory, 
 where nobody goes without fear and trembling. 
 The townspeople talk of the Desert, which is at their 
 elbow, with all the expressions of awe and aversion 
 which ignorant Europeans might have, who had 
 never heard of it except as a traveller’s tale. 
 
 As we were sitting by the river this afternoon 
 watching the inhabitants coming down to perform 
 their religious ablutions and say their prayers, we 
 were accosted by an ancient mariner, a venerable 
 looking man, with a long white beard and the 
 remains of a green turban on his head. He 
 greeted us gravely, but in a rather singular fashion, 
 with the words “ Starboard, port, goddam,” and 
 went on to explain that he knew oim language, 
 having served in Colonel Chesney’s expedition 
 forty years before. He asked with much feeling 
 after the various officers then employed on the 
 survey, and appeared touched at the news that his 
 commander was still alive. He then went down 
 
CH. X.] 
 
 We converse with a ghost. 
 
 153 
 
 tlie bank to tlie river, as we thought to wash like 
 the others, so that om’ conversation with him was 
 interrupted, and when we looked for him again he 
 had disappeared. Whether he was the ghost of 
 one of those dro^vned in the hurricane of 1836, or, 
 as is more likely, had shnply swum across the river 
 without our noticing it, I cannot say, but his dis- 
 appearance struck ns as mysterious. 
 
 We are rid of Suliman at last, to our great com- 
 fort and relief. He came this morning to say he 
 could go no further with us, and to ask for the 
 present which is usual in return for such services 
 as he had rendered. Wilfrid gave him more than 
 he had any right to expect ; but he went away 
 sulky and dissatisfied, and, as it seems, threw the 
 money down in Hanna’s tent, using what is called 
 “abusive language.” Hanna came in great glee 
 to tell ns this and to ask if he might keep the 
 pieces, but we told him to leave them there. We 
 are to be off to-morrow morning, for though the 
 mares would perhaps be better for another day’s 
 rest, it had better be outside the town. We have 
 been much pestered with visitors, who have come 
 with the best intentions in the Avorld and the 
 politest imitations to dinners and breakfasts ; but 
 Avc arc really too tired to pay them all the atten- 
 tion they deserve. A ncAV sergeant has come in 
 Siiliman’s place, an Albanian, named Zaynil, or 
 Zenil Aga. I hope he may be a less disagreeable 
 gaoler. 
 
154 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 Sunday, February 3. — A heavy storm of rain in 
 the night ; hnt our tent is, I am glad to say, 
 waterproof. The katterjis, of course, found it an 
 excellent excuse for proposing another day’s rest ; 
 .and the caravan, which had arrived yesterday, sent 
 an earnest protest, in the name of the ladies in the 
 panniers, who were too much fatigued to go on. 
 The roads, they declared would be impassable, and 
 the baggage was wet through and too heavy for the 
 mules. All just and sufficient reasons, hut not 
 ones we could admit. Lastly Z^nil, our new chief 
 of the staff, in polite hut decided terms, expressed 
 his opinion that the journey should he delayed. 
 To which we only replied hy pulling the tents 
 ■down and ordering the mules to he loaded. For- 
 tune thus encouraged favoured us, for the rain, 
 which had been falling heavily till then, suddenly 
 ■ceased, and in half an hour more everything was 
 ready and we started. I am hoxmd to say that, 
 from the moment the matter was settled, everybody 
 was quite cheerful and ready to do his work. In- 
 deed, sulkiness is not common among the Arabs. 
 A soft word with them, or still better a merry one, 
 quickly turns away wrath ; and the old saying of 
 people not being made of sugar, which we trans- 
 lated into Arabic, had full effect as an original and 
 appropriate witticism. They laughed, and opposition 
 was at an end. 
 
 We had not yet started when the Kaimakam 
 joined us and most politely rode in our company 
 
•CH. X.] 
 
 Kaimakarn accompanies us. 
 
 155 
 
 till we were outside the to^vn, the best part of a 
 Sabbath day’s joiu’ney, as it took us nearly two 
 houi’s. The long street was muddy from the rain, 
 and the hog-backed bridges over the water-courses 
 which Ave had to cross continually, were slippery 
 enough to justify the katterjis in their assurance of 
 danger. But, once outside, the ground was hard 
 enough, and the caravan, which had started because 
 Ave insisted on going, had nothing more to complain 
 of. The Kaimakarn left us at the last house in the 
 toAAui, after having sent to its OAAuier for a breakfast 
 of dates, bread and milk, AA'hich Ave sat doAvn on a 
 cloak and ate. Then, Avith strict injunctions that 
 Ave shoidd all keep together for fear of the Anazeh, 
 Avho last night had driven ofl ten coavs from this 
 A'ery place, he allowed us to j)roceed. Lastly, to 
 complete our triumph, the sun came out and aa^o 
 had a A^ery pleasant ride, cantering on and stopping 
 alternately, as opportunity offered, to gwe our mares 
 a bite of grass here and there Avhile the rest of the 
 party came up. 
 
 Z^nil has excellent manners and seems anxious 
 to be on good terms Avith us, giving us information 
 about the tribes and places Ave are likely to pass, 
 such as Siiliman AA^as too stupid or too sulky to 
 offer. We Avere tired of the monotonous routine 
 of travelling we have hitherto submitted to, and of 
 depending for our society on the zaptiehs and 
 stopping each night in the neighbourhood of their 
 guardhouses. We Avished to see something ncAV. 
 
156 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 So when we came at about three o’clock within 
 sight of some tents, we decided on going to them 
 and making acquaintance with their owners. We 
 had been all day on the high ground, and were still 
 some miles from the river, and this is the first camp 
 we have come to fairly out in the desert. Zenil 
 made no objection, and led the way. It has been 
 an interesting evening, and we perceive that it was 
 a great misfortune to us to have travelled so long 
 with Siiliman, who was brutal and overbearing 
 ■with the Arabs, and prevented our ever making 
 friends with them. Zenil, on the contrary, is 
 pleasant in his manners to all alilce. 
 
 Our new friends are of the Jerifa, an old- 
 fashioned pastoral tribe, one of those which have 
 lived on here since the days of Job, peaceful, un- 
 pretending people, and tributary of late years to 
 the Shammar. They usually live in Mesopotamia, 
 and have only crossed the river for the sake of 
 better pasture. I should think they must run 
 considerable risk here of being plundered by the 
 bands of Anazeh we have heard of lately ; but, as 
 they have no camels and only sheep and cows and 
 a few second-rate mares, perhaps the Anazeh do 
 not care to molest them. 
 
 Our host. Sotamm, the chief man of this section 
 of the tribe, is a great uncouth creature, with no 
 pretension whatever to distinction (indeed, the Jerifa 
 are evidently a very low tribe) in looks or in 
 manners, but A^thal a transparently honest man. 
 
CH. X.] 
 
 Sotdmm entertains tcs. 
 
 157 
 
 He received ns so boorishly that at first Ave thought 
 we Avere not Avelcome, hut it soon turned out that 
 this Avas mere shyness and the effect of the over- 
 Avhelming honour Avhich he felt Avas being done liim. 
 I suppose he has never entertained so much as a 
 merchant from Bagdad in his life ; and a small 
 country squire in Sussex, receiving an unexpected 
 visit from the Pope or the Empress of the French, 
 could hardly display more sense of the solemnity of 
 the occasion than this poor man did in being host 
 to a couple of Franjis. For at least ten minutes he 
 Avas unable to say a Avord except to his sons or 
 others about him, to Avhom he gave orders, in a loud 
 and angry-sounding voice, to have sheep slain and 
 fircAVOod brought, and to his Avomen, Avho Avere 
 behind a screen, to make bread for dinner and to 
 bring dates and butter instantly in a lordly dish. 
 Then, Avithout looking at us or ansA\^ering any of 
 our remarks, he sat doAvn and began pounding coffee 
 as if his life depended on the violence of the 
 thumping Avith Avhich he thumped it. In the 
 meanAvhile Ave had taken our seats Avithout cere- 
 mony on a carpet, Avhich had been hastily spread 
 beyond the fire in the furthest corner of the tent, 
 and Avere soon engaged in conversation Avith friends 
 and neighbours, Avho had flocked in from all sides in 
 anticipation of the feast and Avho, having none of 
 the responsibility of entertaining us, Avcrc commu- 
 nicative enough and even curious. One young 
 man AA^as so familiar in his remarks that he had to 
 
158 Bedouin B'ibes of the Etcphrates. [cn. x. 
 
 be silenced by the rest. Presently milk was 
 brought, and dates with fresh butter rather nastily 
 plastered into the dish by the very evident thumbs 
 of the women. Of this we partook, dipping the 
 dates, as the custom is, into the butter. In the 
 meanwhile the coffee-pounding was finished; and, 
 the fire having been made up with a faggot of wild 
 lavender smelling most sweetly, water was boiled 
 in a huge coffee-pot and the coffee finally made in 
 another, all this with the greatest possible solemnity 
 by Sotamm himself. The coffee turned out to be 
 excellent, but too strong to drink more of than the 
 few spoonfuls poured out to each guest in diminu- 
 tive china cups. Everyone present was treated to 
 a portion, and then the pot was brought round 
 to us again, and so on till the last drop was 
 finished. 
 
 After this, Sotamm, feeling that he had done his 
 duty, joined in the talk, which was principally kept 
 up by Zcinil, for with our stock of Arabic it is not 
 easy to pursue the few topics of conversation far. 
 Our host, it presently appeared, had a mare he was 
 proud of, or rather anxious to sell, so we all got up 
 and went outside before it was quite dark to look 
 at her. The honest man was very naif in this, 
 perhaps, his first attempt at horse-dealing, praising 
 his mare beyond any possible merits she could 
 possess, and in a loud whisper constituting Z^nil 
 his A^akiT (agent) for the price . At last she came, 
 a little clumsy chesnut, with an ugly head and 
 
CH. X.] 
 
 A Bedo^dn meal. 
 
 159 
 
 defective hoofs, besides the disfigurement of an im- 
 mense fixing operation on her flank. We had out 
 of politeness to admire, and were fortunate enough 
 to be able to cover our retreat from a purchase with 
 the excuse of her want of ske. This is an un- 
 answerable argument, and Sotdmm accepted it 
 good-humouredly, though he was evidently disap- 
 pointed. He then sent for a mare of his neigh- 
 bour’s, a Hddbeh, but no better specimen. We 
 were afraid at first that our refusals to buy might 
 dimmish the cordiality of our reception ; but this 
 was not at all the case, and after allowing us te 
 retme for awhile to our o^vn tent, our host came to 
 announce that dinner was ready. 
 
 This is the first really Bedouin meal we have 
 made, and abominably bad it was. The sheep 
 seemed to have been cut up Avith a hatchet quite 
 independently of its anatomical construction, bones, 
 meat, and all mangled and messed together, so that 
 it Avas impossible to get at a clean-looking piece 
 free from gristle or splinters. These had been 
 thi’OAvn into a pot and boiled Avithout seasoning or 
 other ceremony, and then turned out into a great 
 round Avooden dish a yard in diameter. Butter 
 had next been plastered round the mass, and flat, 
 half-baked loaAms of dough set to garnish the edge 
 of the plate, all damp and clammy and half sopped 
 in the broth. In the middle lay the great fat tail 
 of the sheep, a huge lump of talloAV, AAntli bits of 
 liver and other nastiness near it. Though very 
 
i6o Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 hungry, neither Wilfrid nor I were able to make 
 much progress with such a meal, especially as, 
 being eaten by the fitful light of the fire only, it 
 was impossible to pick and choose our pieces. The 
 darkness, however, was welcome in one way, for it 
 concealed our failure from Sotamm, who stood by 
 watching jealously lest we should prematurely cease 
 eating. He could not guess that our hands dipped 
 into the dish returned empty to our mouths, — a 
 “harmecide” meal, which did not last long, for two 
 or three minutes seem to he the time allowed for 
 each set of eaters. Then the dish was passed on to 
 Zenil, Mahmoud, Hanna, and the katterjis, who as 
 strangers came next, and then, some pieces having 
 been set aside for the host, the remainder was 
 put down to he scrambled for by the rest of the 
 company, Sotamm’s friends and relations. A 
 plateful of graves would not have disappeared 
 sooner in a kennel of hounds than this did among 
 the hungry Jerifa. Meanwhile Sotamm, with his 
 sleeves turned up, set to on his own portion, wiping 
 his dripping fingers from time to time playfully on 
 the heads of his children, among whom he occasion- 
 ally distributed a morsel. The feast concluded 
 with oirr all having some milk out of a wooden 
 howl, and the guests then separated without fiu’ther 
 ceremony. 
 
 We are now, I am glad to say, in our own 
 tent, where Hanna is furtively preparing a more 
 possible meal out of the odds and ends of yester- 
 
€H. X.] 
 
 We Invite Sotdmm to Ensrland. i6r 
 
 clay’s dinner. We are alone, bnt not by any means 
 at peace, for the camp is jnst now like an English 
 country tow on market days, sheep baaing, lambs 
 bleating, and cows lowing, while nnseen animals 
 wander round, stumbling every instant over the 
 tent ropes. Onr outlandish tent puzzles them. 
 But they are so tame there is no driving them 
 away, and every now and then a mare or colt, with 
 iron shackles clanking on its legs, comes np to 
 make onr mares’ acquaintance. There seems little 
 prospect of sleep. 
 
 Felruary ,4. — Long before sunrise the Arabs 
 were np and the sheep and cows driven off to 
 pasture. The camp is restored to comparative 
 quiet for onr ow packing up and departure. The 
 Jerifa here have some of the humped cattle found 
 in India as well as the European sort, so that 
 this part of the river seems to mark the line of 
 demarcation between the two breeds. The sheep 
 all have the heavy tails of the Syrian breed, and 
 the goats are much what they are in Italy and 
 Spain. 
 
 Sotamm brought us milk and butter for break- 
 fast, and we vfcre rather curious to see whether all 
 this hospitality was to bo genuine, or whether he 
 would expect a return to be made for it out of onr 
 poekets. Bnt such doubts did him wrong. Ilis 
 only request as wo went away was that wo should 
 come again ; and we, as wo wished him good-bye, 
 felt really touched by his kindness, not icnowing 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
i 62 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. x;. 
 
 how to acknowledge it except by inviting him, with 
 his flocks and herds, to spend the summer with us in* 
 England, a form of eompliment he appreciated at 
 more than its worth. We promised if ever we- 
 came that way again we would not pass his tent 
 without stopping, and, mounting oxn mares amicC 
 a general shower of good wishes, we rode away. 
 We have never met with more genuine hospitality 
 on any of oxn travels than this. Hitherto our 
 expei’ience of this Arab vhtxxe has been limited to- 
 oxn pxirchasing the sheep, and our entertainer’s; 
 inviting himself to eat it with ns. Here the 
 feast was all his. 
 
 The liver lately has been very much less interest- 
 ing than it was higher up. There ai*e now no 
 tamarisk woods, and very fexv of those pi’etty spots- 
 we used to And higher up for encamping. The 
 road goes for the most part over desert, and a desert 
 of a very disagreeable stony sort, constantly inter- 
 sected by ravines. The mares, however, are quite 
 fresh again, and, after a canter we had in the morn- 
 ing, refused for all the rest of the day to settle 
 doxxTi into a steady xvalk. We have halted opposite 
 the village of Hadiseh, in a walled garden enclos- 
 ing some fruit trees and plenty of grass for the 
 horses. There are heavy clouds aboxit, and a little 
 rain has fallen. Hadiseh is built on an island, 
 and is picturesque enough xvith palm-groves and 
 a minaret. There is no bridge to it, and people 
 cross the rix'or sxvimming on inflated skins, just 
 
CH. X.] 
 
 The City of Job. 
 
 163 
 
 like the figures on the has-reliefs found at 
 iN'ineyeh. 
 
 Hanna has had a fall from his pony, and has 
 bruised his face, and it makes him very doleful ; 
 but the accident has, I am glad to say, distracted 
 his thoughts from a pain in the side of which he 
 has been complaining. I have been afraid more 
 than once lately of his breaking doAvn. What does 
 him most good seems to be putting on mustard 
 plasters, but he is very careless of getting chilled 
 afterwards, and I fear there is something serious 
 the matter with him. I wish the weather would 
 get warm. 
 
 February 5. — To-day we passed a large pool of 
 warm water in a wady close to the river, and flowing 
 into it. It was full of fish, and at the point where 
 the warm water met the river we saw several very 
 large ones, jumping like salmon. They may have 
 been ten or twelve pound fish. Later Ave came to 
 el TJz, an island and village very like Iladisehy 
 and remarkable as being the toAvn Avhere Job lived 
 so many years ago. It was easy to imagine the 
 place unchanged. Job must have been a toAvn 
 Arab, as his house is spoken of, but he probably 
 kept flocks and herds over in the Jezfrch (Meso- 
 potamia), and perhaps spent part of the spring 
 Avith them in tents, as Arabs do ; Avhilc the Sabcans 
 aaLo plundered him may A'cry avcII have been a 
 ghazti, such as avc have just had ncAvs of. Zenil 
 informs us that fifteen hundi’cd sheep Avere diivcn 
 
1 64 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 off a few days since from the neighbourhood of el 
 TJz, and highly disapproves the camp we have 
 chosen to-night, which is a mile or more from the 
 village of Jehheh. But we are becoming callous 
 to tales of hardmi.! robbers, and even of ghazus. 
 About an hour and a half before we stopped, we 
 crossed the Wady Hauran, said, according to Ches- 
 ney, to come from the Hauran mountains near 
 Damascus. Its bed was chy. There is a three- 
 days’-old moon to-night. 
 
 There are some mills here in workuig order, and 
 some in ruins. Hanna was in despair for wood to 
 make a fire, Avhen the zaptiehs made a raid on one 
 of these, and brought hack part of a wheel with 
 them — a true zaptieh proceeding. It was soaking 
 wet, hut with lavender sprigs and the roots of other 
 desert plants, burnt well enough for cooking pur- 
 poses. They brought, too, some desert truffles'"'’ they 
 had grubbed up ; and Hanna, thus encouraged, has 
 surpassed himself, giving us, Wilfrid says, a dish 
 fit to be served by M. Henri liimsclf, the fat head- 
 waiter at Bignon’s. These truffles are white, and 
 much softer than the black sort. They look like 
 potatoes, and, though not so Avell fiavoiu'ed, are much 
 more practically useful than the others. 
 
 February 6. — The Aveather has changed, but 
 instead of growing warmer it is only colder. Oh, 
 what a bitter wind ! W e left the baggage to folloAV 
 as it could, and galloped on to Avarm ourseHes, 
 
 * Kemeyeli* 
 
CH. X.] 
 
 The City of the Hit tit es. 
 
 165 
 
 and have done a really long day’s journey in a few 
 hours. We met some people on foot, coming from 
 Bagdad, who told ns that the English and another 
 Frankish nation had joined the Sultan in his war 
 against the Muscdv, and that thirty ships full of 
 soldiers had been sent to Constantinople. They 
 could not tell us who the other nation was. For 
 about two hours we kept by the river, then alter- 
 nately along desert and river, till about tAVO o’clock 
 Ave got doAvn from the stony desert on to a A^ery 
 arid plain, with tracts of black sand partly under 
 Avater. We noticed, as Ave Avent across this, a 
 strange smell, like that one perceh'es in London 
 when a street is being laid doAAm in asphalt ; and 
 Ztiuil, who was riding Avith us, explained that it 
 came from some aa'oIIs of black water in the neigh- 
 boui-hood. Presently Ave came to a small stream of 
 dingy Avater, the Wady Milrr, and a sort of black 
 morass, altogether the most desolate bit of country 
 I GYGV beheld, not excluding the bog of Allan. It 
 is quite Avithout A’egetation, and the plain is only 
 broken by strange Amlcanic-looking mounds, like 
 heaps of refuse. One might almost fancy oneself 
 in the back yard of some huge gasometer. Across 
 this Ave galloped, as it Avas capital ground for the 
 horses, and AA'ere soon apj)roaching a palm-grove 
 Avith a small toAAm beyond it, rising in a cone from 
 the plain, and topped Avith a minaret. This is Hitt, 
 the city, no doubt, of the Ilittitcs, as jebbeh, Avdiero 
 Ave Avere yesterday, must have been the city of the 
 
1 66 Bedomii Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 Jcbusites. A curious old place, and more interest- 
 ing than any other of the inhabited towns we have 
 seen on the Euphrates. The black water they talk 
 of must come from the bituminous springs I see 
 marked on the map, and seems to be very nearly, if 
 not quite, the same as asphalt. We see splotches 
 of it all about the streets, wliile the floor of the 
 guard-house where we are is asphalted like a bit of 
 modern pavement. Hitt, of course, stands on the 
 river, and from the window I can see several 
 enormous barges coated with the same stuff. It is 
 here most likely that Noah built his ark, and 
 “ pitched it within and without with pitch,” for it 
 is ready here at hand. This lower valley of the 
 Euplirates is just the place where a great flood 
 would have come, so that it is foolish, although it 
 appears to be the fashion, to put doAvn the account 
 of it in the Book of Genesis as fabulous. Noah, 
 by the light of these springs at Hitt, is quite an 
 historic j)ersonage, and the beasts he saved with 
 him in the ark were, of course, his domestic animals, 
 camels, sheep, donkeys, and perhaps horses. 
 
 The extreme cold, and the fact that our baggage 
 is far behind, has driven us into the guard-house, 
 W'here we are now waiting. It is better than most 
 of these buildings, having some pretension even to 
 being called a khan. There are two little rooms 
 with carpets and cushions, dirty enough, which we 
 shall clear out as soon as we get our o^vn things. 
 We have made no ceremony with the Mudir, but 
 
■CH. X.] 
 
 How Noah Built his Ark. 
 
 167 
 
 iiaye sent him away. The officials are all alike, 
 rand we are tired of them. 
 
 February 7. — A terribly cold night, in the middle 
 of which I got np and went down into the yard as 
 I heard the mares moring. I fonnd that Tamarisk, 
 who is the tiresomest animal I hare ever had to do 
 with, had managed to get her rug off and was of 
 •course shivering in the icy wind. Horses are the 
 least intelligent of all living creatures. For the 
 «ake of a moment’s * pleasure in rolling she had, 
 without thinking, exposed herself to a whole night 
 •of discomfort, and yet people talk of the wonderful 
 intelligence of the horse. 
 
 In the morning the violence of the wind some- 
 what abated, and there was a hard frost. We 
 ■started the baggage early and went round with 
 ■Zenil to have a look at the bitumen springs. They 
 were half a mile or so from the town, but you had 
 •only to follow your nose to find them. The smell 
 is not entirely caused by the gases from the water, 
 but more from the furnaces in which the pitch is 
 boiled after it is collected. The springs are cer- 
 tainly curious. They rise in craters and the water 
 is perfectly clear at first, but as it runs off a thick 
 black scum collects upon the top, and this is the stuff 
 they skim off and collect. The taste of the water 
 is disgusting, but it is not hot. There seem to have 
 been numbers of these crater-like fountains in the 
 neighbourhood formerly, but now most of them are 
 extinct. Wo only saw one in active work. It 
 
1 68 Bedoilin Tribes of the E^lphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 bubbled iip in a largish yolume of crater, the 
 fountain being about twelye feet across by three or 
 four deep. The furnaces are set close to it, and are 
 fed partly with tamarisk faggots from up the river,, 
 partly Avith the bitumen itself. A little further on 
 Ave came to a hot spring steamiag thickly in the 
 cold morning air. This was of no Amlue, they said, 
 but as medicine, bemg in taste like the water at 
 Carlsbad, and producing no pitch. Is ear to it 
 there AA^ere salt pans, but not connected with the 
 spring. 
 
 We were glad, after daAvdling about looking at 
 these things, to haA'e the excuse of the caraAmn being 
 in front of us to gh^e our mares a gallop. This they 
 AA^ere ready enough for, and we soon joined the rest 
 of the party. We found them crossing a curioua 
 piece of rocky ground AA^hich seemed to be a sort of 
 old deposit. It aaws almost as smooth as glass, and 
 lay in a square pattern like slices of cake stuffed 
 AAdth almonds. A couple of traA^ellers haA-e joined 
 us from Hitt, one mounted on a fast-AAmlking drome- 
 dary Avhich moves oiu- enAy. After this the level 
 of the plain AA^as broken by a long gravelly ridge, 
 or, as we found on examining it, a couple of ridges, 
 running exactly parallel, and certainly not a work 
 of nature. Wilfrid thought they might be an 
 ancient double AA'all.'”'’ There AA^ere bushes near 
 them and some grass, and Ave sat doAvn awhile 
 
 * These, though we did not know it, were the first of the great 
 Eabylonian canals, whose remains cover lower Mesopotamia. 
 
CII. X.] 
 
 Across Coimtry. 
 
 169 
 
 sheltered fi-oni the Avind, and ate our dates and 
 bread and let our mares feed. There is a good deal 
 of cnltiA'ation ahont here, uideed, I suspect we liaA^e 
 got doAvn to the great alluvial plain of Irak, which 
 is said to extend across the Tigris and Avas once 
 fertile enough. There are numerous small Avater- 
 courses tlu’ough the fields, connected Avith the river 
 for irrigating purposes, and Ave had some fun 
 taking a line across these. Tamarisk blundered a 
 good deal, but Hagar is a Avonderfully good jumper, 
 taking all the dykes in her stride, and putting 
 doAATi a foot in difficult places, just like an old 
 hunter in England. Xext Ave crossed a Ioav ridge- 
 of graA'elly desert, hut the desert noAV is A^ery little- 
 higher than the alluA'ial A^alley, and Ave thence 
 caught sight of Paimady, a largish toAvn Avith a. 
 minaret standing in the middle of a broad green 
 plain. As Ave Avere descending toAV='ards this Ave- 
 saAV a fox which Wilfrid gave chase to and soon 
 rode doAvn, but he found to his vexation that his- 
 gun was not loaded, so the fox got off. The. sky 
 looks very thi’eatening, and perhaps it is as Avell 
 that we are to be indoors again to-night. Zenil 
 had sent on a man to announce our arrival, and 
 consequently Ave Averc met by a guard of honour 
 outside the Aullage, and escorted at once to the 
 serai ; for Eumiidy is an important place and 
 actually in telegraphic communication Avith Bagdad 
 and the rest of the Avorld. There is a Xaimakam 
 
1 70 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 liere, a very polite man, who puts liimself “into 
 four,” to be agreeable to us. Eumady, unlike the 
 other villages of late, has no palm trees, but stands 
 in a large tract of irrigated corn-land. It is a new 
 place made important by Midhat Pasha, who built 
 the serai and barrack. The former is a really 
 handsome building, with an immense courtyard 
 behind it a hundred yards square. Here we are 
 lodged in a very tolerable room, hoping that the 
 katterjis may arrive before nightfall, as it is begin- 
 ning to snow. 
 
 Friday^ %tlu — Eumady. There is no chance of 
 our getting away to day, as the snow, which Wilfrid 
 was laughed at for predicting so far south, has 
 fallen. The whole country is white, and very 
 bleak and desolate it looks. When we looked out 
 this morning we found the mares, which we had 
 tied up in a corner of the yard so as to be out of 
 the wind, standing in a pool of half melted slush. 
 Poor creatures, they looked miserable enough, but 
 are realty none the worse for it, and are now very 
 happy walking about the yard, where there is some 
 .grass to eat, and where they can choose their own 
 shelter, and stand or lie do’wn where they like. If 
 it comes on snowing again we shall j)ut them into 
 an empty shed there is in the buildings, but the 
 stables would only give them colds. Mahmoud the 
 zaptieh has imitated our treatment in this, seeing 
 it succeed so well, and now always leaves his colt 
 •out of doors. 
 
CH. X.] The Queen, the Sultans Vassal. 171 
 
 Tlie Kaimakam is superior to most officials we 
 have met, and being, as I said, in telegrapliic com- 
 munication with the world, talks very knowingly 
 about the affairs of Europe. He got a telegram 
 this morning to sa}'" that peace had been made with 
 Eussia, and is in high delight about it, though he has 
 not heard whether the terms of it are good or bad. 
 ‘‘But then, you know,” he said, “we have got the 
 Broudogoul, and that shows it must be all right. 
 The Broudogoul is the important thing. It was 
 signed yesterday.” When we left England people 
 told us that the Mahometans would be very angiy 
 with England because she had deserted Turkey in 
 the war, but this was all nonsense. Hobody in the 
 country seems to have the least idea of our being 
 responsible in the matter, and we have been only 
 once or twice asked why England did not help the 
 Sultan this year as she did formerly. The fact is, 
 in this part of Turkey, and very likely everywhere, 
 it is an accepted fact in public opinion that the 
 English king is vassal to the Sultan. We have no 
 difficulty therefore in explaining how it is that the 
 English have not “marched” (rarh) with the 
 Turks. “The Sultan has wished this time to fight 
 the Czar alone,” we say; and they accept the 
 account without demur. An attempt to explain 
 the real reason of our not fighting, oven if wo could 
 give one, would not be taken seriously, and might 
 lead to discussions best avoided. Xow, however, 
 England, they tell us, has been called upon by the 
 
172 Bedoinn Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 Sultan, and has come forward. Tire consequence of 
 which seems to he this glorious peace. I suppose 
 we shall know all about it when we get to Bagdad. 
 The only person who declines to echo the general 
 “inshalMh,” when the peace is mentioned, is Zenil, 
 who being an Albanian and a fervent Mussulman, 
 is still full of bloodthirsty ideas. He is a good 
 fellow though, and far superior to any of the 
 zaptiehs we have had to do with. He Avill have to 
 leave us here and came to say good-bye this m^orn- 
 ing. His gesture, in first declining and then ac- 
 cepting the present offered him, Avould have made 
 the fortune of a French actor in the character of 
 d’Artagnan or some such hero of the great school 
 of manners. He would willingly go on with us, 
 hut each district is Jealous to have its own men 
 employed on escort duty for the sake of the presents 
 given by travellers. So we are to he handed over 
 to a new officer to-morrow. 
 
 To-day has been a day of feasting, the Kaima- 
 kam hospitably stuffing us with really excellent 
 food ; dishes of stewed truffles, of a sort of celery 
 called heymeh, and of a sort of potato, the name 
 of which sounded like sejjerf besides the Iculecheh 
 or Bagdad cakes (Bath buns), and Bagdad pome- 
 granates, the largest in the world. The mares, too, 
 have had their fill of straw and barley, so if no 
 more snow falls we propose going on to-morrow. 
 The evening has cleared ; and I can see against the 
 
 * Apparently the same word as that which means “ a treeJ^ 
 
CH. X.] 
 
 A Wolf Htint. 
 
 173 
 
 Tzestern sky, and perched on a high pole in the 
 yard, a large buzzard, who would hardly go there 
 to roost if there was any prospect of wind or bad 
 weather. 
 
 February 9. — To-day has been the pleasantest of 
 all our journey, — the mares ready to jump out of 
 their skins with freshness after their day’s rest and 
 with the keen air of a frosty morning. At first 
 the road across the plain was very slippery with 
 ice, and then very slippery with mud as the sun 
 thawed it ; but later on we got to sounder ground 
 and enjoyed our ride immensely. We soon came to 
 the Diban or Wolf Hills, and sure enough the first 
 thing we saw was a wolf. Wilfrid fired a long 
 shot at him as he ran up the steep side of the hill, 
 •and then got off his mare and left her with me 
 while he tried a stalk, for the wolf had stopped 
 when he got to the top. Presently I heard four 
 rifle shots, and Wilfrid returned to tell me that he 
 had seen two Avolves just over the crest of the hill, 
 and that he had fired at them from about a 
 hundred yards off, while they ran baclvAvards and 
 foiwards trying to make out Avhere the bullets and 
 the noise came from. But every shot missed. The 
 woh'es, hoAA'evcr, had not gone far and Wilfrid 
 proposed riding after them. This Ave presently 
 did, and found them not a quarter of a mile from 
 the place Avhere they had been fired at, and less 
 than that distance from us. The country on the 
 top of the hills Avas a sort of table-land of fine 
 
1 74 Bedoiiin Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. x.. 
 
 gravel, and seemed inviting for a gallop. So we- 
 went after tlie wolves as fast as we conld lay legs- 
 to the ground. They started off when they saw ns, 
 hnt not fast, and looking constantly round over- 
 their shoulders as they went. As Ave rushed up to 
 them they separated, and the one Ave followed then. 
 galloped in earnest. Hagar was, of coiu'se, soon 
 far in front, skimming over the uncAmn ground like- 
 a SAvallow, while Tamarisk laboured with me in the- 
 rear. I thought the wolf must have been over- 
 taken, as he Avas only twenty yards in front of 
 Wilfrid, when suddenly, in crossing a ravine, 
 Hagar was up to her knees in the soft ground and 
 almost on her head. The rain and snoAV had 
 undermined the soil, and after struggling a yard or 
 two Wilfrid pulled his mare up, firing a parting 
 shot hoAvever at the wolf, Avho SAverved as it struck 
 him ; but the charge being only of Ho. 5 shot did 
 not seriously impede his progress. In another 
 second he had disappeared over the brow. This; 
 chase, though unsuccessful, Avas great fun, and it 
 was curious to get so near a aucav of a Avild beast 
 like this. I shall never forget the expression of 
 the Avolf’s face as he looked round at us OA'er his- 
 shoulder. 
 
 We saAV scAmral more Avohms in the course of thn 
 day, one especially, AA'hich Avas so much occupied 
 watching the proceedings of a flock of sheep that 
 he alloAved us to come Avithin seAmnty yards of him, 
 sitting doAAm as AAm Avere approaching, and scratcliing 
 
WOLF COUlllSE NEAll JLU-MADY. 
 
CH. X.] 
 
 Ferry-boat on the Euphrates. 
 
 175 
 
 his ear with his hind foot just like a dog. Then 
 he got up leisurely and trotted oh up a ravine, 
 where we had no chance of following him. 
 
 About two o’clock we came to the river, here 
 again fringed with tamarisks and with a prickly 
 brushwood called sirr. Some francolins, too, got 
 up, the first we have seen since Abu-Kamal, and 
 while Wilfrid was looking for these he shot a 
 jackal, which jumped up from under his feet. At 
 the river we found the ferry-boat, which was to 
 convey us at last across the Euplirates, for we are 
 now in the latitude of Bagdad, and have only forty 
 miles more to go, across the narrowest part of 
 Mesopotamia, between the Euphrates and the 
 Tigris. While waiting for the boat, the caravan 
 came up, reminding us of the Arabic proverb, 
 “ Late and early meet at the ferry.” The ladies 
 in the litter here got doAvn for the first time, except 
 at night, dining the whole journey. They are 
 very amiable and polite to me; but as they talk 
 no Arabic, and I no Turkish, we don’t get on far 
 together. They seem, as far as I can gather, to 
 have got nsed to their journey, and I expect will 
 be rather sorry to go back to the stupid life of the 
 harem in Bagdad. They may even some day 
 regret the old mule and the panniers which helped 
 them to see something at least of tlic world. Their 
 dress is a sort of red and ivhitc calico sack, a black 
 cotton veil and European boots ; and when set 
 down on the river’s bank to ivait for the boat, they 
 
1 76 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 looked just like a pair of bags witli sometliing alive 
 tied up in them. The crossing was, I thought, a 
 rather dangerous proceeding, as we were closely 
 crammed, horses, mules, donkeys and all, the 
 katterjis insisting upon jumping heast after beast, 
 in, long after the boat looked as if it could not hold 
 another creature. What with waiting and unload- 
 ing the mules, and then getting the baggage stowed, 
 we were quite two hours at the river side. The 
 crossing itself occupied twenty-five minutes, and 
 after all some of the baggage was left behind and 
 did not reach us till late at night. Poor Saadun, 
 the katterji, had managed to fall into the river. 
 
 We have encamped in a delightful spot, a hollow 
 grown all round with sirr. We have seen a 
 large herd of mid boar close by, and Wilfrid is 
 away getting francolins for dinner. It is a very 
 cold night, but still, and there will be a hard 
 frost before momiag. The name of this place is 
 Seglawieh. 
 
 Sunday., February 10. — Indeed it ivas cold. Here 
 in latitude 34°, and no more than a couple of 
 hundred feet above the sea level, — only forty miles 
 from Bagdad, the city of the simoom and the 
 j)lague, — a pail of water set inside our tent froze 
 till it was hard as iron, and the tent itself hung 
 stiff and rigid as a board. Wilfrid’s beard, too, 
 was hanging in icicles. Where, then, shall chilly 
 people go in search of climate ? 
 
 This morning our new sergeant of police 
 
€H. X.] 
 
 In Mesopotamia. 
 
 1/7 
 
 announced his intention of returning home. I 
 think the hardships of a night’s watching in the 
 chol (desert) had been too much for him ; and 
 perhaps he reasoned that a backshish would equally 
 be forthcoming, whether he went to Bagdad or 
 turned back here. But in this he Avas mistaken, 
 for Aye dismissed him empty handed. By this time 
 we are heartily sick of zaptiehs, soldiers, mndirs, 
 and all the representatiyes of constituted gOA^em- 
 ment in this country, and are resolyed to haye no 
 more to do Ayith them. So, telling all Ayho liked 
 to go home, we started Ayithout more ceremony, 
 and Ayere soon rid of all our tormentors but one, 
 Ayho, I suj)pose, has come on to get the sealed 
 paper AA^hich is necessary to proye that the escoi't 
 has fulfilled its duty. Our day’s ride Ayas only 
 the more pleasant. It lay oyer a series of loAy 
 undidating doAAms of A'ery fine graA’el thickly 
 interspersed Ayith grass. On these Aye found 
 seA^eral small herds of gazelles, and once Aye put 
 up a hare. But Aye are too anxious noAy to get 
 on to care for sport. "VYe hoped to see the minarets 
 of Bagdad before night. It Ayas certainly an 
 agreeable bit of country, in spite of the line of 
 telegraph posts AA'hich crosses it and tries to giA'o 
 it a cocloiey look. Xo special incident occurred, 
 but we enjoyed the sunshine AAdiich came out and 
 warmed us through, and Aye had more than one 
 gallop OA'cr delightful riding ground. 
 
 It Ayas still early in the afternoon Ayhcn Aye came to 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 N 
 
1 78 Bedotlin Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 a lake covered witlL a mass of water birds, pelicans, 
 dncks, storks, and presently afterwards to a large camp 
 of what I suppose were at last real Bedouins. At 
 least, they had camels round them as well as sheep, 
 and each tent had its spear stuck in the ground 
 before it. On inquiry we found them to be Zoba 
 Arabs, either allies or tributaries of the Shammar, 
 and come lately from the South. We would 
 willingly have pitched our tents Avith them, but it 
 Avas still early, and Ave were foolish enough to 
 believe the tale of our sole remaining zaptieh, Avho 
 assured us that the Sheykh of the tribe Avas but an 
 hour’s journey further on and not far from the 
 ToAA^er of ISTimroud, which Ave could already see 
 peeping over the horizon. So instead of stopping 
 Ave Avent on, and of course fared Averse. In the 
 first place, Ave have missed this, orm first opportunity 
 of seeing something really Bedouin, and next, Ave 
 haA'e had after all to encamp by the tents of a A^ery 
 loAV tribe, AAdiich calls itself Amr or Abu-Amr. 
 But first Ave had a long ride of four hours instead 
 of one, and then only accidentally hit upon our 
 present hosts. 
 
 On leaAung the lake, our course turned a little 
 to the left, in order to aAmid some SAAwmpy ground 
 AAdiich has made the regular track impassable. In 
 front of us Avas a long line of Ioav hills, which on 
 reaching them we discoA^ercd to be a double line 
 of artificial mounds, just like those Ave saAV thi'ee 
 days ago, and Ave suspect that they haA’e something 
 
CH. X.] 
 
 A Fellah Tribe of Irak. 
 
 179 
 
 to do with ancient Bahylon. We passed tlirougli 
 one great square space inclosed by these — it might 
 be a couple of square miles — as if it had been a 
 to'^’u. Who knows ? Not the zaptieh, and there 
 was nobody else to ask. Our patience was nearly 
 exhausted when we again caught sight of the 
 tower, and just before dark came upon some Arabs 
 on donkeys, who told us the Amr camp was near 
 at hand; so we cantered on, and at last have got 
 to it. The place is called Hurnabat. It is a very 
 dirty camp, and the people are rude and noisy, 
 But of course the Sheykh, a little old man in 
 rags and with a face like a ferret, lias received us 
 with such hospitality as he can show. Only he 
 seems to have no sort of authority over his people, 
 who come and go in his tent, and who asked 
 Wilfrid rude questions, as to the number of his 
 wives, and TLlnna and Mahmoud as rude ones 
 about their religious tenets. 
 
 These Amr are evidently very low Arabs, far worse 
 behaved than any we have come across on our road, 
 and we wish we had stayed by the lake with the 
 respectable looking Zoba, but it is too late noAV to 
 regret our mistake. Fortunately, Avhen Ave had 
 been half an hour in the old man’s tent, AAdiose 
 name is Ilassan, Avith a young bidl tied up in one 
 corner and a rough looking mare in the other, a 
 A’ery respectably dressed Arab arrived and sat doAAoi 
 l)eside us. lie seemed to have some autliority over 
 the rest, and at first avo tliought he AA'as a stranger, 
 
i8o Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 especially wlien, after a little conversation, he told 
 us he was an Anazeh of the Ainard,t tribe. "We 
 were very much astonished at this ; and he then 
 explained that he Avas the head Sheykh of all these 
 Amr, and that his grandfather had left his OAvn 
 people and settled here as an independent Sheykh, 
 He certainly is quite different from all the other 
 people, as, besides being well dressed, he has a well- 
 bred look and excellent manners. But Ave cannot 
 understand Avhy he has fallen foul of Mahmoud 
 about his religion. Tliis Sheykh Mohammed, while 
 AA'e Avere talking, suddenly got up on to his knees 
 and began saying his prayers and, Avhen he had 
 finished, cross-questioned our Mahmoud on his 
 reasons for not doing so too, and frightened him 
 out of his Avits. The people all seem religious 
 here, old Hassan saying his prayers outside in a 
 loud voice, interrupted noAV and then by shouting 
 at a mare or donkey, or thi’OAving his stick at 
 a COAV.* 
 
 With us the Sheykh is A^ery friendly. We 
 asked to have our dinner in our oaa'u tent, so as to 
 be out of the noise, and he came afterAAurds and 
 smoked a cigarette Avith us. Wilfrid gaAm him a 
 tobacco bag, Avhich he fancied, but Avhich he made 
 a great difficulty about accepting, insisting that if 
 
 * The half-reclaimed tribes about Bagdad are often fanatical 
 Shias (the Mahometan sect of Persia) while the townspeople are 
 mostly Sunis, the true Bedouins being nothing at all. Turks, 
 aaptiehs, and people from Aleppo would naturally be SCmi. This 
 Sheykh was no doubt a Shia. 
 
CH. X.] 
 
 Tlie Tower of Babel. 
 
 iSr 
 
 Jie did .&o it was on the understanding that he was 
 to be considered as a brother. His oAvn tent, he 
 tells us, is a few miles further on, and he is on his 
 way, “ on business,” to Euniady, and is to start 
 Tery early to-morrow, as he does not wish to pass 
 the Zoba tents by daylight. They are his 
 ■enemies. 
 
 February 11. — ^We did not bargain at all for such 
 a day as this has been, when we started this morn- 
 ing from the Ann’ camp at Hiirnabat. We had 
 sent on our baggage, and intended, after visiting 
 the Tower of Nimroud which was close by, to 
 gallop all the way to Bagdad without stopping, as 
 our mares were still fresh. But the weather dis- 
 230sed of us differently. The Tower of Himroud, as 
 the Arabs call it, or Akha Kuf as it is Avi’itten on 
 the maps, is the traditional tower of Babel, though 
 modern -writers have transferred its site elseAvhere. 
 As seen from the Amr camp, about a mile off, it 
 W’as very like the tojo of Mount Cervin, and hardly 
 seemed a building at all ; but as we got nearer Ave 
 could see it Avas built of bricks. It seems to bo 
 solid ; and one cannot conceive any j>ossible use it 
 can haA’e been of, except, as the Bible says, to reach 
 to heaven. It only goes a short Avay on the road 
 to heaven noAV, being four or five hundred feet 
 high, including the mound of ruins on AA’liich it 
 stands. It has nothing noble about it but its size, 
 and scrAus only as a gigantic dove-cote for the blue 
 rock pigeons AAdiich arc so common cveryAvhere 
 
1 82 Bedouin Tribes of the E^lphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 about. We walked round it, and picked up some 
 bits of blue pottery, and then rode on. The weather 
 looked thi-eatening, and I did not stop to take a 
 sketch ; but no doubt it has been drawn and described 
 before. 
 
 The rain began to fall as we left the tower, and 
 we went at a good pace to catch up the caravan, 
 but that was just all we cordd do before the ground 
 became so slippery from the wet, that our mares could 
 scarcely any longer keep on their legs, even at a walk. 
 This is the alluvial soil of Irak we have heard so 
 much of, rich perhaps, but very dkty travelling in 
 Avet Aveather. From the ToAver of Himrdud Ave had 
 already caught sight of the minarets of Kasmeyn, a 
 faubourg of Bagdad, and of the palm groAm which 
 borders the city ; and Ave thought to get there in 
 tAVO or three hours at most, but first there Avas an 
 overfioAv^ed lake to go round, and then this horrible 
 mud to fiounder through, so that more than once we 
 Avere in despair of getting in at all. We could not 
 IcaA"© the caraA'an, because there Avere places AAdiere 
 bridges had broken doAvn to be got over, and sloping 
 banks as slippery as ice to climb along, and the 
 mules Avere sliding about and tumbling doAAm every 
 minute. At last Ave came to a place that seemed 
 quite hopeless, as there Avas a long sort of arrete, 
 like the crest I have heard described of Monte Eosa, 
 to creep along, AAuth an apparently bottomless pool 
 of stagnant water on either side. We dismounted, 
 aud with great care got our mares across, and then 
 
CH. X.] 
 
 A Siotigh of Despond. 
 
 iS- 
 
 slid them witli all four feet together to the bottom 
 of the hank ; hut the baggage mules, heavily lacleu 
 as they were, came to the most dreadful grief, aud 
 the katterjis seemed inclined to give the matter up 
 altogether. "Wilfrid, however, managed at last, hy 
 wading tlmough the mnd, to rescue the animals, and 
 then had the baggage carried across and reloaded 
 on the other side. This took a long while, and as 
 it was raining still in torrents, Ave soon had not a 
 dry rag left on us. In the middle of it all, arrived 
 the unfortunate Turkish ladies in their panniers, and 
 AA’hen they came to the “ mal paso,” themnle, AAdiich 
 ^ras an old and sagacious brute, refused to adA’ance 
 another yard. So the poor Avomen, Avho had put on 
 their best clothes to come smartly into Bagdad Avith, 
 Avere bundled out into the mud, and had to trudge 
 in their beautiful European hoots across the slnsh, 
 and then sit in the rain till the mule could he per- 
 suaded to folloAV. We had no time to AA’ait to see 
 hoAV they got out of their difficulties, and I liaA’c a 
 forlorn recollection of them huddled up under the 
 mud hank, — clnmsy and absurd figures, a pitiful 
 sight, Avith their AATctchcd hedahhlcd silk goAA'iis 
 clinging to them. 
 
 In the meantime, although cheered somcAA'hat hy 
 the misfortunes of our neighhours, aa"c A\"cro suftcring 
 not a little onrselves, Avct as avo Avcrc and chilled to 
 the marroAV of onr hones. It Avas Averse than CA"cn 
 our entrance into Aleppo ; the Avind Avas more search- 
 ing, and Ave thought bitterly of the tracts of burn- 
 
184 Bedouin Tribes of the Eitphrates. [ch. x. 
 
 ing sand in wliich Bagdad is popularly supposed to 
 stand. At last the city of the Caliphs loomed 
 thi’ough the driving rain, a grimy and squalid line 
 of mud houses rising out of a sea of mud. Even 
 the palm groves looked draggled, and the Tigris 
 had that hopeless look a river puts on in the rain. 
 
 Crouched on our mares’ necks, a mere mass of mire 
 from head to foot, and followed feebly on foot by 
 our single zaptieh, whose horse had slipped up with 
 him and fallen heavily on his rider’s leg, we entered 
 the historical city and inquired timidly for the 
 British residency, the house of the Consul-General. 
 At first nobody moved or answered, but after much 
 asking, we found a young soldier at a cofiee shop, 
 who engaged for a recompense to show us the way. 
 First he took us to a khan, where we were to leave 
 our mares, — for we should have to cross the river, and 
 the bridge was shut, — a wretched yard where we tied 
 the poor creatures up in the still pouring rain. Then 
 we follow'ed our guide to the river, got into a giifa^ 
 or circular boat, something like a washing-tub, and 
 were ferried across, and at last, after what seemed 
 an interminable trudge along a narrow cut-throat- 
 looking lane, found ourselves at the door of the 
 residency. Here all our troubles are over for the 
 present, and we are sitting clothed and in our right 
 minds close to a table spread with a table-cloth and 
 decked with knives and forks. There are flowers 
 on it and fruit, and on the sideboard I can see a 
 ham. Servants of Indian type and clothed in white 
 
€H. X.] 
 
 Colonel Nixon's Dining-room. 
 
 o 
 
 185 
 
 are running in and out. In a word we are in 
 Colonel Nixon’s dining-room, and ready I am quite 
 sme both of us for all the good things he can pos- 
 sibly propose to set before us. There is food, too, 
 for the mind, hungry for news from Europe : — “ The 
 Eussians are at the gates of Constantinople. An 
 armistice is ah'eady signed, and nearly the whole of 
 European Turkey has been ceded to Eussia. — Mr. 
 Gladstone’s windows broken in London. — Yictor 
 Emmanuel and his Holiness dead at Eome.” 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 “ I had furnished myself with letters to a rich merchant of Bagdad.” 
 
 Aeabiajs" Nights. 
 
 Modern Bagdad a poor place — Causes of its decay — The Plague — 
 Midhat Pasha takes down its walls and lets in a Deluge — 
 Dr. Colville’s view of the Bedouins — An Indian Prince — Akif 
 Pasha’s fortune — His stud — We buy asses and camels, and 
 plan an evasion. 
 
 Bagdad, in spite of its ancient name and of its 
 Caliphs and Calenders so familiar in our ears, is 
 hardly now an interesting city.’ Compared with 
 Damascus or Aleppo it wants individual character, 
 while Cah’o twenty years ago must have been far 
 more quaint and attractive. I suppose, if we had 
 entered it from the north and by the river, we 
 should have been differently impressed from now, 
 coming as we have from the west, where there is 
 nothing in the approach to give one the idea of a 
 great city. The walls have been pulled doAvn, and 
 one enters by scrambling over the mounds of 
 rubbish where they once stood, and then crossing 
 an intermediate space of broken ground, given over 
 to dogs and jackals and gradually abandoned by 
 the town as it has shrunk back from its old cii’cuit, 
 
CH. XI.] 
 
 The Capital of the Caliphs. 
 
 187 
 
 like a witliered nut inside its shell. One sees at 
 once that Bagdad is a city long past its prime, a 
 lean and slippered pantaloon, its hose a world too 
 ■wdde for its shrunk shanks. Within, there is little 
 to remind one of the days of its greatness. The 
 houses are low and mean and built of mud, and the 
 streets narrow and unpaved as those of any Meso- 
 potamian village. There are no open spaces, or 
 fountains, or large mosques, or imposing buildings. 
 The minarets are feAV and of inconsiderable height, 
 and the bazaars without life or sign of prosperity. 
 Xo caravans crowd the gates, and hardly a camel 
 is to be met with in the streets. The rich merchant, 
 like the Caliph, the Calender and all the rest, seems, 
 to have disappeared. I don’t know how it is, but 
 these signs of decay affect me disagreeably. Bag- 
 dad has no right to be anything but prosperous, 
 and stripped of its wealth is uninteresting, a colour- 
 less Eastern town and nothing more. 
 
 The feature of Bagdad is of course the river, the 
 Tigris, on wliieh it stands, and that is still beautiful. 
 On either bank, above and below the town, there 
 is a dense grove of palm trees with gardens under 
 them, making an agreeable approach for travellers 
 who come by water, and setting off the yellow 
 mud houses to their best advantage. Some of 
 these are picturesquely built and cheerful enough, 
 with bits of terrace and orange trees in front of 
 them, but they are pretty rather than imposing, 
 and there is an entire absence of really largo 
 
1 88 Bedouin Tribes of tlie Euphrates, [ch. xi. 
 
 buildings or even of important groups of houses, 
 while the flatness of the hanks and the want of 
 streets leading down to the river prevent one’s 
 getting any idea of the depth of the city beyond. 
 The Tigris itself is a noble river, flowing at this 
 time of year in a rapid turbid stream and mth a 
 breadth of perhaps three hundred yards. The 
 houses come close down to the water’s edge, and 
 there are boats and barges on it, giving it altogether 
 £L rather gay appearance, but there are no bridges 
 but a single one of boats, which most of the time 
 we have been here has been taken away in antici- 
 pation of a flood. 
 
 By far the pleasantest place in Bagdad is the 
 British Eesidency, a beautiful old house built round 
 two large courtyards and having a long frontage to 
 the river. There is a delightful terrace over- 
 looking the water, with an alley of old orange trees 
 and a kiosque or summer-house and steps, leading 
 down to a little quay where the consular boats are 
 moored. Inside, the house is decorated in the 
 Persian taste of the last century, one of the most 
 elaborate and charming styles ever invented, with 
 deep fretted ceilings, walls panelled in minute 
 cabinet work, sometimes inlaid with looking-glass, 
 sometimes richly gilt. Only the dining-room is 
 studiously English, in deference to Anglo-Indian 
 prejudice, — its decorations, apparently fresh from 
 Maple’s, forming a theme for admiration for the 
 Bagdadis who come to pay their respects to Her 
 
CH. XI.] 
 
 Hospitality in Bagdad. 
 
 189’ 
 
 Majesty’s Consul-General. Colonel Xixon is hospi- 
 tality itself, and his doors seem always ajar to 
 take in imfortunate strangers like ourselves, arriving 
 grimed and weather worn in an otherwise inhospit- 
 able city. For there is nothing as yet in Bagdad 
 approaching in character to an imi, not even a 
 house of entertainment on so poor a scale as the 
 lokanda at Aleppo. As for the Idians, they are- 
 mere empty barracks, providing nothing but a roof 
 for the traveller and standing room for liis beast. 
 Here then in the Eesidency we have been living 
 for the better part of a fortnight in absolute repose, 
 and enjoying the good things of civilisation, as- 
 only those can who have been travelling many 
 days in heathendom and sleeping many nights upon 
 the ground. 
 
 Colonel Hixon has given us much valuable 
 information about the population, history, and 
 general affans of the town, some of which, at the 
 risk of being dull, I think I ought to put down. 
 It appears that Bagdad is in fact a decrepit, even a 
 dying place, and that its decline, which began long 
 ago, has quite lately become alarmingly rapid. Its 
 first misfortune was its taking by the Tartars in tlie 
 13th century,* the time when so many great cities 
 
 * Marco Polo describes the taking of ‘‘Paudac,” as he writes 
 it, by the “grand Sire des Tartares qui Alau avait nom.” He 
 gives a minute account of the death of the last Arabian caliph 
 which put into modern Prench runs as follows : “ Quand il I’eut 
 prise, il trouva une tour, appartenant au calife, toute pleine d’or 
 et d’argent, et d’autres richesses, en si grande quantite que jamais 
 
190 Bedouin Tribes of the Eupbirates. [ch. xi. 
 
 in this part of Asia perished ; the next, its capture 
 hy the Tnrks a hnndred years later, and then 
 another siege a hundred years after that. This 
 seems to have ended its political importance, and 
 about the same time its commerce began to decline. 
 Like Aleppo and Scanderoon, it was half ruined by 
 the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, which took 
 away its Indian trade, and now of late years the 
 establishment of a line of steamers, from Bombay to 
 the Persian Gulf, has deprived it of nearly all that 
 remained. The great Asiatic caravans have finally 
 disappeared from the gates and caravanserais of 
 Bagdad, and are poorly represented by a home 
 traffic of corn to Syria and of cotton goods from 
 Manchester taken in exchange. How trifling that 
 
 on n’en vit tant rassemble en un seul lieu. A la vue de ce tresor 
 il fut tout emerveille, et fit venir devant lui le calife, et lui dit : 
 ‘ Calife, pourquoi as-tu amasse un si grand tresor ? Que veux-tu 
 en faire? Ne sayais-tu pas que j’etais ton ennemi, et que je 
 marchais centre toi pour te d^truire ? Et quand tu I’as ajipris, 
 pourquoi ne t’es-tu pas servi de ce tresor et ne I’as-tu pas donne 
 a des chevaliers et a des soldats pour te defendre, toi et la 
 cite ? ’ Le calife se taisait, ne sachant que dire. Alau reprit : 
 ‘ Calife, puisque je yois que tu aimes tant ton tresor, je vais te 
 donner le tien a manger.’ II fit done prendre le calife et le fit 
 mettre dans la tour du tresor en defendant de rien lui donner a 
 manger ni a boire ; puis il lui dit : ‘ Or 9 a, calife, mange de ton 
 tresor tant que tu voudras, car jamais tu ne mangeras autre chose.’ 
 Et il le laissa dans cette tour, ou il mourut au bout de quatre jours. 
 Il aurait done mieux vain pour le calife donner son tresor a des 
 hommes qui eussent defendu son royaume et sa personne que de 
 se laisser prendre et mourir desherite. Ce fut le dernier des 
 califes.” This was Mostasem Billah, the last of the Abasside 
 caliphs. He reigned from 1242 to 1258. Marco Polo dictated his 
 travels originally to Eustician of Pisa, who wrote them in pro- 
 vincial Ercnch. Charton, “ Yoyageurs anciens et modernes.”) 
 
CH. XI.] 
 
 A Decaying City. 
 
 191 
 
 is -we can judge by tlie deserted state of the 
 Euphrates road. Already, the “ rich merchants ” 
 have fled from a city which can no longer support 
 them, and have set up shop at Bussora, which as a 
 seaport is destined to be the capital some day of this 
 part of the world. Even the Persian pilgrimage, 
 which brought so much wealth to Bagdad in former 
 days, has within the last few years, owing to the ill 
 feeling existing between the Sultan and the Shah, 
 been diverted to another route, so that nothing more 
 is wanted to kill her outright but the opening of the 
 Euphrates Yalley railroad, so long talked of, when 
 she would be left out of the track of trade to perish, 
 like all the great cities which have preceded her.* 
 It is melancholy to look down from the top of a 
 minaret, as Wilfrid did, and count the empty spaces 
 already existing inside her ancient walls. This 
 minaret, the name of which I forget, is the one from 
 which in former times criminals used to be thrown, 
 and it is tall enough to command a good view. 
 There are gaunt wildernesses in the heart of the 
 city, where rubbish is shot, and whore jackals slink 
 about even by daylight, and marshes which arc 
 forming here and there, through neglect in keeping 
 out the river. We put up a flight of teal, only two 
 days ago, within fifty yards of the mosque of Ali. 
 It requires little imagination to picture to oneself 
 
 Tlie recent sanitary measure of forbidding tlio passage of 
 Persian corpses through Bagdad on their wiiy to burial at the 
 tomb of Iluseyn has been equally unfortunate for the income of 
 the town. The Persians paid heavy transit fees for their dead. 
 
192 Bedotdn Tribes of tJie Euphrates, [ch. xi.. 
 
 the day when all shall he desolate, a shapeless mass 
 of barren monnds and heaps of crumbled brick. 
 
 Besides her loss of trade, Bagdad has been 
 desperately treated by the plague. Dr. Colville, 
 the resident physician here, has given me many 
 particulars on this subject, which I think will be- 
 new to people in England. The first great 
 visitation of this disease was in 1774, when, if we 
 can believe the records preserved at the Eesidency, 
 nearly the whole population of the city perished. 
 Tavo millions are said to have died here and at 
 Bussora, but that figure must, one would think, 
 include the province as well as the toAvms. Anyhow, 
 the population of Bagdad has never numbered more 
 than one hundred and fifty thousand souls since. 
 Thirty years later, in 1804, and again nearly thirty 
 years after that, the plague returned. In 1831, 
 one hundred thousand perished in the toAvn, and 
 the population is now stated at from eighty to a 
 hundred thousand in all. Of these eighteen 
 thousand are JeAVS, tAVO thousand Armenian 
 Christians, seven thousand Tiuks, Persians and 
 Indians, and the rest Mussulman Arabs. The 
 plague has existed more or less continually suice- 
 1867, much as small-pox exists in London. It is 
 felt most severely by the JeAVS, Avhose houses are- 
 over-croAvded and dirtily kej)t. Dr. Colville does- 
 not consider it a true epidemic, that is to say, a 
 disease communicated by the air, nor yet is it 
 infectious in the ordinary sense. He considers that 
 
CH. XI.] 
 
 Statistics of the Plague. 
 
 193 
 
 it cannot be caught by passing or brushing against 
 infected people in the streets, as is commonly 
 supposed ; but that it attaches itself to houses and 
 districts. It would be very foolish to frequent a 
 p)lague-stricken house and dangeious to sleep in 
 one. It creeps from house to house, being intro- 
 duced into new ones by infected persons coming to 
 them. The dirtier the house the more liable it is 
 to the disease. For which reason, as I have said, 
 the Jewish quarter suffers generally more than the 
 rest. A European, living in a well-ordered house, 
 runs very little risk, unless the infection is brought 
 home by his servants. The Bedouins are entirely 
 free from it ; and in this the plague is in striking 
 contrast with the cholera, Avhich makes no distinction 
 between town and country. About fifty per cent, 
 of those attacked die. The plague first shows itself 
 by a little fever which continues for a couple of 
 days, and then by a glandular swelling on the groin 
 or armpit. Later by high fever, delirium, and 
 collapse. If the SAvelling suppurates, the patient 
 recoAmrs ; if not, on the fifth or sixth day he dies. 
 There is no known remedy; but, like many diseases, 
 Dr. Colville is of opinion that it is dying oiit. 
 
 Of other maladies Bagdad seems until qiiite 
 recently to have been singularly free.* Standing 
 
 * The Jewish community from its long isolation and the custom 
 of premature marriages is subject to heart disease and consumption, 
 the latter of which the Jews hold to be contagious. They are also 
 very short lived, but their indolent habits may account for much 
 of this. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 0 
 
194 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphi'ates. [ch. xr. 
 
 in the middle of the desert it always enjoys pure 
 air, and, although the summer temperature * is 
 prodigiously high, is not subject to fevers or to 
 any other epidemic than cholera, which makes no 
 distinction between healthy and unhealthy sites. 
 Unfortunately, however, of late years the marshes 
 which have been forming round the town have 
 introduced ague along with other ill results ; but 
 this deserves a more particular account. 
 
 It would appear that, besides and beyond its 
 other misfortunes, Bagdad had the' ill luck a few 
 years since to pass through the hands of an im- 
 proving Pasha, Midhat, author of the famous con- 
 stitution of 1877, which is now regenerating Turkey. 
 
 That singularly unhappy statesman (unhappy, I 
 mean, in his plans) was sent by the Sultan Abdul 
 Aziz to try his prentice hand upon Bagdad, before 
 being alloAved his AAmy AAuth Constantinople and the 
 Empire. He was an honest man, by all accounts, and 
 sincerely anxious for his country’s good, but half 
 educated and belonging to that school of Turkish 
 politicians, which thinks to Europeanise the Empire 
 by adopting the dress and external forms of Europe. 
 He seems to have been alloAved almost unlimited 
 credit for improvement and full liberty in all his 
 schemes, nor can it be denied that some of them 
 were, in their design, excellent. Only he was 
 
 * Dr. Colville, wlio lias kept an accurate register.for several years, 
 informs me that he has seen the thermometer in the courtyard of 
 his house, a well protected 230sition, marking 122 degrees D. 
 
CH. XI.] 
 
 Midhat Pasha at Bagdad. 
 
 195 
 
 incapable of working out the detail of what he 
 planned, or of at all counting the cost of each 
 adventure. They have consequently, one and all, 
 led only to the most impotent if not the most 
 disastrous conclusions. His first scheme was a 
 good one. He wished to establish communication 
 with Aleppo by the Euphrates, and in that view 
 built the forts we saw at Ana, Eumady and else- 
 where, to protect the road, while he ordered 
 steamers from England to navigate the river. The 
 forts, though unnecessarily large, answered their 
 ptu’pose and still exist ; the boats, with one 
 exception, have disappeared, either left to rot at 
 Eiissora or never fitted out with their engines. 
 The sole representative of the Euplnates fieet 
 draws too much water to ascend the river except 
 at fiood, and her regular trips were abandoned 
 almost as soon as begun. Midhat also established, 
 with some success, a tramway between Bagdad and 
 its suburb Kasmeyn, which still runs. So far so 
 good. But his next venture was not equally 
 reasonable ; indeed, it shows the unreality of his 
 claim to be considered a serious statesman. lie 
 had heard, or perhaps seen, that the fortifications of 
 Vienna and other toAvns in Europe had been pulled 
 dovm, to make room for the cities they enclosed 
 and which were outgrowing them; and, arguing 
 from this fact that all walls were out of date, ho 
 proceeded to level those of Bagdad. I dare say he 
 thought them unsightly and feared lest they sliould 
 
196 Bedouin Tribes of tJie Euphrates, [oh. xi. 
 
 remind strangers of tlie dark age of the world, 
 before gunpowder and the Ottoman Empire were 
 invented, the age of Haroun al Eashid. He seems, 
 too, to have had a curious idea of occupying his 
 soldiers in this work and of paying them their 
 arrears in bricks, a rather unsaleable article, one 
 would think, in a country where little is built and 
 nothing at all mended. Be that as it may, the 
 walls of the Caliphate were “removed” and the city 
 left open to all who chose to enter, thieves, wolves 
 and Bedouins, for it is but a few years since 
 Bagdad was threatened with sack by the Shammar. 
 The townsmen protested, but the thing was done. 
 Bagdad is now as defenceless as any of the villages 
 near it.* 
 
 Hot content with this. Midhat conceived the 
 unfortunate thought of benefiting the whole country 
 by a huge canal, in imitation of the irrigating 
 works once fertilising Southern Mesopotamia. 
 Engineers were engaged, labour impressed, a special 
 tax for the cost levied, and Midhat himself, before 
 his term of office came to an end, had the satisfac- 
 tion of opening the new canal in person, after the 
 fashion of dignitaries in Europe. But, oh cruel 
 fate, at the first flooding of the river, instead of 
 
 * The old palace of Ctesiphon, one of the wonders of the world, 
 had almost shared the fate of the city walls when the foreign 
 oonsnls interfered. Midhat’s soldiers were alreadj^ at work. Yet 
 this is the representative of progress in Turkey, a man of letters, 
 who writes Trench and English well and contributed his paper 
 lately to the Fortnightly Review, 
 
CH. XI.] 
 
 Midhat lets in the Dehige. 
 
 197 
 
 a beneficent stream to fertilise the thirsty earth, 
 behold it -was a deluge that entered. Midhat 
 Pasha with his spade let in the fiood and converted 
 Bagdad into an island, standing in a pestilential 
 marsh and obliged at certain seasons to communicate 
 with the outer world by means of boats. This was 
 enough. The Porte saw the necessity of his recall, 
 and entrusted him instead with the reorganization 
 of the Empire. Yet, such is the power of virtue, 
 Midliat has left behind him not altogether an evil 
 name even in Bagdad. They narrate of him still 
 that he Avent aAA'ay Avithout a shilling hi his pocket 
 and left his Avatch in paAvn for the sum necessary 
 to hh’e his horses for the journey. An honest 
 man, in a land of dishonesty ; an enthusiast, in 
 fact, not a knaA'e. 
 
 Of course our first thought, on arriving at Bag- 
 dad, Avas hoAV to get out of it. We had no sooner 
 changed our AA’^et clothes and eaten our dinner, than 
 we broached the subject of our further progress to 
 Colonel Xixon, explaining that Ave had come to 
 Bagdad not to amuse ourselves or to see sights, but 
 in order to get introductions to the Shammar and 
 be passed on to them Aiith as little delay as pos- 
 sible. Our host readily agreed to all our plans, 
 though he did not profess to knoAV so much, about 
 the Bedouins as the difference between Shammar 
 and Anazeh ; and he most kindly offered to take 
 Wilfrid to call upon Akif Pasha, the Valy, and 
 promised to further our project in any Avay that Ave 
 
1 98 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xi. 
 
 should suggest. In the meanwhile we conld not 
 do better than stay on in the Eesidency, and take 
 full benefit of our rest, until all should be ready for 
 a new start. To this we agreed, and it was settled 
 that Wilfrid should himself open the subject of our 
 future movements to the Pasha, as soon as he should 
 be received in audience. It was most fortunate, 
 however, that for some reason or other this was put 
 ofi till the third day after om’ arrival, and by that 
 time Wilfrid had reconsidered matters and made 
 up his mind to dispense altogether with the Pasha’s 
 help. I am sra*e this is a wise resolntion. 
 
 Dr. Colville has been of immense service to us in 
 all our arrangements and enters most cordially into 
 our plans, only laughing a little at us for what he 
 calls our romantic ideas abont the Bedouins. If we 
 are to believe him, there are no such things as 
 Bedouins anywhere nearer than Central Arabia, 
 the Anazeh and Shammar having long ago given in 
 their submission to the Government and settled down 
 quietly as cultivators of the soil. He knows Per- 
 han, Sheykh of the Shammar, Hassar, Sheykh of the 
 Montefik, and Abd ul Wehsin, Sheykh of the Ibn 
 Haddal, of whom the two first are Pashas, and all 
 three are in league with the Government of Bag- 
 dad. Of Jedaan he has heard nothing, nor of any 
 independent Anazeh, while Abd ul Kerim, the 
 romantic Shammar hero, is only remembered here 
 as a robber who was caught and hanged at Mdsul 
 some years ago. He had never heard of Paris 
 
■CH. XI.] An Indian Prince at Bagdad. 
 
 199 
 
 till we mentioned him, and protests that we shall 
 see nothing hy going to him that we could not see 
 ten times better with the Mdntefik. He took us, 
 however, to call upon an Indian Hawah residing 
 here, Ahmet Aga, a friend of his, who he believed 
 knew something of the people we were in search 
 of. I will describe our visit as I wrote it down at 
 the time : 
 
 “ February 13. — Ahmet Aga has a pretty house 
 upon the river bank, nearly opposite the Eesidency, 
 and we were taken there this morning by Dr. Col- 
 ville in one of the Comet’s"^’ boats. The Hawdb 
 received ns on the roof, which is used as a sort of 
 ante-room, and to which one ascends by an outer 
 staircase, and then conducted us with much cere- 
 mony to a drawing-room on the same level, which, 
 wuth another room where the ladies of his estab- 
 lishment live, forms an upper story to part of the 
 house. Here we found two little boys, his sons, 
 who seemed to be eleven and twelve years old, 
 though we have been told that they are really 
 ■older, dressed in tight-waisted frock coats, and 
 wearing gold embroidered caps on their heads, and 
 polished boots on their feet. They looked very 
 shy, but had good manners. These children, it 
 presently appeared, were married about a month 
 ago to two little girls still younger than them- 
 selves, cousins of their own and great heiresses. 
 
 * The Comet, a Government despatch boat, attached to the 
 Residency, 
 
200 Bedouin Tribes of the EtLphrates. [oh. xr. 
 
 They presently came in, shyer even than their 
 little husbands and, one would have supposed, only 
 old enough to he just out of the nursery, although 
 really ten and thu’teen years of age. The yormger 
 especially was very pretty. They were dressed 
 alike, in long green dresses brocaded with gold, 
 with gold belts, gold earrings, tiaras of moderately 
 good diamonds, and new nose rings. Their nostrils, 
 poor things, had just been bored for the wedding, 
 and still looked uncomfortable. These little ghis 
 invited me to come into the inner room, to pay their 
 mother-in-law a visit. The Begum, it was ex- 
 plained, did not appear in the front room when 
 men were present. So, while Wilfrid and Dr. 
 Colville stayed talking to Ahmet Aga, I had to 
 make polite speeches to the lady in Arabic, which 
 she did not understand, and listen to her Hindu- 
 stani answers, still less understood by me. As a 
 refuge from the awkwardness of this sort of con- 
 versation, a draught-board was produced, and I was 
 set down to play a game Avith the Begum, a task 
 AAdiich I hope I performed Avithout betraying my 
 Aveariness. 
 
 “Meanwhile, Wilfrid and Dr. ColAulle had been 
 more agreeably occupied in seeing the HaAvab’s 
 stud, and he has some really good horses, the best 
 Ave have seen at Bagdad. When I joined them 
 they Avere looking at a chestnut mare, which had 
 belonged to Abd ul Kerim, a Kehiileh Mes&neh, 
 nearly fifteen hands high, and they told us tAveHe 
 
(JH. XI.] I Relate a Tale 0/ Aid tU Kerim. 20 1 
 
 years old. I was interested in her on account of 
 her former master, and began asking questions 
 about her history and the way she had come into 
 Ahmet Aga’s possession. Suddenly Dr. Colyille 
 said, ‘Here is a man who can tell you all about 
 her,’ and pointed to a grave-looking Arab who 
 was standing by. He told me she was the mare 
 Abd ul Kerim had been riding, when he was be- 
 trayed by Kasser, Sheykh of the Montefik ; and it 
 then turned out that this man was a Shammar and 
 a servant of Kaif ibn Faris, the very person, it 
 would seem, we have been wanting. Here was a 
 wonderful stroke of good fortune, and it was soon 
 agreed that the Arab, Koman, should come and speak 
 to us privately in the afternoon, and perhaps he would 
 liimself take us to his master. Of course it would be 
 easy to get passed on from Half to his father Faris. 
 
 “ I liked the Shammar’ s face, and while we were 
 looking at the chestnut mare, I could not help 
 asking him whether he kneAV the story of Abd 
 ul K^rim and the Avhite mare he sent to J edaan. 
 ‘Wallah,’ he said, ‘I remember that,’ and I 
 thought his eyes filled with tears, as well they 
 might, considering what a hero Abd ul Kerim 
 was with his people, and how tragical his ending. 
 The Kawdb Ahmet Aga, too, is a friend of Kaif’s, 
 and will give us a letter to him. So Wilfrid has 
 decided to say nothing about onr journey to Akif 
 Pasha, and to get ready to start with Kai’f’s servant 
 as soon as ever the latter’s business at Dagdad 
 
202 Bedotlin Tribes of the Euphrates, [cn. xi. 
 
 shall be finished. This sounds exceedingly simple, 
 and we shall be independent then of soldiers, police, 
 Pashas and all. The first thing is to get camels ; 
 and here Dr. Colville promises to help us, although 
 he tells us it is not the custom to buy but to hu’e, 
 and that just now there are no camels nearer than 
 those we saw with the Zoba. But he has a friend, 
 a Christian merchant, who employs the Agheyl 
 largely in his commercial business, and who will 
 get us what we want, as well as a couple of trusty 
 men to go with ns as camel drivers. This merchant 
 is under obligations to the Doctor, who saved the 
 life of his only son last year, so that he will do all 
 in his power to get what we want. Things are thus 
 suddenly arranging themselves delightfully for ns, 
 without any trouble.” 
 
 On the day after this visit "Wilfrid called, with 
 Colonel N’ixon, on the Valy and was of course 
 graciously received. Akif Pasha, the same who 
 armed the Mahometans of Sofia at the outbreak of 
 the Bulgarian massacres, is a Turk of the old school, 
 and talks no language but his own. The conversa- 
 tion was therefore carried on tluongh an interpreter, 
 and went little further than the usual compliments, 
 but Wilfrid describes the Pasha as a man of polite 
 manners and apparent amiability. What little 
 talking there was turned upon horses, of which Akif 
 possesses the finest stud that has been got together 
 in Bagdad for a great number of years. iSTeither he, 
 nor for the matter of that anyone else in Bagdad, 
 
CH. XT.] 
 
 How to amass a Fortune. 
 
 203 
 
 seems to have the least knowledge of the science of 
 horse-hreedmg as professed in the desert, and the 
 mistakes they make when they talk abont the 
 breeds are, to us who know, exceedingly ludicrous. 
 I heard the other day a mare talked of as a 
 “ Kehileh Jedrdn,” and the Pasha’s favourite at 
 present, it appears, is a “ Kehileh Simri ” ! Akif 
 has the reputation of being the most corrupt Pasha 
 that ever ruled in Bagdad, but this is saying a 
 great deal. He has been only eight months in 
 office, yet, according to common report, he has 
 already amassed £50,000 in money, besides jewelry, 
 horses and much other wealth in kind. Let us 
 hope that the sum is exaggerated. It is difficult 
 all the same to believe that the sixty or seventy 
 Arabians, which compose his stud, have been bought 
 and paid for out of the income of the Yaly’s office. 
 Indeed, I doubt extremely whether, if he should by 
 any accident hear that I have written this, Akif 
 Pasha would not take what I am saying as a com- 
 pliment. The Turks do not connect any dishonour- 
 able idea with the acceptance of presents by men in 
 office. They hold it to be part of their salary, just 
 as our servants in England do the commissions they 
 receive from tradesmen in return for patronage. 
 The offer of a bribe, in Turkey, would hardly be 
 resented as an insult, even by the most prudish 
 official, Avhilc ninety-nine out of a hundred of the 
 men in power look to such offerings as proper 
 tokens of respect from inferiors to their superior. 
 
204 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xi. 
 
 To come to a Paslia for justice with “nothing in 
 your hand” would he to treat him cavalierly, 
 and would imply that you thought hut little of 
 his power to help you ; and it is difficult to decide, 
 whether morality is less outraged hy the acceptance 
 of these things, without corresponding return made, 
 or hy loyally according support, as modern etiquette 
 prescribes, to whoever brings most. Still there are 
 certain limits to the amount of plunder allowed by 
 public opinion, and Akif would seem to have passed 
 these, for the people he is governing complain. It 
 is said that the new treasm’er of the mosque of 
 Huseyn, at Meshid Ali, had to bring £10,000 to the 
 Serai before being installed, and that every other 
 official act or appointment, requu’ing the Yaly’s 
 signature, has been taxed on the same scale ; but 
 after all, it is probably the Government at Constan- 
 tinople which has really contributed the bulk of His 
 Excellency’s income. 
 
 In return for Wilfrid’s visit, Akif sent his 
 secretary, Mr. Eeubeniram, with a polite message, 
 begging that we would do him the honour of 
 inspecting his stud, and, this being reputed so 
 fine a collection, we readily accepted the invi- 
 tation. Mr. Eeubeniram is an Armenian of most 
 polite manners and a Parisian education. He 
 speaks French rather better than we do, and is most 
 amiable in his attentions and desme to please. He 
 had got ready for us a kiosque, improvised for the 
 Shah of Persia on one of his visits to Bagdad, in the 
 
cH. XI.] A Morning at the Valy s Stables. 205 
 
 garden of the Serai and close to the Valy’s stahles. 
 There, sitting in state npon gilt ram chairs, we spent 
 a A'eiy agreeable morning, while the horses and 
 mares were paraded before us. There were fifty or 
 sixty of them in all, fat and heantifnlly groomed, 
 each led by its attendant — a really charming sight. 
 They were brought out half a dozen at a time 
 and marched past us in procession, each animal 
 stopping to he shown ofi and to exhibit its merits. 
 The Yaly’s grooms were much more expert at this 
 than the Bedouins and country people, who had 
 hitherto brought us horses to look at; and I am 
 bound to say that a better looking collection could 
 hardly have been imagined. We were asked to 
 point out those which pleased us most, and for 
 a moment we were afraid that Mr. Eeubeniram was 
 gomg to press them on our acceptance, according to 
 Oriental custom, as a present, but before long 
 it appeared that a more business-like transaction 
 was in view, and that the Yaly, who had just been 
 recalled to Constantinople, is anxious to dispose of 
 them either separately or ‘‘ en bloc,” and at a 
 “ terrible sacrifice.” We had been so imprudently 
 enthusiastic in our comments that, although wo 
 knew very Avell that none or almost none of the 
 animals Ave had seen Avere likely to be tlioroughbrcd, 
 and that at best we could have no sort of guarantee 
 of their breeding, avo felt obliged to go through the 
 form of inquiring about a fine black marc standing 
 nearly fifteen hands tAvo inches, AA'hich seemed the 
 
2o6 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xi. 
 
 handsomest of the lot. Mr. Eenheniram promised 
 that we should have all particulars sent to us, as he 
 himself was not up in the pedigrees of the stud, and 
 the grooms contradicted each other in the statements 
 they made — thoiigh “ Seglawi Jedrdn ” seems to be 
 the usual answer made to all inquiries at Bagdad 
 about breed. The fact is, the Bagdadis affect to 
 despise distinctions in breeding, their ovti stock 
 having long ago been crossed with the Persian and 
 Turcoman breeds, for the sake of increased size, 
 required by the English market in India. The 
 present Bagdad horse, or Irdki as he is called, is a 
 tall, powerful animal with a handsome crest and fine 
 carriage, but, to eyes accustomed to the Anazeh type, 
 wants distinction. As a cavalry horse or for parade 
 pm-poses, he is perhaps quite as useful as his better 
 bred predecessor, but is far inferior to him in speed 
 and quality. The best horses seen in Bagdad come 
 generally from the Ibn Haddal and pass there 
 as thoroughbred Anazehs, although it is well known 
 in the desert that the Ibn Haddal, from their 
 intercourse with Bagdad, have adopted many of the 
 tricks of the trade not tolerated by the rest of their 
 brethren. A few, and these are probably of pm’e 
 breeding, have been brought in by the Shammar, 
 but the rest come from the Mdntefik, the Delim, 
 and other semi-fellahin tribes of the lower Euphrates, 
 if not bred in Irdk itself. 
 
 The Valy’s answer was characteristic, and relieved 
 us from any further anxiety in the matter of our 
 
on- XI.] 
 
 Akif Pasha sells his Shtd. 
 
 207 
 
 pm-eliase. The mare, he informed ns, was from 
 IS'asser, Sheykh of the Mdntefik, and belonged to a 
 celebrated breed laiown among the Bedouins as 
 “ Xehiilan el Ajuz es Simri ” ; which was much as 
 if in selling a flock of sheep, their owner should 
 describe them as being of the ‘‘Eambonillet Leicester 
 Southdown ” breed. Her price was £300. 
 
 Tavo days later, Akif’s stud Avas sent to the 
 hammer and fetched prices varying from £50 to 
 £80, but I believe the greater part of the horses 
 Avere bought in. There Avere hardly any bidders. A 
 little Ab^yeh Sherrak, of Avhose breeding there AA^as 
 some eA’idence, as she had been sent by Ferhun, 
 Sheykh of the Shammar, to Akif’s predecessor, avo 
 should probably haA’e purchased but for her colour, 
 grey, which Ave do not like. A very handsome 
 mottled grey, fourteen hands tAvo inches, Avent for 
 £50. He AAWS the pick of the lot. Horses are 
 A^ery cheap in Bagdad just noAV, an ordinary animal, 
 young and sound, fetching not more than £10. 
 Mahmoud, the zaptieh Avho came AAuth ns from 
 Deyr, took back Avith him a four-year- old of A'cry 
 respectable appearance, for Avhich he only gave 
 scA'en Turkish pounds. These, hoAA^ever, are of 
 course Jcadislies though far better bred than their 
 representatives at Aleppo and in the north, but it 
 is useless to look for really thoroughbred horses at 
 Bagdad. 
 
 I fear Ave haA'C been very remiss in our sight- 
 seeing, and noAv Ave are going aAA'ay from Bagdad 
 
2 o 8 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xi. 
 
 without having heen inside a single mosque, or 
 having visited the site of Babylon, or made any 
 other of the picnic excursions in the neighbourhood, 
 except to Ctesiphon. But everybody has described 
 that, so I forbear. The Tak-i-Kesra is the finest 
 ruin I ever saw. ISTo — all oim time and thoughts 
 have heen employed on more practical matters — 
 the details of our uoav joiirney. We are going, 
 now, into a quite unlmoAvn country, of which even 
 Dr. Colville can tell us nothing, and Avhere there 
 are no villages or guard houses, or markets of any 
 sort to supply our commissariat. Everything will 
 have to he carried with us, bread, rice, coffee, sugar 
 and tobacco, the last Dvo to give away. We have 
 also been purchasing more mashlahs, or cloaks, the 
 conventional robes of honour, with which it is 
 customary to invest the great men of the desert 
 whom one wishes to propitiate, and red boots for 
 their retainers. ISTovni and Shakouri, Dr. Colville’s 
 Christian friends, have been as good as their Avords 
 in the matter of the camels, and Wilfrid has seen 
 and approved the beasts they have had brought in 
 from the country, fom' fine young camels, capitally 
 matched and said to be fast walkers, at £10 a-piece, 
 and a delul, or she-dromedary, for occasional use 
 in relieving Hagar of part of her duties. She is 
 priced at sixteen shillings less than the camels, but 
 Wilfrid thinks she will turn out as Av^ell as any of 
 them. 
 
 Besides these, we haA^e purchased a Avhite ass for 
 
CH. XI.] 
 
 Hdnna and his White Ass. 
 
 209 
 
 Hanna, wlio, as he will have to cany the cooking- 
 pots and a certain amount of provisions with him, 
 must be well mounted. She is four years old, and 
 stands about twelve and a half hands, walks at 
 a prodigious pace and is Avarranted not to stumble. 
 For a beast of this merit Ave are supposed to have 
 bought her cheap at ^61 6. Hanna is of course as 
 proud as Punch at the thought of riding a white 
 donkey, which at Aleppo is considered the ne plus 
 ultra of fashion, being indeed the way of going 
 abroad reserved for Pashas, Imams, and the richest 
 of rich merchants. These donkeys are bred in 
 el Hasa, on the south-western shore of the Persian 
 Gulf, and are brought to market at Queyt. They 
 sometimes fetch as much as £40 a-piece, their 
 A'alue depending on their size, pace, and above all 
 sureness of foot, for many of them stumble. A she 
 donkey Avill fetch nearly a third more than her 
 brother ass, because he is likely to prove a nuisance 
 AA’ith his braying. 
 
 In all other respects Ave are starting, rather like 
 babes in the Avood, on an adA'enture AA'hose import- 
 ance we are unable to rate. It may be perfectly 
 easy, as Wilfrid thinks, and it may be as dangerous 
 as others avouIcI have us believe. We have after 
 all got nobody going Avith us Avho knoAvs anything 
 of the Shammar or of the road more than a foAV 
 miles out of Bagdad. Our Shammar friend, 
 Homan, Haif’s servant, has turned out to be a 
 humbug if not an actual rogue. When it came to 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 p 
 
210 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xi. 
 
 really treating Avith liim and settling matters in 
 black and white, he backed ont of it, asking the 
 absurd price of £20 for his services, and, moreover, 
 to be paid in advance. This was as much as 
 admitting that he was not what he had represented 
 himself to be. Either he is not E’aif’s servant at 
 all, or he could not guarantee our safety to his 
 master* We cannot make out what Earis’s posi- 
 tion really is. At Deyr we heard of him as quite 
 a young man and on ill terms with his brother 
 Ferhan. Here they talk of his having a son of 
 twenty-five, and will not admit that there are any 
 dissensions among the Shammar. But we shall 
 see. On the other hand, we have secured the 
 services of a couple of Agheyl as camel men, at the 
 very moderate rate of sixteen shillings a-month, 
 engaging to keep them two months and to pay 
 half in advance. This we have readily agreed to, 
 as all Agheyl are honest men ; at least such is the 
 popular belief. 
 
 We have said nothing to anybody, except Colonel 
 Mxon, Dr. Colville and one other person of Avhere 
 we are going; and Mr. Eeubeniram is under the 
 impression that a shooting excursion to Babylon is 
 contemplated. The one other is a distinguished 
 personage and necessary to our plan. He is the 
 good old Hawab Ikbalet Ddwlah, formerly King of 
 Oude, and now living in exile at Bagdad. With 
 him we have made great friends, and he is to aid 
 in our plan of evasion by inviting us to his country 
 
CH. XI.] 
 
 A Project of Evasion. 
 
 21 I 
 
 house at Kasmeyn, whence, without any ceremony 
 or asking leave of Pasha, secretary or chief of 
 police, we shall slip away into the desert and trust 
 to Providence for the rest. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 “ II finissait a peine de parler, que les principaux habitants du village, reunis cbez 
 lui pour nous voir, commencerent a nous raconter des bistoires effrayantes. L’un 
 nous dit qu’un colporteur, venant d’Alep et allant au desert, avait ete depouille par 
 les Bedouins, et qu’on I’avait vu repasser tout nu. Un autre avait appris qu’un 
 marcband, parti de Damas, avait ete tu6. Tons etaient d’accord sur I’impossibilite 
 de penetrer parmi les hordes de Bedouins, et cherchaient, par tons les moyens pos- 
 sibles, a nous detourner d’une aussi perilleuse entreprise. Je voyais M. Lascaris se 
 troubler ; il se tourna vers moi, et me dit en italien, pour n’etre pas compris des 
 autres personnes, “Cosa ditedi questanovita,chemihamolto scoraggiato? ” — “ Je ne 
 crois pas,” lui repondis-je, “ a toutes ces histoires ; et, quand meme elles seraient 
 vraies, il faudrait encore perseverer dans notre projet.” 
 
 Recit de Fatalla-Sayeghir, quoted by Lamaetine, Voyage en Orient. 
 
 The King of Oude and his “ Desert-house ” — We are sent away 
 with gifts — The Mesopotamian desert — Pleasures of freedom — 
 How to navigate the desert — Alarms and false alarms — Stalk- 
 ing a wolf — We reach the Shammar. 
 
 Kasmeyn, Felruary 24. — ^Bagdad is an abode of 
 political exiles from. India, Mussulmans who dis- 
 like living under Christian rule, and who have 
 settled here as the nearest place of refuge in Islam. 
 Their position is a pleasant one, for they enjoy the 
 double advantage of religious agreement with the 
 Bagdadis and of foreign protection as British 
 subjects. Many of them are very well off, living 
 on the revenues of their lands in India, and a few 
 are on excellent terms Avith the Consul General. 
 Of these the most remarkable, by his birth, his 
 Avealth, and still more by the dignity of his private 
 
CH. XII.] 
 
 Visz^ to a Great Man. 
 
 21 
 
 character, is the Xawab Ikhalet Dowlah, the dis- 
 possessed and pensioned king of Oude. With him 
 Ave are now staying, at his “desert-house” near 
 Kasmeyn, the first step on our journey northAvards. 
 I hardly knoAV hoAV to speak of the XaAA^b AvithoAit 
 seeming to say too much. He is an old man noAV 
 and a philosoj)her, and he Avould not care to haA^e 
 his good deeds paraded, and yet I camiot help 
 recording what I feel about him, that, little as he 
 afiects the character of ex-king, he is the most 
 trnly dignified personage I ever met. In manner 
 and Avay of living he is A^ery simple, liaAing some- 
 thing of the Eedouin contempt for appearances, 
 along with the more real absence of pretension of a 
 Avell-bred Englishman of fifty years ago. He has 
 travelled much and seen much, and understands 
 the Eiu’ojpean Avay of thinking as well as that 
 of eastern people, having besides considerable 
 originality of his OAAm independent of any school 
 of ideas. In conversation he is most agreeable, 
 constantly surprising one Avith unexpected turns of 
 thought and noAV Avays of saying things, and, if aa'G 
 had been able to understand him better, I am sure 
 Ave should have foimd him full of the best sort of 
 Avit. He is besides a kind and charitable man. His 
 position in Eagdad is a great one, so great, from a 
 moral point of vioAV, that it may Avell console him 
 for the loss of his former sovereignty and the 
 splendours of his court at LucknoAV. Here at 
 Eagdad he has real poAver, the poAA'cr of doing 
 
214 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xn. 
 
 good, and real freedom to say what he thinks right 
 to consuls, pashas, doctors of divinity and all alike, 
 down to the poor Bedouins who live at his gates. 
 I fancy his advice is asked on most of the political 
 difficulties of the Serai, where his knowledge of 
 men and cities, so essential a part of wisdom in the 
 East, and his wit in expressing his ideas, enable 
 him to speak ■without offence more truth than is 
 often heard in those high places. The consequence 
 of this is that his name is a power in Bagdad, and 
 that he has made himself friends in all classes of 
 society. Amongst the rest, Ferhdn, the Shammar 
 Chief, is his sworn ally ; and, whenever the Sheykh 
 comes to to'wn, it is to the house of his brother the 
 Malek el Hind, or King of India, as the Arabs call 
 the Kawab. This circumstance is most fortunate 
 for our plans, as now we shall start for the desert 
 with letters of recommendation, which ought to 
 give us the best possible reception there. 
 
 The “ desert-house,” where we are enjoying so 
 pleasant and so unceremonious a hospitality, is one 
 of the many owned by the Kawdb in and about 
 Bagdad. It stands quite alone, in the barren plain 
 which smTOunds the town, and is about half a mile 
 distant from the mosque of Kasmeyn. The towns- 
 people, who are very timorous about venturing out- 
 side the city at night, think the Kawab foolhardy 
 in the extreme to live in such a spot ; but to him, 
 as to us, the isolation of the house is its principal 
 charm. He generally, however, lives in Bagdad, 
 
-CH. XII.] 
 
 The Nawdb's Desert-house. 
 
 215 
 
 l)ut comes here from time to time to make a retreat, 
 partly philosopliical, partly religious, among the 
 ulemas and doctors of theology of Kasmeyn, for 
 the mosque is a sanctuary and place of repute 
 among pious shfahs. 
 
 The house itself is as original as its situation, 
 and was built from the Xawab’s own designs. It 
 is constructed like a fortress, with high walls and a 
 single entrance, a very necessary precaution against 
 common robbers as Avell as marauders from the 
 desert. Above, on the upper story, the rooms are 
 placed, some vith the windows facing outwards, 
 after the fasliion of Turkish rather than of Arab 
 buildings, others looking on to a terrace, over 
 which there is yet a second story. The entrance 
 is tlu'ough a courtyard, with stables on either side 
 and dovecotes inhabited by thousands of white 
 pigeons. The ground-floor is merely a basement, 
 and stone steps lead up from the court to the apart- 
 ments. These consist mainly of small rooms, 
 furnished with carpets only ; but the drawing- 
 room is large, and is so peculiar that I have made 
 a plan of it. Its shape is that of a cross, each of 
 the tlu'ee shorter ends being occupied by a window, 
 so that the upper half of the room is almost a 
 lantern. The recesses arc flllcd uj) Avith broad 
 diA'ans, on Avhich it is pleasant to sit and look at the 
 A'icAV. On one side is the Mosque of Kasmeyn, 
 Avith its golden cupola and four minarets, em- 
 boAA'ered in palms ; on the other the desert Avith its 
 
2i6 Bedouin Tribes of the Eti-phrates. [cn. xn. 
 
 immense horizon, broken only by the far-away 
 tower of K’emroucb The sun is setting nearly 
 behind this, and all the desert is painted a heantifid 
 pink colour, the dome of the mosque being quite 
 ablaze. It is a most agreeable prospect, giving 
 promise of fine weather for to-morrow’s start. 
 
 "VYe came to-day from Bagdad, riding quietly 
 out at about two o’clock, and leaving the camels to 
 follow us with Hanna and a cavass, lent us by 
 Colonel Hixon, so as not to provoke any inquiries 
 as to our journey. We have not said a word to 
 any one of where we are going, beyond Kasmeyn, 
 and are starting without even a buyuruldi, the 
 customary permission of travelling in the province; 
 but to-morrow we hope to be out of the reach of 
 questions, and to-night the Hawab’s house is a 
 sanctuary no zaptieh would dare invade. 
 
 Nine d’cloeJc . — There are a few families of a very 
 low tribe of Arabs, encamped quite close to the 
 house, the Chakukh, a fraction of the Butta tribe, 
 some of whom we have already made acquaintance 
 with at Ctesiphon. They are living in temporary 
 huts, built of tall reeds from the Khor or lake, 
 which encloses this side of Bagdad, and roofed Avith 
 the ordinary tenting, so that their abodes pretty 
 closely indicate the life they lead, half settled, half 
 nomadic. They have a ferv sheep and goats, Avhich 
 they pasture by the Iflior. After dinner this 
 evening, the Nawab sent for some of these Arabs 
 to sing and dance before ris, a performance wliich I 
 
cH. XII.] We are sent away with Gifts. 
 
 217 
 
 could willingly liave dispensed Avith. The music 
 consisted of a di’uni and a double pipe, eight inches 
 long, and sounding in its best, the deepest, notes 
 rather like a hautboy, the upper notes being out of 
 tune and bad, while some double notes, fifths and 
 sixths, Ayere better. The voices Avere very bad 
 indeed. As to the dancing the less said about it 
 the better, and Ave Avere A^ery glad when it Avas at 
 an end and the NaAvab, Avho had sat through it all 
 absolutely unmoving except Avhen he fingered his 
 rosary, bade them be ofi. The Arabs around 
 Bagdad are probably as Ioav and degraded a set as 
 can be found anyAvhere in Arabia, having been 
 corrupted by the neighbourhood of this old city of 
 pleasure, or I am sure such an exliibition could not 
 have been produced. 
 
 This over, the iN’aAvdb made us an afiecting speech 
 of farewell, AATote AA’ith his OAvn hand the letter he 
 had promised us for Ferhan, and added a basket of 
 oranges and pomegranates, to gwe him AAuth it. 
 Then he had another huge basket brought, con- 
 taining provisions for ourselves, and a thuxl Avhich 
 he filled himself with cakes, macaroons, preserves 
 and fruit from the dinner-table, and aii earthen 
 bottle to hold Avater, and then, before I could take 
 breath from surprise, a beautiful Persian rug “to 
 put on my dromedary,” and a little silver boAvl to 
 drink out of, AA^henever I should come to a fountain, 
 pretty gifts in themselves and doubly so from the 
 AA'ay in Avhich they Avere given. It Avas impossible 
 
2 i 8 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xn. 
 
 to refuse or be otliemuse than delighted to accept 
 them. I^ow for a last sleep under a roof, and to- 
 morrow at dajdDreak for the desert. 
 
 Monday., February 25. — ^We got away from the 
 Nawab’s house only a little after sunrise, and at 
 first folloAved the caravan road which goes to Hitt, 
 our host and Dr. Colville riding a mile or so with 
 us on our way, and giving us a few last words of 
 encouragement and advice. It was a delicious 
 morning, clear and bright, and the soil of the 
 desert sparkled under our feet as if it had been 
 stre^vn with salt, wliile a light wind from the north- 
 W'est blew freshly in our faces. We were in high 
 spirits, as was natural, for what can be more physi- 
 cally delightful than a ride on such a morning, or 
 what more inspiiiting than the thought of being 
 fairly away upon an adventurous journey ! — and 
 this time I think we may consider ours a serious 
 one. To say nothing of the dangers, in 'which we 
 only half believe, there are all sorts of uncer- 
 tainties before us, from the fact that we are enter- 
 ing an unkno'wn land. Mesopotamia, at least this 
 j)art of it, has never, as far as I know, been crossed 
 by aj European in its whole breadth, or in modem 
 times even by a townsman from Bagdad or Aleppo ; 
 and the desert south of the Sinjar hills is quite new 
 ground. It is there that Ave shall have to go, if Ave 
 want to find Earis and the independent Shammar, — 
 and Avho knoAVS Avhat adventures may befall us on 
 the road ? At any rate, Ave shall be left entirely to 
 
CH. XII.] 
 
 Once mo7'e in tJie Desert. 
 
 219 
 
 our oAvn resources no-vr till we get to Deyr, a 
 journey of nearly 400 miles, for we shall not meet 
 with a village or even a house in the whole distance, 
 except perhaj)s Telau't, on the fourth or fifth day 
 from this. Colonel Chesney’s survey is our only 
 guide ; and, hut for a ruin or two marked near the 
 river, and such remarks as “ horsemen seen on this 
 hill,” “ large herds of gazelles,” or “a newly-made 
 grave,” on Lieutenant Fitzjanies’s route in 1830, 
 and on that of the Expedition returning in 1837, 
 the whole of the map north of Bagdad is a blank 
 space, Oim plan of campaign is this : we are to 
 take a straight line north-north-west, for fifty or 
 sixty miles, till we hit a bend of the Tigris ; then 
 follow the right hank of the river for ninety or a 
 hundred more, as far as Sherghat, the head-quarters 
 of Ferhdn, the Shammar chief. There we are to 
 deliver the Xawdh’s letter, and get him to send us 
 on to Faris, wherever Faris may be. From Sher- 
 ghtlt to Deyr it is about a hundred and sixty-five 
 miles as the crow flies, but if, as is probable, we 
 have to go as far north as the Sinjar hills, our 
 journey will he considerably longer. The chief 
 difficulty seems to me to be in getting from Ferhan 
 to Faris, for, in spite of what they say at Bagdad, 
 it is impossible the two brothers can he on very 
 good terms. However, the thing must be done by 
 hook or by crook, and we must be at Deyr to 
 meet Mr. S. on the 15th of March, for this is a 
 liositivc engagement. 
 
2 20 Bedouin Tribes of tJie Euphrates, [on. xn. 
 
 As to the danger of meeting ghazus, the only 
 real risk we run, Wilfrid and I have had a serious 
 conversation, for it is well to be prepared with a 
 plan before the thing happens. We ourselves are 
 so well armed that, though the rest of the party 
 cannot be expected to help us much, we ought 
 not to be afraid of less than fifteen or twenty 
 men. The Bedouins are only armed with the 
 lance, and their pistols, by all accounts, never 
 go off, so that Wilfrid’s double-barrelled gun and 
 the Winchester rifie, which fires fourteen shots 
 without reloading, ought to make us far stronger 
 than any small party of Arabs. We are, therefore, 
 to hold our ground and trust to their beuig too 
 prudent to push us to extremities. If, however, 
 we meet a large party, such as, it seems, sometimes 
 goes about, of fifty or a hundred horsemen, it will be 
 no use fighting ; and then, if they refuse to listen to 
 terms of capitulation, we shall have to abandon 
 the camels and baggage to their fate, and trust to 
 our mares to carry us out of the difficulty. We 
 are well mounted, and onght not to be overtaken 
 easily. At the Avorst, according to every account, 
 there is no fear of being personally ill-treated, 
 for the Arabs only care about plimder, and the 
 utmost misfortune that could happen to us, if cap- 
 tured, would be to be stripped of some of our 
 clothes, and left to find our way on foot to the 
 nearest inhabited place ; not a cheerful prospect 
 certainly, but still not altogether desperate. 
 
CH. sii.] . Plans for Defence and Flight. 
 
 221 
 
 I do not tliink, tliough sometimes I feel nervous 
 about it, that we really run much risk of meeting any- 
 body evilly inclined. In the first place we have the 
 ISTaAvab’s letter, which, though they could not read 
 it, the Shammar would probably respect, and in the 
 next we know how Jedaan and the Anazeh are 
 engaged at present, and how little time they can 
 have to spare for expeditions of this sort in eastern 
 Mesopotamia. Hanna and the rest of the people 
 with us are, of course, timorous, and talk inces- 
 santly of these ghaziis, but fortunately they have no 
 property of their own Avith them, except the clothes 
 they stand up in, and they knoAv that if they lost 
 these Ave should give them ncAV ones instead. 
 Hanna, I am bound to say, puts an excellent 
 face on the matter, and has full faith in the Beg 
 and in Divine Providence. Ali, the caA'ass, is a 
 fat Bagdadi, who has to be helped up on to his 
 horse, and does not impress us faAmurably as a 
 practical traA^eller, but he seems good-humoured 
 and Avilling to do his duty. The other tAvo members 
 of our party, the Agheyl, are honest, hard-plodding 
 felloAVS, who Avork cheerfully and take great care of 
 the camels, but Ave can hardly judge correctly about 
 any one of them as yet. The camels arc capital 
 AAulkers, doing their three miles in the hour, a A^cry 
 unusual pace, and Wilfrid is especially pleased Avith 
 his dcliil. lie mounted it to-day for tlu' first time, 
 and intends to keep Ilagar as fresh as may be for 
 the accidents of sport or war. 
 
222 Bedotun Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xh. 
 
 A couple of hours after leaying Kasmeyn, we 
 stopped at an inlet of the Khor, to let our beasts 
 drink, and to fill the water skins. Then, leaving 
 the caravan road which here takes a turn westwards, 
 we struck out across the plain, going in a straight 
 line north-north- west, with only the sun to give us 
 ovu' direction. In this way we travelled on all the 
 morning, watching onr horses’ shadows as they 
 crept round from the near to the oft side, and not 
 stopping even for a minute. "We were still on the 
 alluvial soil of Babylonia, which at this time of 
 year is more bare than the desert itself, the only 
 vegetation being a dry prickly shrub called aghul, 
 which the camels snatched at greedily as they went 
 along. The ground was full of deep cracks, Avhich 
 made it rather dangerous going for horses, and, 
 relying on this perhaps, gazelles are to be found 
 here very plentifully. We saw a good many during 
 the morning, but did not give chase. Every two or 
 three miles we came to long double lines of mounds, 
 the remains of former canals. These have all the 
 appearance of natural hills, and rise to a height of 
 twenty or thirty feet above the level of the plain. 
 We put up numerous flocks of larks, and Wilfrid 
 shot a N’orfolk plover, but other-wise there was not 
 much life on the plain. Once or twice Ave came 
 across small parties of Simmfin Arabs, wnth 
 donkeys, bringing in fireAVOod. This they told 
 us was shok ; the word merely means “thorn,” I 
 believe it was camel-thoru.. It groAVS in large 
 
CH. xn.] The Pleaszti'es of F7'eedom. 223 
 
 bushes anti bnrnSj like all desert slmibs, as well 
 green as dry. 
 
 About midday Aye came to graA'^elly soil and more 
 undulating ground, the edge of the real desert. The 
 camels were very hungry, not having had a proper 
 meal yesterday, for they Avill not eat corn, and 
 the country round the iN’awab’s house is as bare of 
 all pastiu-e as a turnjAike road. We accordingly 
 ordered a sloAver pace and allowed them to feed as 
 they went, and at three o’clock, coming to a place 
 where there is some grass and a pool of rain Avater, 
 we haA'e stopped. There are some tents about a 
 mile from us belonging to the Meshaabe, a half- 
 pastoral, half -fellah tribe, harmless good people Avho 
 haA'e brought us milk, not as a matter of hospitality, 
 but “ minshan Axis” (for money). We haA^e only 
 come about sixteen miles to-day, but I am tired, 
 I suppose from the change of life to our traA^elling 
 rations, after the four fxxll daily meals of the Eesi- 
 deney. Wilfritl is perfectly happy, being once 
 more “ in his oaati tent,” and having, besides, his 
 OAATi camels noAV and his oaati seiwants, and no 
 guards or policemen to A’ex him. Those, AA’ho haA’e 
 Ih’ed all their lives in Euroj)e, don’t knoAA’ Avhat a 
 luxury it is to feel oneself “ fi-ee from the police.” 
 
 Fehruary 26 . — Wilfrid has had to speak seriously 
 to Ali, who seems inclined to require more Avaiting 
 upon than Ave can spare him. lie is very fat, and 
 really has some difficulty in climbing into his saddle, 
 but it is necessary he should understand that the 
 
2 24 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [oh. xit. 
 
 Aglieyl cannot be called away, from their business 
 of driving the camels, every time he wants to get off 
 or on his horse, nor made to tap the water-skin for 
 him every time he feels thirsty. The fact is, every 
 one of ns has quite enough work to do, and we 
 cannot afford to have idle hands in the caravan. 
 This little matter settled, all has gone on well, and 
 we have made a good march to-day of twenty-seven 
 miles, according to Wilfrid’s dead reckoning. At 
 starting, we passed through the Meshaabe camp, and 
 stopped at the principal tent, to ask a few questions 
 and drinlc some fresh goat’s milk. A building three 
 or four miles off to the east they say is the Khan 
 Suadiyeh, on the old caravan road to Tekrit. The 
 Meshaabe, lilce all the other small tribes, have no 
 camels, only sheep and goats, and some of them 
 cultivate land near the Tigris. They are reckoned 
 at a thousand tents, according to our Aghcyl 
 Nejran, who puts the Butta at half that number. 
 
 We kept the same course to-day as yesterday, 
 north-north-west, crossing tracts of fine gravel in 
 some places, and in others of alluvial soil, with 
 numerous Babylonian mounds and canals. The 
 whole district is in fact Cut into regular squares by 
 them, so that one travels with the feeling of being 
 in an enclosed country. It is all desolate enough 
 now, inhabited only by gazelles, of which we saw 
 great numbers, and by birds of prey. We passed 
 close to a pau’ of fine golden eagles sitting on one 
 of the mounds. In one place, where there was a little 
 
CH. XII.] 
 
 False Alainns. 
 
 225 
 
 pasture and shok bushes, we found a pit dug as a 
 hiding-place for gazelle hunters, but except this 
 there was no trace of inliabitalits. 
 
 We had seen nobody all the morning, when about 
 noon we suddenly became aware of some horsemen, 
 bearing down upon us. We could see the points of 
 their spears glittering in the sun, and as they were 
 evidently coming up at a gallop, Wilfrid ordered 
 a halt. There were four of them, and when they 
 came within half a mile of us they stopped and 
 dismounted, waiting, I suppose, for others to come 
 up. Two or three more straggled in, and then 
 they cantered up together towards us. Wilfrid, 
 who had been riding the deliil, now mounted his 
 mare, and went to meet them with Ali and Xejran, 
 while I stayed mth the camels. I soon saw that 
 it was all right, for the men dismounted, and the 
 whole party came on together talking and laughing. 
 It was a false alarm. They were not Bedouins at 
 all, but a party of Government people, who had 
 been out collecting taxes from the shepherds of the 
 district, levying, they told us, half a beshlik, five- 
 pence, on each sheep or goat. They had with them 
 a man on a mule, who was making his way to 
 Samdra, a village beyond the Tigris, and who, 
 hearing Ave were going more or less in that direc- 
 tion, tacked himself on to our party Avhen the rest 
 went aAvay, as they presently did, after the usual 
 amount of talking. Talking is a pleasure no Arab, 
 whether from toAATi or country, ever neglects an 
 
226 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xn. 
 
 occasion to indulge in. We did not want tlie man’s 
 company, but there was no getting rid of him, as it 
 seems to be a sacred privilege in the East to join 
 company with anybody you may meet on the road. 
 “ The more the merrier ” is a proverb all accept. 
 So he followed us. 
 
 A little further on, on some higher ground, we 
 came to several people wandering about on foot, 
 apparently with no object but that of examining 
 the ground and stopping now and then, as if 
 to pick up ■ a stone. We found on inquiry 
 that they were hunting for the white truffles, 
 kemeyeh, which I have already mentioned, and 
 which are very common here. These people 
 belonged to Sum^ycheh, a small village, the palm- 
 trees of which they pointed out to us far away on 
 the horizon to our right. It stands on a sort of 
 side channel of the Tigris. The Agheyl were 
 anxious to go towards these trees, though out of our 
 course, for they do not at all approve of our way of 
 going in a straight line and keeping in the open 
 desert, and they have all along shown an inclina- 
 tion, if I may use a sea phrase, to “ hug the shore.” 
 
 Wilfrid when he is on his deliil is obliged to keep 
 with the camels, and then I have to ride in front 
 and give the direction. This requires a good deal 
 of attention in a country where there are so few 
 landmarks, but it is not really difflcult as long as 
 there is sun or wind to go by. The shadow of one’s 
 horse’s neck makes an excellent dial, and, with a 
 
CH. XII.] 
 
 We travel by the Stm. 
 
 227 
 
 little practice, it is easy to calculate tke rate at 
 which it ought to move round, so that the course 
 should be a straight one. The wind, too, in this 
 country almost always blows north-west, and does 
 not shift about in the plain, as it would among hiUs. 
 Wilfrid has made so many journeys now without 
 guides that he at least feels quite at home in the 
 desert, and I, though my experience is more limited 
 than his, have seen enough to know that one is far 
 less likely to lose one’s way there than elsewhere. 
 The weald of Sussex is ten times more puzzling to 
 get across. 
 
 Early in the afternoon, we came to an immense 
 double row of mounds, rnnning in an absolutely 
 straight line north-north- west. This is by far the 
 largest Babylonian canal we have yet seen, and we 
 are surprised to find no mention of it on our map, 
 as it is a considerable feature in the landscape, and 
 no doubt comes from the Tigris. The Agheyl and 
 the man on the mule call it Cherrisdda. There are 
 groups of mounds here and there in its neighbour- 
 hood, showing where villages once stood, and in one 
 place we came upon a perfect square which may 
 have been a fortress. In deference to the entreaties 
 of the Agheyl, backed up as they Averc by the man 
 on the mule, Ave altered our course a little and 
 folloAVcd the line of the canal. This led us to 
 loAver ground, on the edge of Avhich aa'o have 
 encamped, not more than a mile from a Inihhr or 
 tomb, Avhich Eerhan recognises as a landmark he 
 
2 28 Bedouin Tribes of the Ettphrates. [ch. xn. 
 
 lias seen before and calls Abu el Mehasin. About 
 two miles off to the east, we can see some tents, and 
 Ali has been dispatched ivith the dehil to see if 
 water can be got, or milk or eggs. The man on 
 the mule, who, by the way, was kicked off and 
 hurt this afternoon, says that Jisr Harba is only 
 three miles from the canal ; this fixes onr position, . 
 as “ Harber bridge ” is marked on Chesney’s 
 map. 
 
 This is ideal camping ground, a beautiful hollow, 
 full of good grass and, shok bushes, where the mares 
 are feeding, while the camels find pasturage they 
 like better on the upper ground. Our tents are 
 pitched on gravel, and we have no neighbours to 
 bore ns. One of the charms of tent life is the 
 feeling of absolute ownership one has in each spot 
 of ground one camps on — ^the right to do precisely 
 all one likes with it, to cut down, dig up, or leave 
 alone, without permission of any landlord or liahility 
 to land-tax, tithe, rating, or other burden, such as 
 limits every form of ownership in England. Here 
 it is absolute and complete, even to the closing up 
 of rights of way, for one is at liberty to treat all 
 comers, if one likes, as enemies, and to bid them 
 be off. Hot that at present we have hostile feelings 
 towards anyone. Only it is nice to think that even 
 the keeping of the peace depends on our good will 
 and pleasure, not on the law of the land. Liberty, 
 in spite of the crimes of nonsensical talk which 
 have been committed in its name, is the greatest 
 
CH. XII.] 
 
 Desert Navigation. 
 
 229 
 
 of all blessings, and in its perfect form is not to 
 be found in Europe. 
 
 Ali has come back with water and other good 
 things, and has brought a couple of Arabs with 
 him (Kasarej, they call themselves), who confirm 
 the man on the mule about the position of Jisr 
 Harba. They talk of their tribe having twenty 
 thousand tents ; but that of course is nonsense. 
 Xejran says, however, that they are more numerous 
 than the Bntta or Meshtiabe. All these tribes are 
 alike, half shepherds, half ploughmen. The Kasarej 
 have some fields beloAV us, irrigated from the “ little 
 Tigris,” and I can hear a faint quacking of ducks, 
 which proves that water is not far ofl:. A square 
 tell (mound) about two miles west of us is Abu 
 Easeyu. 
 
 February 27. — Another good day’s march has 
 brought us to the Tigris. We lost time, however, 
 by listening to the man on the mule yesterday, for 
 in order to cross a branch of the Cherrisada canal 
 called Ferhatyeh, about which there would have 
 been no sort of difficulty where we first came upon it, 
 we had this morning to go a considerable way round. 
 The Kasarej still make use of this canal for some 
 miles of its course, and the ditch (it was no more) 
 was just too wide for the camels, though of course 
 our mares hopped over it without difficulty. After 
 that, the piloting of the caravan was very trouble- 
 some and reminded Wilfrid, he said, of riding a 
 horse Avhich bores towards one side. Evei'y moment 
 
230 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xn. 
 
 that our attention was taken ofl; their movements, 
 we found that the camels had been headed away 
 to the right, and we had to go back and insist on 
 their following us. The Agheyl and the man on 
 the mule could not understand how we should 
 know anything about the direction, and maintained 
 that we Avere going aAvay from the river “ into the 
 Jezireh, into the Choi,” they said, and pnt an 
 accent of terror into the words. It was, therefore, 
 no little triumph Avhen, about one o’clock, a speck 
 appeared on the horizon exactly in front of us, 
 which the man on the mule admitted was the tower 
 of Samara. It seemed at first but a very feAV 
 miles ofi, but turned out to be at least fifteen or 
 sixteen, as it stands on high ground and is a very 
 lofty building. It is on the other side of the 
 Tigris. Presently afteiw^ards, we passed some tents, 
 where there were a mare and foal, and riding up to 
 them, we found their owners were Deli'm. We were 
 surprised to find any of this tribe so far from their 
 head-quarters, the Euphrates, but they told us they 
 came across the Jezlreh every year. With this 
 exception, we met nobody all day, but saw numbers 
 of gazelles and bnstards, also two foxes almost 
 white. Most of our journey was over the gravelly 
 desert. About midday, we crossed another long 
 line of mounds, Avhere we stopped to let the camels 
 feed, as there was eshubb (camomile), which the 
 Agheyl declare is “as barley ” to camels. 
 
 As we came nearer the toAver of Samara, we saw 
 
€H. XII.] 
 
 A Deserted City. 
 
 231 
 
 several other large huildings, apparently ruins, at 
 different points to the right of it. In fact the left 
 bank of the Tigris, opposite ■where we now are, 
 seems to be an immense cemetery of cities, extend- 
 ing for many miles. These would be most interest- 
 ing to visit, but we cannot get the camels across 
 the river, and we dare not leave them unprotected. 
 We console ourselves with the conviction that these 
 sites have all, no doubt, been thoroughly explored. 
 The names given them by the Arabs here are 
 Jadsieh, Gayim, Melwieh, el Ashid, none of them 
 inhabited, mere “beyiit kadim,” they say con- 
 temptuously, “ruins.” Only one old town is 
 foimd on the right bank of the river, Istabilat, 
 which Wilfrid thinks must be Greek. We rode 
 through it, as it lay in our way, and a very 
 interesting place we thought it. It is laid out in 
 squares, with a fine street fifty yards broad do’wn 
 the middle, and the houses, though all of them in 
 ruins, are still standing. They are built of good 
 brick, as is the city wall in a fairly perfect state, 
 fiankcd with round toAvers. In the evening light 
 the place looked almost as if still inhabited, and it 
 is much more attractive than the tiresome liaby- 
 lonian mounds. A canal passes right through the 
 toAAm, and the buttresses of a bridge over it can 
 still be seen. It is dry now and half filled up. 
 
 A broad caravan road, apparently long disused, 
 led from the gate of the toAvn to the north- 
 Avest. FolloAving this avc came rather suddenly on 
 
232 Bedoitm Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xn. 
 
 the Tigris, which here makes a fine sweep close 
 under a steep cliff. "We were some time looking 
 for a way down this, as we thought it wonld he 
 pleasant to camp near the river, hut at last we found 
 a very nice place, about half way from the top, for 
 the tents, and a passage for the nnladen camels 
 douTi to the tamarisk beds below. The Tigris is 
 here an exact reprodnction of the Euplmates, only 
 that its valley is not on so imposing a scale. The 
 volume of the two rivers I should say was about 
 equal, hut the Tigris strikes me as being the more 
 rapid. It is called hi Arabic Dijleli, the Euplirates 
 Fratt. 
 
 The Arabs here belong to the Jemaa tribe. 
 They have a story of about twenty of their sheep 
 having been driven off three days ago by some men 
 from the Delim, the same I suppose as those we 
 passed this morning. They talk a good deal about 
 ghazus from the Anazeh, and I suppose it is for 
 this reason that they are encamped in the tama- 
 risk woods. There are francolins again here and 
 pigeons and wild boars and jackals, so that, if one 
 were to turn oneself three times ronnd, as children 
 say at blind man’s buff, one might fancy oneself on 
 the Euphrates. The place at which we have en- 
 camped is called Sheriet el Ghazal. 
 
 February 28. — We were disturbed about mid- 
 night by a cry of thieves. Our own mares, who 
 sleep with their noses in onr tent, were safe 
 enough, and the camels were squatting composedly 
 
CII. XII.] 
 
 Horse Stealers. 
 
 in a circle outside tliem, but Ali’s horse was gone. 
 This horse, I must say, has been the greatest pos- 
 sible nuisance to us from the day we left Bagdad, 
 fidgetting and neighing and breaking loose night 
 after night, so that our sympathy with his dis- 
 appearance was not altogether unmixed, but there 
 was not long cause for sorrow. Our position, on 
 the ledge of the cliff, was one not over favourable for 
 a thief to get away from with his prize in the dark, 
 and after stumbling about and creeping with our 
 heads near the ground to get a sight of him against 
 the sky, we found the horse at the edge, over 
 which the thief, disturbed by our alarm, had no 
 doubt just slipped. It was not far to fall, and we 
 heard him scuttling away through the tamarisks 
 below. This put all the camp on the alert, and 
 most of the night was spent in talking and singing 
 to show Ave Avere aAvake, Ferhan keeping it up long 
 after the rest had dozed off again, by Avhistling a 
 long plaintive note like a marmot’s. 
 
 The sun rose red and threateniag from behind a 
 thick bank of clouds, and just as the camels avctc 
 loaded a gust of Avind from the south-east struck 
 them, Avdiich nearly tumbled them over the cliff and 
 sent the lighter luggage flying. The air became 
 full of sand, and a fcAV droi)S of rain fell, but 
 nothing came of it. Only the Avind continued. 
 Our roAitc to-day AA^as across part of the Tigris 
 valley, Avhcrc there Avas cultiA^ation in patches. We 
 marched sloAAdy, letting the camels feed as they 
 
234 Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiphvates. [ oh . xn. 
 
 went, and making the castle of el Ashid our point, 
 for we fin d that this is after all on the right hank 
 of the river. Samara, on the opposite hank, about 
 two miles from us, looked an interesting place with a 
 fine mosque, gilt like the mosque of Kasmeyn, and 
 two minarets (they say it is a “holy place”), while 
 the tower Avhich we had seen so long yesterday, 
 is really grand. Its height must he very great and 
 its construction is most peculiar, reminding one only 
 of pictures of the tower of Babel, which very likely 
 it originally suggested. It is round and tapers 
 gradually almost to a point, having a spiral stair- 
 case outside. It stands in an enclosure, with very 
 high walls which must be nearly half a mile square. 
 If we had not been afraid of getting into some 
 difficulty with the authorities residing there, we 
 should have tried to pay it a visit, as there must he 
 a ferry, though we did not see one, our man on the 
 mule having left us to go across. 
 
 Except this view of Samdra, and a singular rock 
 of conglomerate jutting out into the valley like a 
 bit of masonry, we passed nothing of interest till 
 we came to el Ashid, or as it is marked on the map 
 Kasr Bint el Khalifeh, the Castle of the Caliph’s 
 daughter. This is a most picturesque and interest- 
 ing ruin. It stands on a promontory of the cliff 
 and overlooks an immense length of river up and 
 down. It is square and, as we found, still suffi- 
 ciently well preserved to make us rather doubtful 
 how to ride our horses in over the crumbled walls. 
 
CH. XII.] 
 
 Stalking a Wolf. 
 
 235 
 
 But a breach had been made on one side, and there 
 we got in. It was a more difficult matter to stay, 
 however, when we got there, for in such an exposed 
 place the wind nearly bleAV us aAvay. The castle is 
 built of burnt brick, and there are remains of rather 
 elaborate architectural mouldings in this material. 
 It is undoubtedly Saracenic. Wilfrid, while I tried 
 to make a sketch, managed to get a brace of par- 
 tridges and a pigeon, very much wanted for the pot. 
 
 Eain Avas noAV falling heavily, the first we have 
 had since Ave left Bagdad, for the AA^eather has 
 hitherto been quite hot, and Ave agreed to stop as 
 soon as Ave could find a sheltered place, although 
 Ave had only marched some tAvelve miles. There 
 is capital grass eA^eryAvhere. We are accordingly 
 encamped in a little side Amlley, AAdiere there is a 
 convenient screen from the Avind in the shape of a 
 loAV clifi, and Ave have changed our AA^et clothes and 
 a fire is lit, and dinner getting ready. It threatens 
 to be a Avild night, but AA^e hope the rain Avill keep 
 robbers away. We liaA^e arranged a cord round the 
 exposed side of the camp, to trip up intruders. 
 
 March I. — In the night the wind changed 
 suddenly round to the north-Avest again and nearly 
 blcAV the tents doAvn, bringing March in indeed 
 like a lion. It is bitterly cold, but the rain has 
 ceased. Wilfrid took some observations from the 
 cliff, and finds that El Ashid, Samara, and the 
 kubbr, Imdm Dur, Avhich is opposite us, arc all 
 marked Avrong on the map. Indeed, it is difficult 
 
236 Bedoinn Tribes of the Eiiphrates. [ch. xir. 
 
 to make out at all what Colonel Chesney can have 
 been thinking about here, for on the Euphrates he 
 was very accurate. 
 
 While we drank our coffee before starting, we 
 saw a wolf come over the brow of the hill behind us 
 and sit down very composedly to watch us. Wilfrid 
 determined on a stalk, and did so most successfully, 
 getting within twenty yards of him and shoothig him 
 through the heart. Only (I grieve to say it) the wolf 
 turned out to be a jackal. In the morning light he 
 had looked unnatmully large, and we had not been 
 able to see his tail, which is the only difference in 
 shape between the jackal and the wolf. 
 
 We have been much discomposed to-day by a 
 report we have heard repeated several times by 
 Arabs we have met, of a ghazu of seventy horse- 
 men, said to be Anazeh, which passed along here 
 yesterday. Very likely it is exaggerated; but 
 there must be some foundation for it, as the people 
 who told us were evidently alarmed, and it has 
 made us very cautious in keeping a good look-out. 
 Wilfrid and I ride on about a mile in front as 
 advanced guard, while Ali, w'ho has better eyes 
 than most of the people here, guards the rear. It 
 is curious how much nonsense is believed in Europe 
 about Arab eyesight, the fact being that it is not 
 particularly good. We always see things long 
 before the others do. To-day, for instance, we 
 caught sight of a wavering bit of light and shade, 
 much distorted by mirage, which we could see very 
 
c:h. XII.] 
 
 Ghazni. Sto7'ies. 
 
 237 
 
 well was a distant range of hills, but which the 
 Agheyl declared were clouds. They are no doubt 
 the Hamrin hills, marked on the map as about fifty 
 miles from where we first saw them, and interesting , 
 as becoming fmdher eastward the boundary between 
 Turkey and Persia. We made them out quite 
 distinctly by riding to the top of a tell. 
 
 We passed to-day through a camp of Snamra Arabs, 
 and at a little distance fiudher on we put uj) an im- 
 mense wild boar out of a patch of tamarisk and argal. 
 He trotted past quite close to me. Wilfrid shot 
 some franeolins and partridges and a hare, the first 
 we have got on the whole of our journey. Hanna’s 
 delight may be imagined. “We shall eat to- 
 night,” he said, “what would cost half a mejidid 
 at Aleppo,” — and half a mejidid to Hanna’s 
 economical mind is an enormous sum. The reports 
 about the ghazii have been conflicting, one man 
 telling ns it had gone on to Tekrit, another that it 
 had passed over the hills westwards, while half a 
 dozen villagers from Tekrit itself, which is not far 
 off, say that they have met nothing on the road, 
 and believe it was not a ghazii, but a band of 
 robbers. These would perhaps be more disagree- 
 able still to meet, but, please God, wo may yet 
 escape. Wilfrid has gone shooting in a wood of 
 argal, a thorny bush with green fleshy leaves, 
 which here takes the place of tamarisk. We are 
 encamped under a very fine cliff, witli plenty of 
 natural barley and rye for the mares and camels. 
 
238 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xn. 
 
 and on this account have stopped early, after only 
 sixteen or seventeen miles’ march. Wilfrid’s hag 
 to-day is : — ^fonr francolins, five desert partridges, 
 one large red-legged partridge, two teal, one hare, 
 one jackal, 
 
 March 2. — We left the valley, and, climbing by 
 a rather steep track np the cliff, found ourselves at 
 once, as it were, in another world, the world of 
 the desert. This change was of course nothing 
 new, but it affects me as strange every time it 
 occurs, — ^the difierence which these few feet make 
 being so absolute. It was not long before we 
 caught sight of Tekrit, a miserable looking hamlet 
 something in the style of Deyr, but without even 
 a minaret, and we made a detour to avoid it, as we 
 are not in want of provisions and wish to see 
 nothing of mudirs, kaimakams, and zaptiehs. We 
 then crossed a road leading, Ferhan informed ns, 
 to Ana, but not used now, as there is “ Jchof’’’ 
 (fear or danger). A little further on Hejrdn, who 
 happened to be some way in front, turned round 
 and called out that there were Bedouins commg. 
 The ground was undulatiag, and they were already 
 close to us before Ave saAV them ; but there was 
 nothing to fear. There were nine of them, mounted 
 on deluls, but unarmed, and they informed us they 
 Avere going to Tekrit on business from Ferhan ; still 
 they were the first Shammar Ave had seen, and we 
 looked at them Avith interest, almost Avith awe. They 
 had a rollicking, devil-may-care way of looking and 
 
CH. XII.] We meet a band of Shamniar. 
 
 239 
 
 talking, very different from tire manner of tlie 
 fellahin Arabs we have hitherto had to do with, 
 marking them as men of an almost different race. 
 They asked us a question or two in return for ours, 
 and went on their way without any ceremony. 
 
 At two o’clock we came again to the valley, where 
 we found a beautiful green plain, covered with buffa- 
 loes and other cattle, and a large camp, the men of 
 which told us they were Ajuari., Across this plain 
 we travelled for a couple of hours, and have now 
 stopped in much such a situation as last night’s 
 camp, under a cliff and surrounded with the 
 greenest grass. Our mares have fattened rapidly 
 on the journey, as we have hitherto had corn to 
 give them, as w'ell as what they pick up, and that 
 is not a little. There are still great herds of 
 buffaloes near us, being driven home for the night 
 to a camp not a mile away. The people (Jibdri) 
 from it have come to us, and seem one of the best 
 tribes we have yet met, good-natured, honest folks, 
 as, we have remarked, all owners of buffaloes are, 
 ready to fetch milk, butter, or anything else Ave 
 Avant, but sufficiently commercial to expect payment 
 for Avhat they bring. They seem prosperous, 
 peaceable and happy, — fellahin, but of the best 
 sort. They tell us they are tributary to the 
 Shammar, that they are not a fighting tribe, and 
 that the Anazeh, Avhen they come, as they do most 
 years, to make their raids upon the Shammar, do 
 not meddle Avith their buffaloes. The first Shammar 
 
240 Bedouin Tribes of the Ettphrates. [ch. xn. 
 
 camp, it appears, is only three hours’ march from 
 here, — not Ferhan’s, however, he is further on at 
 Sherghat, hut Ferhan’s people’s, under a sheykh of 
 the curious name of Miittony, pronounced as written. 
 So for good or for evil we shall see a real Bedouin 
 camp to-morrow : let us hope for good. 
 
 We have marched twenty-six miles to-day from 
 point to point on Chesney’s map, our position at 
 present being about three miles north-north-west of 
 Abu Eeysh, a ruin which we can see very well, 
 and we have done it in eight hours, pretty good 
 going for loaded camels or for any animals, for the 
 matter of that. It is forty-eight miles on now 
 to Sherghdt, so that we may hope to get there 
 the day after to-morrow. A traveller on foot has 
 come to oru’ camp with two little bags slung over a 
 stick on his shoulder. He is a pedlar, selling 
 tobacco to the Arabs. He has a rough pair of 
 wooden scales, and a pebble which he uses as a 
 weight. A fuimy old man, good-humoured, and 
 asking for nothing. There are some other guests, 
 too, in the shape of some little dish-washers, which 
 are tame enough to come almost inside the tent. 
 
 Sunday, March 3. — We were in no hurry to 
 start this morning, having only three hours’ march 
 before us, and I had time to take a sketch from the 
 top of a high mound, while Wilfrid made a discovery 
 of refuse glass, shelving that at some period of 
 history there must have been a glass foimdry here. 
 The cliffs are of sandstone, and fifty to a hundred 
 
eii. XII.] We Come to the Hain 7 'in Hills. 241 
 
 feet higli. The view of Jehel Hamn'n Avas A*eiy 
 beautiful, its ravines and indentations furrowing its 
 eloj)es Avith a network of blue shade avs. We could 
 see the cleft through Avhich the Tigris issues, on its 
 passage from the upper plain of Assyria into the 
 lower one of Babylonia. Formerly the Hamrin 
 hills must have been the boundary of the two 
 kingdoms. 
 
 My mare. Tamarisk, has hurt her foot, and is so 
 lame that I haA^e been riding the deliil, a most 
 comfortable Avay of travelling ; but it is tiresome 
 to haA’e to keep Avith the camels, instead of riding to 
 see AAkat is happening. Besides, the motion is so 
 smooth that I get A^ery sleepy. Wilfrid in the 
 meantime AAms enjoying himself galloping after 
 jackals and foxes, one of Avhich he Avounded, but it 
 got aAvay among the rocks of the cliff, and I felt 
 very eimous, and tired of seeing Hagar careering 
 UAvay on the horizon, “ scarce so gross as a beetle.” 
 
 After passing some large Jiburi camps, Avhere 
 they gaA^e us milk and lebben, we came to a ruined 
 khan of the Saracenic age, maiked on the map as 
 Kerninah, a beautiful bxAilding Avith horseshoe gates. 
 At another Jibiiri camp further on, Ave learned that 
 Muttony and his Shammar AA'erc encamped under 
 the hills fiAm or six miles off to the cast of north, 
 Avhile our course, if avc Avantcd to go to Shcrghat, 
 should be north- Avcst, for camels cannot get across 
 the range of hills here, and have to go round to a 
 place Avhcrc there is a pass leading to the Wady 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 R 
 
242 Bedormi Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xir. 
 
 Gehennem. This encouraged Nejrdn to attempt 
 inducing us to shirk the Shammar altogether, for 
 like all townspeople, he has a wholesome horror of 
 Bedouins, and he proposed that we skould make 
 instead for a camp of Zoba, said to be nearer to our 
 line of march. None of our party knoAV as yet 
 where we are bound for after Sherghat, and the 
 Agheyl are under the impression that we are going 
 on to Mdsul. Hanna knows in a vague way, that 
 Ave expect to meet Mr. S. at Deyr, but his ideas of 
 geography do not go far. 
 
 It is needless to say that we paid no sort of atten- 
 tion to Nejran’s suggestion, and that Wilfrid struck 
 off in the direction pointed out by the Jibiiri. Ali 
 noAV for the first time came to the front, and though 
 apparently rather nervous, stuck close to Wilfrid as 
 he galloped on to reconnoitre. Nothing, however, 
 was visible but the desert and the hills for the 
 best part of two hours, until at last a man was 
 sighted peeping over the crest of a tell, and Wilfrid 
 rode up to question him. “ Who are you ? ” “ An 
 Arab.” ‘‘ Where from ? ” “ From the Arabs 
 
 out there,” pointing in the direction Ave had come 
 from. “Shammar?” “No.” “Jiburi?” “No.” 
 “ Zoba ? ” “ No.” “ Then Avhose are those 
 
 camels?” “The Shammars’.” “Where are the 
 Shammar ? ” “ Out there, far away, far away,” 
 
 pointing to the hill. “ Come and shoAV us, there’s 
 a good man. We are friends of Ferhan’s on our 
 Avay to Sherghdt, and Ave AAmnt to speak to 
 
CH. XII.] 
 
 The Shammar at Last. 
 
 243 
 
 Miittony.” “Very well. I am one of Miittony’s 
 men,” “And a Shammar?” “Yes.” “Mashallah! 
 come along.” 
 
 This matter settled, it presently appeared that the 
 Shammar camp was close by, hidden hy some rising 
 ground, to the top of which onr new acquaintance 
 took us, informing us the while that Muttony him- 
 self was not there, being away on a ghazii against 
 the Anazeh, but that we should find Hatmoud ibn 
 Hiyet at home and very pleased to see us. These 
 Shammar are of the Aslan tribe. We soon saAV 
 below us a scattered camp of about twenty-five 
 tents, a great number of camels and a few mares, 
 perhaps half a dozen. I got on my mare so as 
 to arrive with becoming dignity, and Wilfrid gave 
 his gun to Hanna and put on a sword which he 
 has been keeping for state occasions. Mr. S. had 
 told us what to do, and how to behave among the 
 Bedouins, but we both, I think, felt rather shy at 
 this our first visit, arriving as strangers and un- 
 announced. Hobody came to meet us or seemed to 
 pay the least attention to our party, and we rode on 
 without looking to the right or to the left towards 
 the largest tent we could see. There we dismounted 
 slowly and walked into the tent. 
 
 The etiquette of an Arab reception is a rather 
 chilling thing, when experienced for the first time, 
 and we have never before been cn ceremonie among 
 the Bedouins, for in the French Sahara, and the 
 Egyptian desert, European travellers are well 
 
244 Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiphrates. [oh. xh. 
 
 kno'wii, and are treated after European fasliion. 
 Here we are probably the first Europeans ever 
 seen. Nobody moved till we had come inside 
 the tent, and Wilfrid had said in a loud voice 
 “ Salaam aleykoum,” to which everybody, for there 
 were perhaps a dozen men sitting there, answered 
 also in a loud voice “ Aleykoum salaam.” Then 
 they rose to their feet and politely made way for 
 us to enter, the principal man bustling about to 
 have a carpet spread and a camel saddle brought for 
 us to lean our elbows on, for such is the custom. 
 We sat down without ceremony, merely making 
 the usual salute of raising the hand to the mouth 
 and head and looking solemn and unconcerned, for 
 so Mr. S. had recommended us to do ; but the 
 ice once broken, Hatmoud and his friends seemed 
 willing enough to talk, and anxious to do everything 
 they could to make us comfortable. Ali has come 
 out in quite a new light, for he is very useful in 
 keeping up conversation for us, always our difii- 
 culty, and very clever in making any little private 
 arrangements as to the pitching of our tents, and the 
 getting of corn for our mares, and other things which 
 one wants done but does not like asking for. Of 
 course, there is no question of paying for anything 
 here. In this he has shown considerable tact. 
 
 Hatmoud’s tent is a very poor one, and we are 
 disappointed in finding no external signs of great- 
 ness among these Shammar, more than in the tents 
 of their lower brethren Jiburi Delfm or Aghedaat. 
 
CH. XII.] 
 
 Ceremonies of Reception. 
 
 245 
 
 Except one carpet and the saddle, there is abso- 
 lutely no furniture, and the coffee is made in 
 pots no better than Sotamm’s among the Jerlfa. 
 The men, however, are better behaved than most 
 of those in whose tents we have been, and have 
 asked no impertinent questions. In a few 
 minutes, thirty or more of them had collected round 
 Hatmoud’s fire. They made no secret of their 
 Sheykh’s proceedings. Muttony was away towards 
 Ana on a ghazu, with a thousand horsemen from 
 the Aslan, besides what he had mustered from other 
 Shammar tribes, for it would seem he is Akld or 
 military leader of the clan.* This expedition may 
 account for the absence of mares in the camp, or of 
 armed men, for very few of the tents were distin- 
 guished by the aristocratic spear. Muttony was to 
 cross the Euphi’ates somewhere near Eowa, and was 
 to attack the Mehed, Jedaan’s people. The name 
 of the Aslan camp is Ilowshweysh, a difficult name 
 to pronounce and impossible to write. When wo 
 had conversed for half an hour, we retired to our own 
 tent, pitched just behind Ilatmoud’s, and by Ali’s 
 arrangements had our dinner served there, which is 
 a far better plan than eating with the Arabs, and 
 which they made no objection to our proposing. 
 There are a great many dogs about the camp, and 
 a few greyhounds called by the Arabs tazeli. 
 Thus ends our first evening among the terrible 
 Shammar, of whom we have heard so many talcs, 
 
 * All this account was an exaggeration, as wo heard later. 
 
246 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xn. 
 
 and who have figured as enemies in so many of 
 Mr. S.’s adventures. 
 
 March 4. — ^With regard to om’ plans, of which 
 it has been necessary that we should say something 
 in answer to the inquiries of our host and others, 
 Wilfrid has thought it best to conceal the exact 
 truth — at least, as far as Faris is concerned- — -until 
 we have found out Avhat his real jjosition is, mth 
 respect to Ferhan and the southern Shammar. We 
 have accordingly talked a great deal to-day about 
 visiting ruins and mounds, which they seem to 
 understand well enough as an object of interest 
 to Europeans. In this way we have hit upon a 
 piece of information wliieh may prove useful to us. 
 We were asking about the “remains” at Sherghat, 
 of which we had been told at Bagdad, as especially 
 interesting, when the man to whom we were talking 
 said, “ Oh, that is nothing. If you want to see 
 ruins, you should go to El Haddi’, where there are 
 stone pictures {sura hdjar') and old houses more 
 than you can count.” We asked where this was, 
 and he pointed north-west; which is exactly the 
 direction we shall probably have to take ; and 
 Wilfrid asked him if there were any Arabs on the 
 waj". “ Oh yes,” he said, “you will find Smeyr, 
 who is encamped just by the ruins.” This made 
 us open our ears, for Smeyr is a name which excites 
 our curiosity on account of his late journey to Jebel 
 Shammar ; and we have determined, if possible, to 
 see him — ^that is to say, if he is not too far out of 
 
CH. XII.] Hatmoua sees us on our Way. 
 
 247 
 
 our road — and get all the information we can from 
 him on so interesting a subject. 
 
 Hatmoud proposed in the morning, the very thing 
 we wanted of him, to go with us to Sherghat. It 
 will be a sort of introduction for us to Ferhan, 
 besides giving us protection on the way in case of 
 an encounter with khaydl (horsemen) ; so we readily 
 agreed, and at eight o’clock we started. It was a 
 white frost, and our tents were covered with rime, 
 which, in spite of a bright sun all day, is still 
 unmelted. At starting, our feet were so cold that 
 we walked for the first mile or two, much to 
 Hatmoud’ s amiable vexation, for he kept on telling 
 us to “ erkob, erkob ” (“ mount, mount ”) in a tone 
 of command, as if it were his own mare he was 
 offering us. But it is a way everybody has in this 
 country, where the rule of minding one’s own 
 business is not accepted. This, however, is a small 
 matter to complain of. In everything he seems 
 most amiably disposed and anxious to oblige. He 
 and his companion were faiily mounted, he on a 
 bay mare he calls a Seglawfyeh and the other 
 on a two-year-old colt, a Jilfan. They both of 
 them admired Hagar, and when they heard her 
 breed, Kehllet Ajuz, put their hands to their 
 heads in token of respect. They hurried us along, 
 begging us not to let the camels graze, as there 
 might be khayal about, — and they kept a good 
 look-out towards the plain. On our right lay the 
 Makhiil hills, a continuation of Jcbel Ilamrin, bare 
 
248 Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiphrates. [ch. xh. 
 
 and red and intersected witli ravines, wliich every 
 now and then extended into the plain, cutting deep 
 water-courses, and putting the camels to some 
 trouble in crossing them. I again rode the deliil 
 most of the day, for Tamarisk limps vexationsly. 
 Hatmond recommends a wet bandage in the evening 
 of salt and lehhen. 
 
 A conj)le of camels apj)eared in sight, and the 
 follower was sent to reconnoitre, returning presently 
 with two more Aslan, who came on with us. One 
 of these, an old man, saw me eating an apple (one 
 of the Nawah’s) and asked what it was. I gave 
 him a piece, which he ate, and remarked, “ Hush 
 hada, basal” (“This is capital, an onion”). A 
 little later, a large party appeared on the horizon, 
 which we could not at first make out on account of 
 the mirage. They seemed to he keeping a nearly 
 parallel line with oiu's, and at first there was a 
 suspicion of khaydl, and the usual word “/c/w/” 
 (“ danger ”) was bandied about freely ; hut as our 
 lines gradually converged, the cause of alarm proved 
 to he nothing worse than some poor people with 
 donkeys, travelling from Bagdad to Mdsul. They 
 had been seven days on the road and had come this 
 way instead of taking the Derh es Sultan or high- 
 way round by the Persian frontier, because it is 
 shorter, and they have nothing to lose. They were 
 glad, however, of so good an escort as ours, and 
 proposed to travel with us as far as we should go. 
 
 There was a woman in the party, and as Ave Avere 
 
CH. XII.] A fotcrney on Foot, no Romance. 249 
 
 both walking she came to me, and we had a little 
 talk. She told me how tired she was, how she, and 
 her husband Abdallah, and a boy of twelve, and a 
 child of three had but one very small donkey 
 amongst them. I saw Abdallah on it, with the 
 child in front of him. The elder boy was walking^ 
 and she begged me to let him ride one of our 
 camels, and seemed very grateful when I consented. 
 She, poor thing, seemed to find life a burden ; her 
 feet were htud by the stones, and she expected to 
 be confined in about frvo months. The donkey 
 shook her too much, she said, and so she had 
 walked all the way. The thought of going home 
 to Mdsul was her only comfort — Mosul, such a 
 beautiful town, her own helled., far better than 
 that uTetched llagdad, Abdallah’s bfrthplace. The 
 anticipation of home buoyed her up with hope, 
 Two others of the party were Fatma’s brotlrcrSy 
 with a second donkey between them. One of the 
 Aslan very good-naturedly dismounted to give the 
 brother who was on foot a ride. 
 
 So the day passed, a long Aveary march, perfectly 
 straight, but across a singularly pretty bit of de- 
 sert, which nobody but I, I am sure, thought so, 
 Wilfrid had ridden on with Ilatmoud, and about 
 four o’clock I saw them gallop towai’ds some tents, 
 Avhich appeared still a long Avay off under the 
 hills. When Ave came up, the tAVO Shammar had 
 stuck their spears into the ground in a nice Avady, 
 Avhere there was grass, a mile or so from the tents. 
 
250 Bedouin Tj'ibes of the Euphrates, [oh. xn. 
 
 This was the sign of our camp being chosen, so 
 here we are pleasantly lodged enough and alone, 
 for the Mdsul people have gone on to the Arab 
 camp. 
 
 .... I am afraid we have made a stupid mis- 
 take; and it only shows how careful one has to be, in 
 dealing with Arabs, not to hurt their feelings. "We 
 were resting in our tent, rather tired, writing our 
 journals, when Hanna came to say that a lamb had 
 been sent from the neighbouring camp. We had 
 understood from Hatmoud, that the people there 
 Avere not Shammar, but Haddadfn, whom we had 
 heard of as a very respectable, but commercial tribe, 
 which makes its living by taking in sheep to graze 
 from the townsmen of Aleppo and Mosul. We did 
 not then suppose that the lamb came as a present, 
 and haAdng our larder full sent it away. But now 
 several of the Hgddadin have come, and with them 
 their Sheykh, the sender of the lamb, who is much 
 distressed at having his hospitality slighted. The 
 Sheykh, a venerable old man with a singularly dig- 
 nified countenance, was standing unnoticed by us 
 in front of our tent, when Hdnna returned with 
 this explanation, and we have had much ado to 
 make him forget our rudeness. We made him sit 
 doAvn by us, showed him our maps and asked him 
 about his tribe. Still he remained grave, as Aiubs 
 do when they are ofiended, and then after a certain 
 amount of talk, in the course of which we were 
 informed, though not by himself, that our visitor 
 
CH. XII.] We Offend a Worthy Man. 
 
 251 
 
 was Abclallali, Slievkh of all the Haddadin in 
 JMesopotamia, we hade Hanna bring what was left 
 ns of the frnit the Hawab had packed for us at 
 Kasmeyn, and which we had hitherto found a most 
 acceptable present, when presents were required, — 
 for fruit is held in great estimation by the Bedouins. 
 This Ave begged him to accept for “ his house,” that 
 is to say his wives and family, the usual polite form 
 of offering such a present ; but the old man put 
 them aside, not rudely but reproachfully, and saying 
 simply “You Avould not take my lamb, Avhy should 
 I take these ? ” 
 
 We assured him lamely enough, that Ave did not 
 knoAV the present came from a Shcykh, (of course 
 Ave could not say that Ave thought it had been sent 
 for sale,) that Ave had no notion that the camp we 
 had seen was that of Abdallah the Sheykh of the 
 Haddadfn, or we should certainly have alighted 
 there,* and that in fine the lamb should at once 
 be killed. The bystanders interested in the pro- 
 spect of a feast, supported us hi our explanation, 
 and declared that it Avas satisfactory, and the good 
 old man has gone aAvay Avith his oranges and pome- 
 granates. But I am vexed at our having made the 
 mistake. The lamb has been slain and devoui’od. 
 It is delightfully still to-night, after the Shammar 
 camp of yesterday, AA'ith no sound in the desert 
 
 * An excuse for want of politeness on the ground of ignorance 
 of the rank of the person offended, though an additional offence 
 with us, is always accepted as valid in the East. 
 
252 Bedolun Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xir. 
 
 round us, but that of the camels quietly chewing 
 their cud. 
 
 March 5. — The Haddadfn, according to Sheykh 
 Abdallah, have five hundred tents, the number, I 
 expect, of those under his direct rule, for Hatmoud 
 assures us that they are a very numerous tribe, 
 tlu-ee or four thousand tents he says. They have 
 at any rate the appearance of great wealth, for 
 besides a hiindi’ed camels which they keep for 
 carrying their tents and other goods, they have a 
 far greater number of sheep here, than we have 
 seen together during our whole journey, except 
 those perhaps on the plain of Melakh. The flocks 
 began to pass our camp before it was light, and 
 some of them must have been already out of sight, 
 yet, counting them as Ave started, I made out at 
 least twenty separate flocks, which may be reckoned 
 as containing quite Aa'c hundred sheep each. In 
 one which I counted there Avere over seven hundi’ed. 
 This gh^es ten thousand, in round numbers, as the 
 property of only tAvehm tents. Some of these Avere 
 probably only held in part OAAmership Avith the toAAms- 
 men of Mosul; but, CA’^en if half Avere not theirs, this 
 still leaA^es oA'cr four hundred sheep each, a A’ery tidy 
 property. 
 
 An hour after this, we turned to the right, and 
 began to cross the hills by a well-worn pass in the 
 limestone rocks, tAvo hundred and fifty feet, accord- 
 ing to my barometer, aboAm the plain, and six 
 hundred and fifty aboA’e the leAml of the Tigris at 
 
CH. XII.] An Agheyl Encampment. 
 
 253 
 
 Howshweysh.. We reached the highest point at 
 half-past ten, and from it got a fine view north- 
 wards over the plain of I^ineveh and the hills 
 beyond Mosul, still white with snow. The descent 
 w'as not rapid and, after one or two ups and downs, 
 brought us to a smiling valley rejoicing in the quite 
 inappropriate name of Wady Gehennem or Valley of 
 Gehenna. There we overtook a party of Agheyl, 
 with thirty or forty camels, encamped with their 
 luggage in a sheltered place. They were delighted 
 to see their comrades ISTejrdn and Ferhan, and made 
 us stop and drink water with them. They had no 
 cofiee, and Wilfrid was given a narghileh. They 
 were from Bagdad, and had been thirty-one days on 
 the road, taking it easy on account of their camels. 
 They had followed the river all the way. This gave 
 ^Neji-dn, who has begun to complain about our going 
 on every day, and for such a long distance, a text 
 for a sermon on overdriving the camels. But they 
 have shown no disposition yet to give in, and keep 
 well in flesh, so that I suspect it is more on his own 
 account than theirs that he is anxious. lie does 
 not do half so much work as Ferhan, and insists 
 upon riding one or other of the camels a great part 
 of the day. He is a very little man, but inclined 
 to bo domineering, and to give his advice on all 
 occasions. The other servants don’t like him, and 
 Hanna complains of his prodigious appGitc. But 
 Avc caimot afford to quarrel with him here. 
 
 The approach to Sherghdt isAhccrlcss enough, as 
 
254 Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiphrates. [on. xn. 
 
 is that of every other place with settled habitations 
 in this country. I^ot that Sherghdt has any houses, 
 or anything more than a wretched little guard-house 
 to boast of ; hut Ferlidn Pasha, as he is styled, has 
 made it his jGLsed head-quarters now for three years 
 past, and of course, every blade of grass has been 
 eaten down, and every inch of ground trampled and 
 hemired for miles round. A more dismal camp, not 
 even excepting Aldershot, I never passed through, 
 dirty and squalid and hideous. It makes one’s eyes 
 ache to look at it. The Pasha’s tent is set on the 
 side of a hare heap of refuse, one of the Mounds of 
 Sherghat, and looks uncomfortably askew. It is 
 surrounded by smaller tents, perhaps fifty of them, 
 to give it a countenance, but in such a place a 
 whole army would look mean. Here we have now 
 alighted with the dreary prospect of a two days’ 
 sojourn before us, and I can afford to put off de- 
 scribing Sherghat and our reception at the Pasha’s 
 tent till to-morrow. 
 

 ' UBRARY 
 OFTHE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 > - ,) 
 
 . I 
 
GAET SHAMMAR MOVING THEIR CAMP. 
 
CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 “ But what on earth brings you to Cub Castle ? ” 
 
 “ They’re fearless fules the young Osbaldiston squires.’* 
 
 The sons were indeed heavy unadorned blocks as the eye would desire to look 
 upon.” Rob Roy. 
 
 rerhan’s camp at Shergli§.t — His wives and sons — We diplomatise — 
 We start to cross Mesopotamia — Ismail on horseflesli — We are 
 received by Smeyr — His account of Nejd, its rulers, and its 
 horses. 
 
 If I had been born a Sfuk and called myself 
 Ferhan, Sbeykh of the Shammar, I would not give 
 up life in the desert, even to be made a Pasha and 
 to have £3000 a year paid me quarterly. Xeither 
 would I condescend to handle a spade, even in make 
 believe, or go about with a tail of ragamuffins at 
 my back, picked up from the offscourings of all the 
 low tribes of the Tigris. I would not ride half 
 bred mares or keep a rascally Mollah from Mdsui 
 to instruct my sons in Turkish, and — oh, a thousand 
 times ! — I would not live at Sherghat. 
 
 Of all wretched places this, I think, is the 
 wretchedest; and it is just possible that Ferhan’s 
 residence here may be as much a mal^e believe as 
 all the rest, for he is away on a visit, they tell us, 
 to Xaif, that son of Faris to whom we have letters, 
 
256 Bedotlin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xm. 
 
 and nobody knows when he will be back. This 
 absence, although at first sight it seemed to us a 
 calamity, is after all perhaps the best thing that 
 could have happened to our plans; for now we 
 shall have the excuse of going after him, to cover 
 •our further journey into the heart of Mesopotamia, 
 and once started, it will be hard if we don’t go 
 where we like. 
 
 We were received at the Pasha’s tent with more 
 than the usual frigidity of Bedouin etiquette, the 
 absent Sheykh being represented by his son, a boy 
 of fifteen, who either had not the wit or had not 
 the manners to behave himself politely. He 
 remained sitting when we entered, even after the 
 salaam had been given, and pretended to be unable 
 to understand a word of what we said or to com- 
 municate with us except through an interpreter, 
 an empty form, as we do not know a single word 
 of Turkish, and the interpreter’s Arabic is in no 
 way different from his own. By preserving a very 
 solemn silence, however, in return for his, and by 
 talking to others instead of to him, we managed to 
 assert our position as people of consequence, and of 
 course, as guests, we had a right to certain honour- 
 able forms, which there was no idea of denying us. 
 Indeed, I am pretty sure that the boorish manner 
 of Abd ul Aziz (for such is the young gentleman’s 
 name) is due more to stupidity than to any intention 
 to disoblige, for this morning, as we remained in 
 our tent till rather late, he has sent a message to 
 
CH. XIII.] 
 
 Czib Castle. 
 
 257 
 
 'Wilfrid to say that he ho]pes he is not offended and 
 to invite him to coffee. There seems, too, to he 
 every intention of complying with onr wishes as 
 to future proceedings, for the Xawah’s letter has 
 been read, and it contains an especial request to 
 Ferhan to forward us to any part of the Shammar 
 country we may choose to visit. It is probable 
 that the present of a cloak and a pair of hoots at 
 the beginning would have made all right, hut it is 
 rather late now, and Wilfrid considers it would be 
 doing the young cub too much honour to invest 
 him with a robe. Ali advises us to let the matter 
 he, so wo have limited our gifts to some sugar- 
 plums, sent to Ferhdn’s favourite wife, the person 
 really in authority here, and Avho with her children 
 is the only one, besides the mollah, actually living 
 in the Sheykh’s tent, Ahd ul Aziz and his brother, 
 Abd ul Mekhsin, another cub, being already married 
 and settled in tents of their OAvn. 
 
 Ferhan Pasha, because he is a Pasha, has been 
 many times married, and he still has six AAUves, 
 residing at Sherghat. These ladies have separate 
 tents and establishments, and see no more of 
 each other than relations are hound to do. Fasal, 
 the youngest and the favourite, alone lives Avith 
 him. She is the daughter of Sheykh Saaddun, a 
 Kurdish chief from Upper Mesopotamia, and has 
 two sons, Hamid and Peddr, three and tAA'o years 
 old. As Ferhan himself is the son of a Pagdadich, 
 these little hoys are consequently of very mixed 
 
 VOL. I. S 
 
258 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xm. 
 
 origin and only to the degree of one quarter Arab 
 in blood. 
 
 I >yent, on the afternoon of onr arrival, with 
 the Yakil, or representative of the Pasha, Mollah 
 Abdallah, to pay the Hatdun Fasal a visit. I 
 found her in the half of the big tent that is divided 
 by an awning from the public part. She is pretty, 
 with bro'wn sleepy eyes and well- shaped, though 
 rather large hands, very much tattooed. Her little 
 boy Hamid, aged three, was playing about with 
 first one, then another, of the crowd of people, 
 men, women, boys and girls, who sat round a fire 
 in a hole in the ground, on which stood a huge 
 copper pot full of rice and meat stewing. Fasal 
 rose and kissed me, and we sat together on a 
 mattrass. Behind her was a cradle, out of which 
 a girl handed her a very small baby wrapped in 
 very dirty rags ; she nursed it for a short time and 
 gave it back to the girl. Then somebody uncovered 
 the big pot and pulled out some lumps of boiled 
 meat, which were given to the little boy Hdmid to 
 munch. All this time the conversation did not 
 proceed ; the Hatdnn seemed stupid, and I could not 
 make much out of the Vakil, who sat on my left. 
 A little girl, Fasal’ s eldest child, named Shems, 
 about five or six years old, had a nice face. A 
 stir in the crowd opposite was occasioned by 
 another lady coming into the circle ; the secretary 
 said she was Ferhdn’s sister Arifia. All the rest 
 of the company seemed to be servants, nurses, and 
 
CH. XIII.] 
 
 The Mounds of Sherghdt. 
 
 259 
 
 inferiors. I was delighted when the moment came 
 for leaving the harem, for the scene Avas one of 
 squalor and discomfort. The men, uncouth as they 
 are here, have generally something to say, but the 
 Avomen are Avithont ideas, good-natured, but quite 
 uninteresting. 
 
 I found Wilfrid sitting talking Avith a man from 
 Hormuz, a suburb of Mdsul, Avho is here on 
 business, selling tobacco, and Avho knoAvs all the 
 tribes of this part of the country. From him 
 and the mollah, and tAVO or three others of the 
 Pasha’s retainers he has been making out a list of 
 the Shammar tribes, Avith an approximate table of 
 their numbers. From this it Avould appear that 
 the Shammar do not in all number more than 
 eleven or tAvelve thousand tents, and their fighting 
 allies and tributaries eight or nine thousand more. 
 Perhaps they could bring twenty thousand spears 
 into the field, if all could be got together. 
 
 Our dinner Avas served in our OAvn tent, and Avas 
 both plentiful and good, — burghul, ragouts, lebben, 
 butter, and Avell-baked bread. Tavo lambs Avere 
 killed for us, Hanna says. After this, except for 
 the incessant barking of dogs, avo were left in 
 peace. 
 
 So much for yesterday. To-day has been a 
 Aveary one of idleness. We Avere taken to see the 
 ruins, or rather mounds, for there is nothing above 
 ground in Sherghat. These, they say, are just 
 the same as those at Nineveh. Indeed Sherghat, 
 
26 o Bedo^lin Tribes of the Ettph7'ates. [ch. xm.. 
 
 according to Dr. Colville, is one of the Kinevite- 
 cities. To us they were quite uninteresting,, 
 though Wilfrid considered it his duty to rummage' 
 about in the tunnels dug by antiquarians on the 
 chance of finding something neAV. These cannot 
 haA^e been made more than thirty years, yet already 
 the history of them is forgotten, and they are held 
 b}'’ the Arabs to be as ancient as the mounds them- 
 seh^es. We vieAved a Avolf aAvay from one of them, 
 but the ground Avas too broken for coursing him.. 
 The tAVO young Osbaldistones rode Avith us, “ Dickon 
 the jockey, and Wilfrid the fool.” They could not 
 have been better rejDresented — the one trying to- 
 sell us the mare lie Avas riding, the other saying- 
 nothing at all. I will say this hoAvever for Abd ul 
 Aziz, that Avhen Wilfrid questioned him about the 
 breed of his mare, he admitted at once that she Avas- 
 only Kehlleh, and, though the MosulaAvi AA^ho Avas 
 riding at his elboAV suggested the addition of 
 “ Ajiiz,” the boy said, “No, she is not asil — she 
 came from Bagdad.” 
 
 In the afternoon, Fasal returned my Ausit, AAdiile 
 Wilfrid Avas out for a AA^alk, AA'ith her sister-in-laAv 
 and childi’en, and folloAved by attendants, AA^ho all 
 croAvded into the small tent. The A'akil came too. 
 Fasal OAudently AAnshed to be amiable, but I found it 
 ditficult to talk AAuth her. She only once brightened 
 up, Avhen I spoke of her father, Sheykh Saadoun,. 
 AA'ho liA^es near Diarbekr. I offered them some of 
 Mrs. Nixon’s diamond-shaped Avhite Bagdad SAveets 
 
<CH. XIII.] 
 
 Ferhatis Harem. 
 
 261 
 
 — they seemed to hesitate about taking any, Avhen 
 Hanna, who stood outside, said something about the 
 sweetmeats being fit to eat, and the Vakil Mollah 
 Abdallah put in ‘‘ shoglil Islam ” * — The children 
 then, especially Shems, pounced upon the box and 
 carried it off. Wilfrid wanted me to give a kefiych, 
 and so I offered it, and by Avay of talking, said to 
 the hatowij “ Please take it for the boy ; ” then it 
 was explained to me that children’s heads are 
 always dressed in black ■]■ — ^liowever the keffyeh 
 Avas taken. The tent becoming too croAvded after 
 half-an-hour, I said I should be A'cry pleased 
 if the hatdun Avould stay longer, but that being 
 tired I must noAv sleep, and then they all Avent 
 aAA’ay. 
 
 Wilfrid, during his AA'alk, had come upon the 
 Agheyl Ave had made the acquaintance Avitli in the 
 Wady Gehennem, and had sat doAvn AA'ith them and 
 eaten some lentil broth they had ready for their 
 dinner, much to the disgust of a negro slave of the 
 Pasha’s Avho Avas Avith him, and Avho thought him- 
 self degraded by such company. The people here 
 are a mongrel set, A'ery feAV indeed of them real 
 Shammar. We see no sign of the cultiA'ation 
 supposed at Pagdad to be flourishing here, but Abd 
 ul Pettakh, the man from Ilornuiz, says there is 
 plenty betAveen this and Mosul. 
 
 All is, I believe, arranged for our journey to- 
 
 * Literally, “ Mussulman business.” 
 
 t Lor fear of the evil eye. 
 
262 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xm. 
 
 inoiTow. The Mollah is evidently the man in 
 anthority here, and we have succeeded in making 
 friends with him, at least to the extent of getting 
 him to help us in our plans. We have not said 
 much about Faris, except in the way of inquiring 
 his whereabouts. IS'ohody seems to know clearly 
 about this, and, although they will not admit that 
 ho and Ferhan are otherwise than friends, there 
 is certainly some mystery connected with him. 
 Ilesides, it now appears that there are at least three 
 Farises, and that the father of Naif is Ferhan’ s 
 uncle, not his brother, and consequently not the one 
 Ave Avant. We AA'ish, hoAvever, to get aAvay from 
 Sherghat AAithont delay, and have Avorked the ruins 
 of El Haddr as a first stage on the road. These Ave 
 declare Ave must and aaqII see, and have appealed 
 to the NaAvah’s letter for assistance in doing so. 
 Ferhan, too, is someAvhere in that direction, and Ave 
 talk of going on to him aaEcu Ave have seen the 
 ruins. So it is settled that a man of the name of 
 Ismail is to go Avith us, and see us safely to the 
 Pasha, passing through El Haddr on our AA'ay. 
 There has been the usual talk about Kh6f, danger,, 
 and harami, robbers, and ghazus, AA’ar parties, and 
 if one Avere to take this literally, one Avould svqjpose 
 the Shammar here, at their head-quarters on the 
 Tigris, lived in daily terror of the Anazeh. But Ave 
 have long left off believing an5dhing that Ave hear 
 on this score. 
 
 March 7 . — It Avas raining hard tliis morning 
 
CH. XIII.] How to Cttre a Horse. 263 
 
 when Ave got np, hnt Ave avouIcI not he hanlked of 
 starting, and then Tamarisk Avas discoA’ered to haA'e 
 something the matter AA'ith her. Every tAvo minntes 
 she lay doAAm and rolled, and then got np again. 
 The Arabs said she A\’as “ mani6sa^'‘ and that it 
 came from eating too much barley after too much 
 grass. It Avas probably a colic. They prescribed 
 many remedies, and tried tAvo or tln-ee ; first a rope 
 AAms tied tight round the loins, then she AAms AA^alked 
 and run about, and then her tail Avas tied up Avith 
 string, and lastly Ismail Avhispered a Averse of the 
 Koran into her ear. This seemed to do her good, 
 and Ave started. 
 
 The people of Sherghat are fond of saying their 
 prayers, a habit they have learned from their 
 Sheykh, whose half-Turkish education seems to 
 have affected the AA’hole of the people about him. 
 Our Agheyl, Kejrtin, on the strength of this has 
 become Amry obnoxiously pious, saying his prayers 
 in and out of season, and giving us quite uncalled- 
 for advice. lie is also an idle felloAA", leaving 
 everything to Ferhan Aidio loA'es hard Avork, insists 
 upon riding instead of Avalking, cats till he is ill, 
 and, Avhat Ave most dislike, is ahv'ays hanging about 
 listening to Avhat is going on in our tent. Ali, on 
 the contrary, is groAving more and more in our 
 estimation, though less and less in flesh. lie keeps 
 strictly to his place, does Avhat ho is told, and is 
 clover in the little bits of diplomacy avc trust him 
 to manage. Ilaima shoAVS no sign of giving in. 
 
264 Bedotmi Tribes of the Euphrates, [cn. xm. 
 
 and lias lost all liis fear of the Bedouins, if not 
 quite of tlie desert. 
 
 Ill as we liad been received, great difficulty was 
 made about our going away, now tbat there was 
 the excuse of the rain, but Wilfrid was firm, and 
 Abd 111 Aziz bad bis mare saddled and brought 
 round to accompany us, I think, after all, they 
 are not a bad sort of boys, only ill-educated and a 
 little spoilt by their father’s position. They don’t 
 like the Turkish language they have to learn, or 
 the half-bred horses they have to ride, and would 
 be glad to join their elder brothers, Eyssa and 
 Mijuel, who scorn such things and live in the 
 desert like gentlemen. So there is hope for them 
 yet. Abd ul Aziz managed even to get out a 
 complimentary speech, at leaving us, in answer to 
 one made him by Wilfrid, and smiled and looked 
 gracious, as we rode away. 
 
 We have been travelling over a table land, on 
 beautiful undulating soil thinly covered with grass 
 and thickly with fiowers, and intersected by deep 
 ravines, at the bottom of which there is usually rich 
 meadow pasture. Our course is due west, which 
 answers exactly to the position of El Haddr on our 
 maps, only that Chesney’s general map of Arabia 
 and Syria makes it fifty, and his particular survey* 
 of the Tigris describes it as only twenty-eight 
 miles from the river. 
 
 We have with us, besides Ismail, a black slave 
 
 * By James Claudius Eicli, British resident at Bagdad. 
 
III. xiir.] Account of Jebel Shammai'. 
 
 265 
 
 aucl a boy and an old man in a turban on a donkey, 
 all on their way to Ferhau, and taking advantage 
 of our journey to get an escort. Ismail is very 
 communicative. He tells us that it is perfectly 
 true that Smeyr went to Jebel Shammar this 
 winter, but he doesn’t know what came of it. He 
 says that the relationship of the Shammar in Meso- 
 ])otamia and the Shammar in Hejd, of whom Ibn 
 Eashid is one, is always kept up, and he seems to 
 know all about the country, though he has not been 
 there himself. He says that Ibn Eashid has tliirty 
 cannon and any number of guns, and is so rich 
 that he sent tlmee camel loads of gold to Mecca as 
 an offering. There is no water in Jebel Shammar 
 except in wells, nor grass nor corn nor anything 
 but dates. The wells he said are as deep as from 
 “ here to that camel,” eighty yards off', or, stretch- 
 ing out his arms, ‘‘forty times that.” He says 
 also that certain ties of relationship exist betAveen 
 the Jerba Shammar, his OAvn tribe, and the Eoala, 
 and that the late Feysnl Ibn Shaalan’s mother Avas 
 a Jerba. This Avonld account for the proposed 
 alliance of Ibn Eashid, Ibn Shaalan and the Meso- 
 potamian Shammar. 
 
 Ismail is surprised at my knoAAdng so much about 
 the breeds of horses, and Ave had a long talk about 
 them. I find he is quite as fanatical as everyone 
 else about blood, although he says the Pasha and 
 some of his folloAvers affect to despise it. This is 
 because Ferhan is a Turk and has spent eight 
 
266 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [cn. xm. 
 
 years of liis life at Constantinople, always talking 
 Ttn-kish in preference to Arabic, whenever he gets 
 the chance. His sons were brought up in the 
 same ideas, but the elder ones have broken loose 
 and live away with the Arabs down towards Ana. 
 The Turks have no thoroughbred horses of their 
 own, and knoAV nothing about those of the Arabs. 
 He told us, however, that the Abeyeh Sherrak Ave 
 had seen at Bagdad had really come from Ferhan 
 and ^xas really asil. Formerly, Ferhan or his father 
 had possessed a strain of SeglaAvi Jedran blood, 
 but it had died out. Ibn Shaalan of the Eoala 
 Avas noAV the only possessor of that strain,* and he 
 appeared surprised and rather incredulous Avhen I 
 told him, Avhat Ave haA"0 constantly heard, that Ibn 
 Hedderi of the Gomussa and Ibn Sbeni of the 
 Mehed both retain it. I then told him the story 
 of the Yaly’s mare at Bagdad at Avhich he laughed 
 so loud and so long that I thought he Avould tumble 
 oft his horse. He kept on repeating at intervals 
 during the day “Ivehilet Ajriz es Simri,” “Kehilet 
 Ajiiz es Simri,” and every time AAuth neAV bursts of 
 delight. I wish Mr. Eeubeniram could have heard 
 him. 
 
 Having brought Ismail in this Avay to a high pitch 
 of good humour aa'O began to open ground Avith him 
 about Faris. Here he Avas more reticent, and only 
 ansAvered our question, as to Avhether Faris and 
 Ferhan Avere friends, by saying “ they are brothers. 
 
 * This is incorrect. Ibn Shaalan’ s breed is Seglawi el Abd. 
 
CH. XIII.] 
 
 Ismail is Amused. 
 
 267 
 
 Ferhan is Slieyldi of all tlie Sliammar, all, all I ” 
 One tiling, however, we have ascertained, and that 
 is that our Faris is not at all the same as Mohammed 
 el Faris, Xa'if’s father, or Faris ihn Mohammed, 
 Xa'if’s brother; so that we have been at cross 
 purposes all along about him, and, even if Xoman 
 had come with ns from Bagdad, he could have 
 been of no use to ns. Faris too, it appears, is on 
 the Khahur, not near the Sinjar hills ; but we did 
 not press the matter, as we must see how the land 
 lies a little further yet. 
 
 The rain stopped soon after we started, hut 
 there has been a violent wind all day. Xow we 
 are snug enough in a deep wady, ivhere there is 
 grass and water, and where Wilfrid has got us 
 some ducks and teal and snipe for dimier. There 
 is no sign of inhabitants, and we are happy. 
 Talking of Xaif, we mentioned Ahmet Aga and the 
 letter ive had from him ; but Ismail begged ns to 
 say nothing about it to the Pasha, as Ahmet Aga 
 and he ivere “ dushman,” “ enemies,” linldng his 
 little fingers which is the Arabic sign for enmity, 
 as putting the forefingers side by side is that of 
 friendship, ‘‘ Enemies ? ” we asked, “ and how ? ” 
 He then told us that Ahmet Aga (a thoughtless 
 young man) had, in attempting to cure Ferhan of 
 shortsightedness (a common complaint among the 
 Ai’abs), j)ut the eye out altogether. He had poured 
 sulphate of zinc, or something of the sort, into the 
 eye, without adding any water, and the eye was 
 
268 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xm. 
 
 gone. I remember having heard the story at 
 Bagdad. Now for a quiet night’s rest. 
 
 March 8.- — I suppose we did not manage more 
 than twelve miles yesterday, but to-day we have 
 marched nearly twenty. Wilfrid began the morn- 
 ing by pulluig the tent down over the servants’ 
 heads, for, with the black man and boy, and the 
 man from Mosul, and a shepherd impressed on the 
 xoad yesterday as guide, there are rather more than 
 he can manage quietly. This set them all in a 
 bustle, and we got off at seven o’clock, the earliest 
 start we have made yet. 
 
 We were no sooner out of the wady, and on the 
 table-land again, than we found ourselves in a 
 thick fog, which would have obliged us to stop if 
 we had been without a compass. By the compass 
 we determined the direction, and then kept to it by 
 the wind, which blew from behind upon our right 
 ears. It is curious how little faculty the Ai’abs 
 have of finding their way. Their course seems 
 to be directed entirely by what, I believe, sailors 
 call “rule of thumb.” Once out of their own 
 district they are incapable of pursuing a straight 
 line by the sun, or the wind, or any natural 
 instinct. They travel from landmark to landmark 
 .and almost always in a zigzag, which costs them 
 many a mile. Here they had to depend entirely 
 upon us for the direction of £1 Haddr, a place we 
 had never seen, or heard of till two days ago ; and 
 •our Imowledge of its position, though simple enough 
 
CH. XIII.] 
 
 A Perennial Stream. 
 
 269 
 
 to us, seemed very marvellous to them. When the 
 fog cleared, as it did in the course of the morning, 
 they saw to their surprise El Haddr straight in 
 front of them. It was still many miles off, hut our 
 course had been correct. I think this fog has been 
 a fortunate circumstance, as it has raised us in the 
 eyes of all our following, who now profess full faith 
 and confidence in the Beg. 
 
 Soon after this, we descended to lower ground, 
 and came upon a spring of rather hitter water and 
 some Haddadfn tents, where they gave us milk and 
 told us Smeyr was straight before us,, in the valley 
 of the Sersar or Tharthar. These Haddadin are 
 certainly one of the best-mannered tribes we have 
 met, and are ahvays hospitable and friendly ; you 
 are sure of a j)leasant reception in their tents. All 
 the country hetAveen the Sersar and the Tigris is 
 intersected Avith ravines and deep Avadys, aa'cII 
 Avatered and rich in grass. It surprises one A^ery 
 much to find it so thinly inhabited, hut the popula- 
 tion of the desert is no doubt fixed, not by AA'liat it 
 can maintain in good years like the present one, 
 but in seasons of drought or blight. The Sersar, 
 hoAVCA’cr, is a perennial stream, and qnite unlike 
 any other aa'c have seen in Asia. It floAvs doAA’ii a 
 AA^ell-defined A^alley meandering through rich pasture, 
 and its banks arc fringed AAuth pollard avIIIoaa'S, just 
 as one may see many a stream in England, Avhcrc it 
 Avould liaA'c an evil reputation among sportsmen as 
 a “ stopper ” in the hunting field. Sluggish and 
 
2 70 Bedoinn Tribes of the Euphrates, [cn. xm. 
 
 deep, and with rotten banks, the Sersar is twenty- 
 five to thirty feet wide and, at the ford Avhere we 
 crossed it, about five feet deep. There are very few 
 places Avhere camels can get across. Hagar Avent 
 boldly in, Avithout making any fuss, and my mare 
 followed, and was off her legs and SAvimming for a 
 moment or tAvo. Hanna AAdth his Avhite donkey and 
 Ali long stood shHering on the hank, and I haA'e 
 not yet heard hoAV they managed to get over. We 
 did not AA^ait for them, hut pushed on Avith Ismail to 
 Smeyr’s camp, Avhich lay just beyond. 
 
 We stopped at the principal tent, Avhere a little 
 spare man of fifty, Avith grizzled heard, pale cheeks 
 and an anxious expression of face, received us. At 
 first, AA"e doubted from his manner Avhether Ave Avere 
 altogether Avelcome, but he made ns sit doAvn, and 
 had carpets and cushions brought, and presently, 
 after a fcAV Avords in his ear from Ismail, among 
 Avhich I distinguished something about “ bint el 
 malek” (daughter of the king), his features relaxed, 
 and his manner became more amiable. This AA^as 
 Smeyr, of Avhom Ave had heard so much as Ferhan’s 
 envoy to Ibn Eashid. We then began to talk, first 
 making the usual compliments of asking after our 
 host’s health and hoping that all Avas going aa'cII 
 with him, and then inquiring about the ruins of El 
 Haddr, Avliich aa^c professed a great curiosity to see. 
 He said that he understood them to be interesting, 
 and had heard that they contained sculptures and 
 inscriptions, but he had never looked at them 
 
CH. XIII.] I am the Dai!,ghte 7 ' of a King. 271 
 
 liimself, except from a distance. He should be 
 delighted to show them to us, and added that wc 
 were the first Europeans who had come to El 
 Haddr. He had known Mr. Eassam formerly, the 
 English Consul at Mosul, and he inquired after him 
 and the hatdun, Mrs. Eassam. They had never 
 come to El Haddr.* A European had been sent 
 two years ago to Eerhan at Sherghat on purpose 
 to see the ruins, but had not been allowed to 
 proceed, as he was suspected of being a Muscdv. 
 Europeans, he knew, were curious about such 
 things. He then said rather abruptly to Wilfrid, 
 and pointing to me, “Is it true that the hatdun is 
 “ ahsan’ (better), than yon ? ” We did not under- 
 stand what he meant, hut Wilfrid answered, I 
 suppose as a compliment to me, “ Oh yes ! far 
 better.” Whereupon he went on to say that he had 
 heard as much, and that he was very pleased to have 
 the opportunity of making my acquaintance. We 
 saw that there was a mystification somewhere, and 
 we remembered certain hints to the same effect, 
 which Ismail had let drop in conversation to-day 
 as we came along, and as soon as Ave returned to 
 our tent wo asked Ismail Avhat it all meant. lie 
 then told us that ho had heard from He j ran that I 
 Avas the daughter of a king,']' and that, noAV the Bog 
 
 * In this Smeyr was mistaken. Mr. Ainsworth visited El Iladdr 
 in 1840, and Mr. Layard the year following, with Mr. and MrSj 
 llassam. 
 
 t The woid “ malek,” though translated king, hardly convej’s 
 
272 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xm. 
 
 had admitted the truth of it, there was no longer 
 any reason for concealment. He had told Smeyr all 
 about it, and implied that there was nothing to he 
 ashamed of in the matter. In vain we assured him 
 that it was all nonsense. He refused to believe us, 
 having heard the Beg say it with his ovm ears. It 
 was not worth while disputing, so a king’s daughter, 
 I suppose, I must remain. Where Hejrdn picked 
 up his information I cannot think, hut it may perhaps 
 he accounted for by the presents given me by the 
 Hawab. For to receive gifts is always a high proof 
 of merit in the East. 
 
 Wilfrid is so much pleased with Smeyr s reception 
 of us, that he has decided on giving him a mashlah, 
 the one indeed he had intended for the Pasha ; and 
 he thmks that, by making friends with him, we may 
 very likely be able to dispense with Ferhan’s permis- 
 sion to go on to Faris. This would save us time 
 and trouble, and Ave liaA^e no great curiosity to see 
 this half-Turkish Pasha ; besides AAEich, if it is true 
 that he is on bad terms with his brother, a Ausit to 
 him might defeat our object altogether. In any 
 case Ave don’t know where Ferhan is, and a friend 
 like Smeyr in the hand would be Avell Avorth Iavo 
 like Ferhan in the bush. With this Anew Ali has 
 been despatched on a diplomatic mission to the 
 Sheykh’s tent, carrying Avith him a gold embroidered 
 
 to Arab ears what it does to ours. Any great independent Sheykh, 
 like Ibn Eashid of Jebel Shammar, might take the title without 
 adding much to his dignity. 
 
CH. XIII.] We make Friends with Smeyr. 
 
 273 
 
 cloak, a pair of red boots, about three pounds of 
 tobacco in leaf, and a box of sugar-plums for the 
 harem. 
 
 # % 
 
 I was iuterrupted by All’s return. He has 
 managed things capitally, having not only sounded 
 the ground with Smeyr, but got him to agree to our 
 wishes. There has been luck as well as skill in this, 
 but I will not go into the details of his negotiation 
 separately, but give the result as it now stands, 
 after a conversation we have ourselves had with the 
 Sheykh. It turns out then that, when he first saw 
 us arriving at his camp, Smeyr was considerably 
 alarmed, fancying that we were a party of soldiers 
 sent to arrest him ; for some years ago, at the time I 
 believe of Abd ul Kerim’s death, he or his people 
 killed some soldiers sent by the Government against 
 them, and Smeyr has since then been “ wanted ” at 
 Bagdad. 
 
 The Turkish Government have several times sent 
 orders to their Pasha, Perhan, to deliver up his 
 cousin to them, but Ferhan has hitherto put them 
 off by saying that he does not know where to find 
 Smeyr. Smeyr, however, evidently mistrusts his 
 chief, and is anxious to come to terms with those 
 in power, fearing some act of treachery which 
 should lead him to the gallows. How it is a very 
 common thing among the Bedoums, when they 
 wish to make their peace with the Government, to 
 get one of the foreign Consuls to intercede in their 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 T 
 
2 74 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xm. 
 
 favour, and Smeyr had already written to Colonel 
 Nixon on the subject. He had, however, not yet 
 had an answer, and he now fancies that our journey 
 to El Haddr must in some way he connected with 
 his own affairs. Ali, seeing its advantage to our 
 plans, has done his best to encourage the idea. 
 Without going so far as this, we have expressed 
 our readiness to do anything we can for him in 
 the way of interceding in his behalf with Colonel 
 Nixon, or of carrying letters or treating with 
 Husseyn Pasha for him when we get to Deyr. He 
 sees very plainly that we have nothing to do with 
 the Government, as we have no soldiers or zaptiehs, 
 or any representative of authority with us, and 
 that we wish him well and may perhaps be able to 
 help him. He was delighted, too, we hear, with 
 the cloak, the like of which has not been seen in 
 this part of Mesopotamia within the memory of 
 man, and Hanna’s description of the way it was 
 handed round in the tent, and felt and tried on and 
 admired, is very satisfactory. Finding him in such 
 excellent dispositions, we have told Smeyr frankly 
 what it is we want, and he has answered, I fully 
 believe, as frankly, — certainly very sensibly. 
 
 In the first place, we are to see El Haddr, which 
 it would he a pity to miss, as we are so near it, 
 and then we are to make our way, without turning 
 to the right or to the left, for the Khdbur, a small 
 river which runs into the Euphrates below Deyr, 
 and somewhere on the hanks of which Earis is 
 
CH. XIII.] Conversation about Ibn Rashid. 
 
 275 
 
 known to be encamped. This is about a hundred 
 and thirty miles as the crow flies, and of course 
 desert all the way, but he will send a trusty man 
 with us, the same that he took with him to Jebel 
 Shammar this year. With regard to Ferhan, 
 Smeyr insists that we must go to him, if we hear 
 that he is anywhere near our line of march, and 
 this of course we should feel bound in any case to 
 do after having enjoyed his hospitality at Sherghdt. 
 We must also keep on Ismail, the Pasha’s man, as 
 Smeyr is afraid of giving offence by allowing us 
 to send him back. As to his own man, he is to 
 have ten mejidies (£2) as “akliram” (reward, 
 literally “honour,” like the French “ honoraires ”) 
 for the job. To all this we have consented, and 
 have thanked Smeyr most cordially for his help. 
 
 We are now on a more confldential footing with 
 him than we have yet been with any of the Arabs, 
 and we have made use of it to ask him for par- 
 ticulars of his visit to Jebel Shammar. With 
 regard to his own adventures, we cannot get him 
 to say much, which looks as if he had not been too 
 well received by Ibn Eashid, in fact we know his 
 mission failed ; but he talks freely enough about 
 the country and the people in it, and, what we 
 most wanted to know of, the horses. I will put 
 down as nearly as I can recollect what he says : 
 Jebel Shammar, he affirms most positively, in 
 spite of what Dr. Colville told us of its being 
 a single conical peak, is a long range of hills 
 
276 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xm. 
 
 higher than Jehel Hamrin, — “like Jebel Sinjar, 
 only higher still.” Eain falls there in the winter 
 and sometimes snow. There are, however, no 
 springs or water of any sort above ground, but 
 plenty of deep wells, and he makes use of the same 
 mode of describing their depth as Ismail did, by a 
 distance along the ground, which is cmdous.* The 
 people of Hiyel and the other towns, and their 
 Sheykh, Ibn Eashid, live most of the year in 
 houses, but during the winter and early spring go 
 out to the mountain, and then they inhabit tents. 
 There is plenty of grass at that time of year, that 
 
 is to say for three or four months, and the mares 
 
 then live out as they do here, but for the rest of 
 the year they have to be fed on barley, of which 
 
 there is but little, or more commonly on dates. 
 
 There are no trees, if we understand him rightly, 
 but the palms, and no cultivation but the gardens 
 round the towns. 
 
 About Ibn Eashid, he said that he was a Sham- 
 mar, and he talked of him as the Sheykh (not King). 
 He was Vakil to Ibn Saoud of Eiad, — “ as it were, 
 his cavass,”- — ^but very rich ; and he repeated the 
 story about the three camel loads of gold sent to 
 Mecca. Ibn Saoud was King of all Arabia. We 
 
 * Arabs, wben drawing water from a well, fix a tent pole or 
 other piece of wood across the month and then draw up the leather 
 bucket by a rope over it, not gathering the rope in coils as we do, 
 but running with the end of it as far as is necessary to bring the 
 bucket to the top. They naturally, therefore, measure the depth 
 4of a well by the distance the rope is trailed along the ground. 
 
K( 
 
 PEI 
 
 and IS equally disquaiifler W? 
 
 Toessan 
 
 Bulad, of whi 
 is said was 
 Arabian, * 
 inijbutin them 
 
 uri 
 i. Arnal 
 
 K. Ann J 
 K. Jenn^h i 
 lazali 
 
 Kabdan 
 
 ^oklani, 
 
 ?>^ed found 
 
 ^ I’ersia. 
 
 ^ * The celebn 
 pcertain this f 
 
 Jioroughbred 
 
 c. 
 
 breed. 
 
 To face Page 27 Q. 
 
PEDIGREE OF THE ARABIAN THOROUGHBRED STOCK. 
 
CH. XIII.] 
 
 Smeyr on Nejd Horses. 
 
 277 
 
 asked him for an introduction to Ibn Eashid, but 
 he is evidently not on such terms with him as to 
 give this. He added to Wilfrid, If yon were my 
 brother, I would not advise yon to go near Ibn 
 Eashid. He does not like strangers. If yon were 
 to go to Hiyel to look about you (furraj), as you do 
 here, he would think you had some evil purpose.” 
 
 Wilfrid then inquired about the horses or rather 
 mares in Jebel Shammar, and asked if the Arabs, 
 there had the same breeds as the Mesopotamian 
 Shammar. “ Just the same,” he answered. “They 
 have Kehellehs and Jilfehs and Dakhmehs and 
 Meleyhas, just as with us. There are not many 
 horses (kheyl) bred there. Ibn Eashid buys all his 
 from the Bedouins — the best from the Anazeh. 
 There are few horses in Hiyel, and they are dear. 
 This is because there is no pastime for them the 
 greater part of the year, as there is in the Horth.” 
 Wilfrid : have heard that in Hejd there are 
 
 horses of a different breed from any you have here, 
 or rather that the Arabs there make no account of 
 breeds ” (alluding to Ealgrave’s account of the Eiad 
 stables). Smeyr: “Whoever told you that told 
 you ‘ kidb ’ (nonsense). There are no breeds in 
 Xejd but the breeds of the Bedouins, Seghiwi, 
 Jilfan, and the rest. Ibn Saoud, if he has any 
 horses, gets them all from the Bedouins. There are 
 good horses in Nejd and asil (thoroughbred), but 
 the Anazeh horses are the best.” He had never 
 heard of any Nejd breed. “ All Bedouins have tho 
 
278 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xm. 
 
 same breeds of horses. There are none other asil.” 
 He had brought a mare back with him from Jebel 
 Shammar, a Jilfeh Stam el Boulad, for which he 
 had paid, besides another mare he had had to get 
 rid of, five camels and twenty sheep, but horses 
 were dear at Hiyel. He had known mares from 
 the Shammar fetch as much as twenty camels when 
 sold there. He took ns to look at this mare, which 
 was standing just outside. She is a chestnut with 
 three white legs, not particularly handsome or more 
 than fourteen hands two inches in height. 
 
 On the whole, we are pleasantly impressed with 
 Smeyr. He is a gentleman, though not of a very 
 refined, still less of a very romantic type. But he 
 has the politeness to perceive when we wish to talk 
 and when we wish to be alone, a thing we have not 
 met before. He has not been inside a town for 
 many years, and seems more like a man of the 
 world who has forgotten part of his manners, than 
 a rustic born and bred. He is quite without pre- 
 tence, indeed rather less dignified than he should 
 be ; but I fancy he is poor and bullied by Ferhan 
 and his sons, at least Ali says as much. I can’t 
 quite make out what his relations with Faris are. 
 There is certainly a coolness, if not worse, between 
 Ferhan and his brother. Smeyr is first cousin to 
 them both, his mother having been a sister of Sfuk. 
 He has a younger brother, Ghathban, living here in 
 a separate tent, and several grown-up children, all 
 by the same wife, for he has only one. The men 
 
€H. XIII.] 
 
 Smeyrs Wife. 
 
 279 
 
 here are very different from those in Ferhdn’s 
 camp, being, I should say, quite pure Shammar. 
 They are well behaved, merry, good-natured people, 
 and do not crowd about our tent or ask tiresome 
 questions. They seem poor, much poorer than the 
 Haddadin, and have but few mares. The only 
 very talkative man in camp is a Mosulawi, a strik- 
 ing contrast to all around him. He is a young 
 man, fat, smooth-faced and red-haired, with a 
 curious mincing accent, and great play of^ pudgy 
 white hands in speaking. What he is doing here I 
 can hardly make out. But Wilfrid has bought 
 some tobacco from him, and I see him sometimes 
 writing letters, and sometimes mending clothes for 
 the Arabs. Perhaps he is a general trader. They 
 seem to Hlce him, and sit open-mouthed listening to 
 his interminable stories and accounts of what is 
 going on in the world, tales of the war, the Muscdv 
 and the Sultan. The Shammar are much more 
 “ Turkish ” in their sympathies than the Arabs we 
 met on the Euphrates, and this, I fancy, is because 
 they are more pious. Smeyr and most of his people 
 say their prayers regularly, and one of the first 
 questions he asked was whether we were Muscdvs. 
 
 Smeyr’ s wife, Sukr (Sugar), is a middle-aged 
 person of well-bred appearance, and possessed of an 
 intelligent, pleasant face. She received me, when 
 I called this evening, with all possible honours, 
 cushions, pillows, dates, butter and the rest of it. 
 There were with her several sons and daughters, 
 
28 o Bedo^dn Tribes of the Euphrates, [oh. xxu. 
 
 a son’s wife, a grandchild and a son-in-law, besides 
 a brother who came in while I was there and kissed 
 her, and then sat with his arm roimd her neck, A 
 huge caldron of camel’s milk was simmering on 
 the fire, and rice was being added to it every now 
 and then from a basket. At other fires other 
 caldrons were full of meat. Three large camel- 
 saddles and some dirty mattrasses were the only 
 furniture. I like these people better than those 
 of any harem I have seen. They are simple, merry, 
 and kind. 
 
 But this is surely enough for to-day. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 I said to Time, “This venerable pile, 
 
 Its floor the earth, its roof the firmament. 
 
 Whose was it once ? ” He answered not, but fled 
 Fast as before. I turned to Fame, and asked 
 “ Names such as his, to thee they must be known. 
 
 Speak ! ** But she answered only with a sigh. 
 
 And, musing mournfully, looked on the ground. 
 
 Then to Oblivion I addressed myself, 
 
 A dismal phantom, sitting at the gate ; 
 
 And with a voice as from the grave, he cried, 
 
 “ Whose it was once I care not ; now ’tis mine.’* 
 
 Rogebs. 
 
 The city and palace of El Haddr — We are mobbed in the ruins — 
 Smeyr sends us on our way — We put our house in order and 
 march westwards — Quarrel with Ismai'l — He leaves us — We 
 discover salt lakes — A wade through the mud — A silly old 
 man — Earis at last. 
 
 March 9. — We have been spending the day at El 
 Haddr, and have been far more interested than we 
 thought to be. It had been agreed overnight that 
 Smeyr should move his camp, and we ours, to the ruin 
 to-day ; so, as soon as we had had coffee and made 
 arrangements with Hanna for the day’s march, we 
 started. It was but three miles, and we galloped all 
 the way, leaving Smeyr and a couple of his men Avho 
 Avere riding Avith us far behind. Their mares had 
 lately foaled, and they did not care to press them. 
 
 As Ave came near the ruins, Ave Avere surprised to 
 find a really large city in tolerable prcseiwation, Avith 
 
282 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xiv. 
 
 great part of tlie walls and towers and even some of 
 the houses still standing. Its situation is a charm- 
 ing one, in the desert it is true, but in a desert 
 which might easily he mistaken for one of those 
 great rolling downs one sees in Wiltshire, only that 
 here a multitude of flowers are mixed up with the 
 grass ; scarlet tulips the counterpart of our garden 
 ones, purple stocks, marigolds^ and a pretty blue 
 flower called by the Arabs holidtteyr. In all the 
 hollows there is now thick grass, pasture sufficient 
 for twenty times the number of flocks there are to 
 eat it ; and the ruins rise out of a bed of green, like 
 ruins preserved for ornamental purposes in England. 
 The town is nearly square, and covers perhaps an 
 area of two miles. The walls and fortifications are 
 of massive hewn stones. They seem to have been 
 overthrown, in part at least, by earthquakes, for in 
 many places there are deep cracks in the masonry 
 indicating a “ settlement ” of the ground beneath 
 them. The houses, such as still remain standing, 
 are merely square blocks without internal divisions 
 or more than a single doorway, and a hole or two 
 high up to admit light. Their roofs are arched, and 
 remind, one a little of the more modern houses of 
 Syria. They belong, however, certainly to classic 
 times, and there is little or no appearance of the 
 city having been reconstructed, as so many were, 
 by the Caliphs. 
 
 In the centre stands the palace, a really noble 
 building. The outer wall enclosing it, like every- 
 
CH. XIV.] 
 
 The Palace of El Haddr. 
 
 283 
 
 thing else in El Haddr, is rectangular, and each 
 face of the square is perhaps a quarter of a mile in. 
 length, and as solidly built as the walls of the city 
 itself. The courtyard thus formed is perfectly level, 
 and appears to have been paved throughout. Within 
 stand several buildings, temples, arches, and single 
 columns and, towering over all, the palace itself. 
 This, as I have said, is really imposing, and has a 
 facade towards the East, which in the day of its 
 glory must have been the principal wonder of this 
 part of the world. In idea it is not unlike 
 Ctesiphon, except that, instead of a single open 
 court of gigantic dimension, there are here four 
 smaller ones; but the arrangement is similar, and 
 each hall leads by a low door to a suite of smaller 
 apartments beyond. The principal of these halls 
 of audience, for such they undoubtedly were, is or- 
 namented with pilasters, bearing on each of them 
 a group of three human faces carved in stone. 
 Above, runs a cornice of the common egg and 
 tongue pattern, and then there are the remains of a 
 vaulted roof springing from a second cornice. The 
 faces are not in the purest style of art, but are 
 sufficiently well cut for decorative purposes, while 
 the mouldings and architraves of the doorways are 
 more carefully executed and are very beautiful. I 
 have taken drawings of some of these. They would 
 make beautiful chimney-pieces, if one could get 
 them to England. Three of the faces have been 
 carefully cut away with a chisel and are gone. 
 
284 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xiv. 
 
 To me the most interesting part of the palace is 
 the suite of inner rooms, lying behind the halls of 
 audience, for some of these are quite perfect and in 
 such “habitable repair” that, with a little sweeping 
 out and clearing away of rubbish, one might go in 
 at once and take possession. One room in particular 
 would pass without much comment in London as a 
 dining-room, with its coved ceiling, Corinthian 
 cornice, and handsome architraves. One can see 
 that the walls were intended for tapestry, for below 
 a certain height the stones have been left rough, 
 while above it the surfaces are nicely polished. The 
 whole palace is built of a handsome red sandstone,* 
 which is so well preserved, especially in these inner 
 rooms, that the masons’ marks are still perfectly 
 distinct. They look like the letters of an alphabet 
 — ^but what alphabet ? On one of the walls there is 
 an inscription in Arabic, and another in a character 
 similar to the masons’ marks. The building is 
 admirably finished — each stone beautifully fitted to 
 its neighbours, without flaws or spaces, or any 
 “ scamping ” of the work. Here we have wandered 
 about all day drawing and taking measurements ; 
 but it is impossible to give a correct idea on paper 
 of the beauty of all that we have seen. Nobody 
 here knows anything of the history of El Haddr, 
 neither do we.f 
 
 * Brought from the Sinjar hills. The natural rock of El Haddr 
 is a friable limestone. 
 
 t El Haddr is no doubt a Greek city of nearly the same date as 
 
CH. XIV.] 
 
 A Mob of Women. 
 
 285 
 
 % % % % 
 
 We were driven from our meditations in tlie 
 palace, by an invasion of the youth and fashion of 
 Smeyr’s camp. They had finished their work for 
 the day, the work of pitching tents and unpacking 
 household furniture, and were now at liberty to 
 spend an idle afternoon in the noisy fun which 
 Bedouins love. At first they left us unmolested, 
 and merely ran about the ruins laughing and shout- 
 ing, but by degrees they gathered round us, and, as 
 it is not the custom to refuse one’s company to any 
 who wish to share it, we soon found ourselves in the 
 midst of a rather uproarious mob. 
 
 The men were civil enough, and perhaps the 
 women meant to be so, but they and the children 
 pressed so closely round me that I had to give up 
 my drawmg, and escape as I best could to the top 
 of a pile of broken columns under a wall. Even 
 there they followed me. Some of the girls were 
 really very pretty, with bright laughing faces and 
 teeth like pearls. But the old women Avould uisist 
 upon handling and pulling at my clothes, to feel 
 what they were made of, and the children Avould 
 not be repressed from sitting almost in my lap. 
 Meanwhile, the older boys had begun to throw 
 stones at the carved faces on the wall, great fun 
 
 Palmyra, It is mentioned by Benjamin of Tudela as still existing 
 on the road to Bagdad. It was possibly destroyed finally by the 
 Tartars. Palmyra was as uninhabited as El Haddr a hundred 
 years ago. 
 
286 Bedouin Tribes of the Euph 7 'ates. [ch. xiy. 
 
 no doubt for them, but distressing for us to look 
 on it. Fortunately the natural stone of El Haddr 
 is softer than that of the buildings, and no serious 
 damage was done while we were there. Only the 
 stones began to fall in a rather reckless way, and 
 as the elder people, who might have maintained 
 order, were away, Wilfrid thought it best we 
 should retire before an accident happened. So, 
 putting the best countenance we could on our 
 retreat, we said good-bye to the ruined palace. I 
 confess I was glad when we got back without 
 mishap to the camp. Smeyr excused his people’s 
 behaviour, when he heard of it, by remarking, if 
 I may translate it into Scotch, that “it was only 
 the laddies.” 
 
 He has been asking us for medicine to cure his 
 eyes, which have little the matter with them except 
 shortsightedness, and we have been at some pains 
 to explain that we have nothing which will cure 
 them. He asked us for “ sugar of Egypt,” mean- 
 ing, we supposed, sulphate of zinc, which we 
 happen to have ; and at first we thought of letting 
 him have some, till it appeared that he intended 
 taking it internally. The word “ poison,” however, 
 has nearly frightened him out of his wits, and he 
 begs for something else. He complains too, as 
 many do in this country, of indigestion, and no 
 wonder, when one thinks how the lives of Bedouins 
 are spent between starvation and feasting, and of 
 the mass of indigestible curds and ill-baked bread 
 
CH. XIV.] An Attempt at Doctoring. 
 
 287 
 
 they devour. We have compromised matters, and 
 made him happy with half-a-dozen blue pills. To- 
 morrow we are to bid him good-bye. 
 
 Sunday j March 10. — I am afraid we were not 
 altogether as sorry as we should have been when 
 we took leave of our host this morning. Smeyr 
 has been very kind to us and has fallen in with 
 our plans in a way we had no right to expect of 
 him, and which may yet cost him some trouble 
 with his Sheykh, — and all without any clear 
 prospect of return at our hands. Nevertheless, we 
 could not manage to feel regret at going. The 
 fact is, life in an Arab camp is terribly irksome, 
 and the thought of exchanging the forms and 
 ceremonies of Bedouin society for the freedom of 
 the uninhabited wilderness was too much for us. 
 We could hardly conceal our joy. Fortunately 
 gratitude is not an Oriental virtue, and to eat and 
 drink with a stranger, and then to go away without 
 wishing him good-bye, is quite in accordance with 
 the best manners, so a little demonstration in our 
 farewell went a long way. Smeyr’s last words, 
 too, relieved us in part of our sense of obligation, 
 for it was a request that we would send him a 
 pistol from Deyr, “to protect him,” he said, 
 “ from the soldiers, — a revolver with five chambers 
 like the Beg’s.” This we made him a conditional 
 promise to do, — conditional, that is, on our having 
 a pistol to send and a chance of sending it. At 
 the Pasha’s tent we had given liberal tips to the 
 
288 Bedouin Ti'ibes of the Euph'ates. [ch. xiv. 
 
 servants, as if we had been staying at a house in 
 Bagdad, but here nothing was expected beyond 
 the conventional crown-piece to the coffee-maker 
 and a shilling to the man who held our stirrups. 
 So amid benedictions we departed. 
 
 At first our way lay through the ruins, which I 
 find more extensive westwards than I had imagined 
 yesterday, and we may have been half an hour 
 before getting clear away. Our course to the 
 Khabur we knew should be west-north-west or 
 west by north, and towards the latter point we 
 steered, Daessan, Smeyr’s confidential guide, a 
 little old man nearly blind leading the way. The 
 first thing, however, to be seen to was to put our 
 camp in order, for we are now on a serious, if not 
 a dangerous Journey, and cannot afford to hamper 
 ourselves in anyway, and Wilfrid at once proceeded 
 to weed our party of its useless components. The 
 Kurd, the black man, the boy, and the shepherd 
 still dogged our steps, and showed no sign of an 
 intention to leave us; and leave us we were 
 determined they should. However, on the principle 
 of dividing a bundle of sticks, Wilfrid deemed it 
 best to get rid of them in detail, so, riding up to 
 the four, who were together, he asked them what 
 they wanted and where they proposed going. 
 
 “We are the Pasha’s servants,” they said, “and 
 will travel with you till we get to his camp.” 
 
 “ And this ‘fellah,’ ” (pointing to the Kurd) “is 
 he the Pasha’s servant too ? ” 
 
CH. XIV.] We send away Camp Folloiuers. 289 
 
 “ Oh no,” said the others ; ‘‘he is only a Kurdish 
 tdjer^ a merchant going to sell tobacco.” 
 
 “A Kurd, indeed ! — a merchant ! — a fellah ! I 
 cannot have such people with me. It is a disgrace 
 to the camp. Let him he off ! ” 
 
 This suited the prejudices of the other three, 
 who, according to Bedouin custom, naturally de- 
 spised their fellow-traveller for his city origin, and 
 they made no more ado, but abandoned him to his 
 fate. With as terrible a voice as he could command, 
 Wilfrid bade him begone, and the man, after 
 appealing a little and lingering a little, obeyed. 
 As he went he called on the shepherd to follow 
 him, for I fancy the two had come to an arrange- 
 ment beforehand, and so we got rid of them both. 
 The shepherd, whom Wilfrid had made friends 
 with, and who had been useful to us in naming 
 plants and occasionally lending a hand in loading 
 and unloading the camels, came very civilly to say 
 good-bye, and Wilfrid made him a trifling present, 
 which he evidently did not expect, for he looked 
 up in astonishment at the piece of silver, and then, 
 invoking blessings on us and ours, kissed our feet 
 and ran after the Kurd. We could see them for 
 nearly an hour afterwards travelling, tlie one on 
 his donkey, the other on foot, toAvards the south- 
 Avest. 
 
 ■ The negroes, now left alone, assumed a very 
 humble tone, and for the first time made a show 
 of being of use, and, as the elder is really a servant 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 U 
 
290 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [oh. xiv. 
 
 of Ferlian’s, we have let them follow us for “ one 
 night only,” — being pretty sure that they will 
 leave us when they find out where we are going. 
 The negro slaves give themselves immense airs- 
 among the Bedouins, affecting, what is quite 
 opposed to their character elsewhere, a grave and 
 solemn demeanour. This comes in part from their 
 having always lived in the tents of Sheykhs and 
 great people, and having been generally brought up 
 as companions to the boys of the house, and partly 
 from their being stricter Mussulmans than their 
 masters. They are treated by these on a footing- 
 almost of equality. At any rate, they have 
 considerable influence, and come and go and sit 
 down with the rest just as it suits them, so that, 
 unless we are to quarrel with Ferhan, it will be as 
 well to conciliate his blacks. Still we are travelling 
 in a barren land, Avliere Avater has to be carried 
 as well as food, and extra mouths are a burden. 
 In any other countries but these, parasites of this 
 kind would endeavour to propitiate those they live 
 on by making themselves useful, but here nothing- 
 of the sort can be expected. N’either the black 
 slave nor the Kurd haA*e ever deigned to put their 
 hands to a rope, or so much as minded a camel, 
 Avhile the boy squats in the tent as soon as it is 
 pitched, and laughs impertinently if told to move, 
 and on the march complains loudly if he may not 
 ride one of our camels. Yet this little negro is 
 a mere outcast, loft behind by a caravan some 
 
CII. XIV.] 
 
 Daessait — a Blind Guide. 
 
 291 
 
 montlis ago, and living on charity ever since. He 
 is now on his way, he says, to his friends at Deyr. 
 
 This matter of camp followers settled, onr next 
 anxiety was to come to a clear understanding with 
 Daessan, as it had not yet been formally announced 
 to Ismail that the Pasha’s camp is hut a secondary 
 object in our journey, and that Paris and the 
 Khtibur are really our destination. To manage 
 this it Avas necessary to get Daessan alone, so I Avas 
 deputed to engage Ismail in conA^ersation and linger 
 behind, Avhile Wilfrid rode on and settled matters 
 Avith our guide. It is just as Avell that Ave did 
 this, for it turned out that Ismail had already been 
 at Daessan on the subject of our route, and the old 
 man had been half persuaded to gHe in to him. 
 Put, noAV that he clearly understands AAdiat is ex- 
 pected of him and AA'hat he has to expect of us, I 
 think AA'e may depend upon his loyalty. He seems, 
 hoAveA'er, to be afraid of Ismail, AAdio is a great big 
 bullying sort of a felloAV, and he requires the con- 
 stant support of our presence to keep straight upon 
 his course, instead of folloAving Ismail, aa'Iio is alAAuys 
 edging aAA’ay to the south. It is lucky that Ave are 
 accustomed to desert travelling, or Ave should be cn- 
 tu'cly in their hands ; but, by dint of perseverance 
 and constant attention to the position of the sun, AA^e 
 have managed to make a capital march of it to-day, 
 nearly thirty miles, and all in the right direction. 
 
 Objects of interest there Avere feAV on the road, 
 an old track leading from Mosul to Ana, and 
 
292 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [cn. xiv. 
 
 anotlier from Mosul to a suhhlcha or salt lake called 
 Ashgar, being tlie only interruptions to otu* pathless 
 course across the plain. A caravan, we are informed, 
 travels once a year along the former of these two 
 roads, accompanied by a mixed escort of Shammar 
 and Anazeh to protect it, on toll paid, from ghazus; 
 and the latter is an occasional route for parties sent 
 by Government to get salt. Ashgar is three days’ 
 journey from Mosul, but long days, as from the 
 point where we crossed the track it was seventy 
 miles as the crow flies. About the middle of the 
 day we sighted some camels on the horizon, and 
 there was the usual alarm of a ghazii ; but the 
 caravan, if it was one, went its Avay without ex- 
 changing signals with us, and shortly afterwards 
 we came to the edge of a large brackish lake, on 
 which immense flocks of flamingo (naaj) were feed- 
 ing. This, Daessan informed us, was the Svihbkha 
 Ommuthsiabeh. It is tlu’ee miles long by one 
 broad, the greater length being from north to south, 
 and we skirted its southern shore. It and another 
 lake, still larger, called Ubuara (twelve miles long 
 Daessan said), are fed from small streams issuing 
 from the Sinjar hills, and have, except in the 
 driest seasons, water fit for camels, though not for 
 other animals. Hot far off we came upon a small 
 camp of Haddadfn, where the women gave us milk, 
 their husbands being away. It was the hour of 
 afternoon milking, and the fresh sheep’s milk was 
 very refreshing, for we had had nothing all day. 
 
CH. XIV.] Ismail gives Trouble. 293 
 
 The women were gossiping, good-natured creatiu-es, 
 and very pleased to get an opportunity to talk. 
 
 Still we went on, Ismail becommg very restless, 
 and looking out constantly over his left shoulder, 
 and declaring that we Avere going the Avrong AA'ay, 
 in spite of all our attempts to engage him in 
 conversation ; but fortunately he is mounted on a 
 Avretched kadish and cannot get on ahead of us, 
 so he has to he content AAnth complaining. It Amy 
 nearly, hoAveAnr, came to a crisis, Avhen, from some 
 rising ground, he caught sight of tents far aAAny to 
 the south-Avest, Avhich he declared must he the 
 Pasha’s. “Ya heg, ya heg,” he cried, ‘‘they are 
 there, the Jerha, the tents of Yaif and Perhan.” 
 But Ave Avould not listen, saying there Avere only 
 fourteen tents, for aa’c had counted them, and 
 maintaining that such a camp could not possibly 
 be the Pasha’s. “ At least,” he. pleaded, “ Ave 
 shall have a lamb to eat there and bread and lebben, 
 AA'hile further on there is nothing but chol — 
 nothing but chol ” — giving the doleful accent to 
 the Avord AAdrich toAvnsmen use Avheu talking of the 
 desert. Still Ave paid no attention to his remon- 
 strances and Avent steadily on, the camels doing 
 their Avork braA'cly at the rate of tlnee miles an 
 hour. 
 
 The best AA'ay to manage camels is to keep them 
 going at a steady pace all the morning, for they do 
 not care to cat during the forenoon, and then, Avhcn 
 the sun bcgms to decline, to let them feed as they 
 
294 Bedottin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xir. 
 
 go. This of covirse delays them a little, yet our 
 camels will march feeding at the rate of two and a 
 half miles in the hour. At least tAVO hours before 
 sunset they should be allowed to stop, and turned 
 loose to get all they can before it is dark. If there 
 is a moon they Avill go on grazing half the night, 
 otherAvise they must be collected round the tents 
 during the last minutes of twilight, Avhen they Avill 
 sit quietly cheAving the cud all night. They require 
 no Avater during the AAunter (ours have not touched 
 a drop since they left Bagdad), or as long as they 
 get grass during the spring ; but if fed on beans, as 
 they are in Egypt, they must drink at least eA^ery 
 four days in Avarm Aveather. Here they get no 
 food at any time but Avhat they can pick up. 
 
 To-day we have done much more than a usual 
 march, and it Avas five o’clock before the tents Avere 
 pitched. We had some difficulty in choosing a 
 proper spot for camping, as the latter half of our 
 day’s jomney had been across a barren tract of 
 land ; but, just as we Avere beginning to despair of 
 finding better, Wilfrid espied a tell some Avay off 
 the road, Avhich he thought looked green, and 
 galloped off to it, and sure enough it AA^as coA^ered 
 with bohatteyr, a green plant Avith a blue flower, 
 like nemophila, Avhich horses and camels alike 
 appreciate. Here Ave are noAV, and a delightful 
 spot it is : a single mound in the middle of the 
 plain, rich in this herbage to the top. Half AA^ay 
 up there is a fox’s earth, and beloAV, a colony of 
 
‘CH. XIV.] 
 
 “ Terrors of the Desert!' 
 
 295 
 
 jerboas, which this warm evenmg are sitting at the 
 mouths of their burrows looking at us in astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 March 11. — To-day matters came to a crisis Avith 
 Ismail, and he is gone. The tAvo blacks also liaA'e 
 left us. All last night and this morning Ismail AA’as 
 AAwking the old tales of danger and gliazus, expa- 
 tiating on the terrible nature of the desert north 
 of us, contrasted AAuth the delightfully inhabited 
 regions of the south — want of AA’ater, AA'ant of grass, 
 AA'ant of ‘‘ Arabs,” of all except plundering bands of 
 Anazeh, AA'ho, by his account, perpetually scour these 
 inhospitable regions, robbing and slaying those AAdio 
 venture there. Ali and Hanna and the tAAm Agheyl 
 AA^erc much impressed by these sad stories, and CA^en 
 Daessan occasionally chimed in, “He did not knoAV 
 the road ; he did not knoAv AAdiom aa’o might meet ; 
 he did not knoAV Avhere AA^e should find Faris. Per- 
 haps it AA'ould be better first to go to Ferhan, or at 
 least to Half, Avho AA'Ould send people Avith us. It 
 AA"as not all quite right betAveen Ferhan and his 
 brother ; the Khiibur AA^as clean out of our road to 
 Deyr,” &c., &c. The AA'eight of public opinion in 
 the caravan AA'as against us ; and all aa'C could say 
 in support of our aucaa^s AA^as, that the camels AAxre 
 ours, and that those Avho liked might IcaA'c us. Of 
 this, of course, there Avas no question among our 
 OAATi people, and Ismail AA^as evidently loath to part 
 Avith us, not, I fear, from affection, but from love 
 of the backshish he had so nearly earned. 
 
296 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiph^'ates. [ch. xiv. 
 
 We had no sooner started than it became evident 
 that Daessan had been got at ” dru’ing the night, 
 for he no longer kept his course fairly, but suffered 
 Ismail to lead him astray whenever our attention 
 Avas directed elseAvhere. Excuses Avere easy to give 
 for this : “ There was a siibhklra in our Avay AAdiich 
 Av'ould haA'e to he turned by a eircnit to the south- 
 west ; AA'e had come too far to the north yesterday ; 
 he must go a little to the left to get his hearings.” 
 The contest hetAveen Wilfrid and Ismail soon al- 
 most became a physical one for the possession of the 
 little man, one riding on one side and the other 
 on the other, and each trying to edge him off to 
 right or left, like the spirits of good and evil tempt- 
 ing a human soul. At last the crisis came. Ismail 
 having stopped behind for a foAV minutes to say his 
 prayers, Wilfrid profited by this to get a good point 
 northAvards, so that Avdien Ismail succeeded in over- 
 taking them he AA^as so much out of temper that he 
 declared he Avould go no further. The black man 
 and the hoy Avere already gone and out of sight, 
 having made aAvay nearly due south ; so a halt Avas 
 called, and Ave all sat cIoaath on the ground to discuss 
 matters. The strong point of our case Avas, that 
 physically AA^e could do as Ave liked, and Avere free 
 to turn the camels’ heads to any point of the com- 
 pass Ave chose ; the AA^eak one, that Ave could hardly 
 go Avithout introduction of any kind to Earis, and 
 it AA^as necessary that one or other of the Shammar 
 should remain Avith us. Ismail’s strong point AA'as 
 
CH. XIV.] Under which King ? Bezonian ! 
 
 297 
 
 the desire ^xe had ahyays expressed of paying Fer- 
 han a visit, and the shame (a'ib) it Avonld be to pass 
 so near his tent without stoj)ping. The conversa- 
 tion, then, was something of tliis sort. Ismail: 
 “Yon do not wish then to see the Sheykh ? Fer- 
 han Avill not be pleased.” Wilfrid: “We wish to 
 see him, but where is he ? ” Ismail : “ Out there 
 with Yaif,” pointing semicircnlarly round half the 
 sonthern horizon. Wilfrid: “And Faris, Avhere is 
 he?” “Away on the Khabnr, close to Deyr,” 
 j)ointing in almost the same direction. Wilfrid: 
 Nonsense, that is the road to Anah. I have an en- 
 gagement to meet a friend at Deyr in five days, 
 and I want to see Faris.” Ismail : “ Five days ! it 
 is quite close. The Pasha will send you there to- 
 morrow.” “ But Avhere is the Pasha ? ” “ You 
 
 see that hill on the horizon : come with me there, 
 and I will show you his house.” “Let us go ; but 
 mind, if I don’t see it, good-bye.” 
 
 There Avas not mnch danger in making this 
 promise, and although the hill (or rather the little 
 indentation on the horizon) Avas some five miles out 
 of our AA'ay, Ave thought it prudent to go so far 
 Avith Ismail, that avo might not seem uiiAvilling to 
 see his master, Avhom avc liaA^e no Avish to ofiend 
 (and passing close to a great man’s camp Avdthont 
 stopping is a serious matter), so avo altered our 
 course, and noAV held on nearly straight to tlici 
 south. Ismail seeing he had gained his point had 
 become good-humoured, and avc, Avishing to part 
 
298 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xiv. 
 
 friends with him, explained the difficulties of our 
 position as to Faris and his master, both of whom 
 we had not time to visit. If the whole truth must 
 be known, one of onr principal objections to 
 meeting the great man was, that we had only one 
 gold embroidered cloak left, the one destined for 
 Ferhan having been given to Snieyr, and we did 
 not like to appear empty-handed at his tent. 
 Daessan followed in silence, for he is not much 
 addicted to words, and Ali and the rest of our 
 followers were of course in high delight. “ In 
 another moment we shall see the tents,” exclaimed 
 the enthusiastic Hanna, “ a lamb will be killed, 
 perhaps a young camel, and we shall at any rate 
 sleep among the Arabs to-night ! ” “ Inshallah ” 
 
 they all chorused, and so we rode on. 
 
 The little hill, on nearer approach, turned out 
 to be nothing but a mound transfigured by the 
 muage, and made to look great only from the 
 surrounding level of the plain. Beyond it, how- 
 ever, the ground sloped away rapidly ; and, in 
 truth, it commanded a very considerable view. 
 Here we halted, straining onr ej^es in every duec- 
 tion for the vision of black dots which should 
 represent an Arab encampment, but nothing was 
 visible for miles and miles. Ismail, however, was 
 not so easily abashed. On the far horizon, perhaps 
 fifteen miles away, rose a flat-topped hill easily 
 recognisable, and very likely really recognised by 
 him. To this he pointed triumphantly : “ There,” 
 
CII. XIV.] 
 
 Ismail Deserts. 
 
 299 
 
 he said, “ is the house of Xaif, and there the Pasha 
 ahides.”^ — “A day’s journey,” we replied; you 
 will get there to-morrow, but ^ve must go on our 
 way.” — “ At least,” he pleaded, ‘‘go a little way 
 towards it, as far as the tent you see down there.” 
 We kneAV there was no tent, but the object he 
 pointed to was not far off, and we agreed to satisfy 
 him, so, bidding the caravan wait, we galloped 
 dovTi the sloping plain. The object, on nearer 
 inspection, proved to be a pile of bushes marking 
 the spot where a tent had been, but long ago. 
 
 Just as we made this out, a string of camels hove 
 in sight a mile or two away. Ismail seemed 
 alarmed, declaring there were horsemen with them, 
 but Ave could see Avell enough this was not the case, 
 and galloped on towards them, Avishing to set the 
 matter at rest as to the Avhereabouts of the Sham- 
 mar, for the party seemed to be travelling from 
 the south. We Avere determined, too, to get our 
 information unadulterated by Ismail’s colouring, 
 and so let our mares out, and left him on his old 
 kadish Avell in the rear. As Ave rushed Aip to them 
 at full gallop, Avith guns in our hands, it is not 
 strange that the people Avith the camels should 
 liaA'C becji a little alarmed. They halted and 
 formed square, as I may say, to receive our charge. 
 They Avere ten men on dromedaries, armed Avith 
 lances, but they had no fire-arms Avith them. We 
 pulled up a fcAV yards in front of them, and asked 
 them Avhence they Avcrc and Avhithcr going ; to 
 
300 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xiv. 
 
 wliicli tliey replied that they came from Ferhan, 
 and were on their way to Tell Afar, a town of the 
 Sinjar, to hny corn. The camels Avere not laden. 
 They informed ns that hlaif’s camp Ayas, in truth, a 
 little Avay beyond the flat-topped hill, the name of 
 Ayhich Ayas El Melifeh, hut that Ferhan had left 
 it, and Ayas Ayith his son Mijiiel, a day’s journey 
 further still. Ismail came up just as they told ns 
 this, and saAy that the game aa" as up ; so, AAdren the 
 men had ridden aAyay AAnth their camels, he came 
 to ns and said, Ayith a rather ghastly smile, that he 
 must Ayish us good-hye here. He had to he at 
 Half’s tent before night, and, if Aye Ayould not come 
 Ayith him, AA'hy he must leaAm us to oru* fate. He 
 couldn’t go AAnth us further north. He and Faris’s 
 people Ayere not friends. "We replied, “ So he it,” 
 gaA"e him a polite message to his master, and, to 
 his great joy and surprise, a present for himself. 
 We had gained our point, and could aflord to he 
 generous. So he Ayished us good-hye and yarious 
 blessings hetAyeen his teeth. Then, putting his 
 kadish into a feeble canter, he departed. 
 
 Circumstances had faAmiu'ed us, for Daessan Ayas 
 behind and the rest of our carayan out of sight, so 
 that no discussion AAnth any of our people had been 
 possible, and AAdien aa'O returned Aye had only to 
 announce Ismail’s dejiarture as a fait accompli. 
 Daessan, flnding himself relieA^ed from the burden 
 of Ismail’s presence, noAy made no objection to 
 giying us the true direction, and the camels’ heads 
 
CH. XIV.] 
 
 Alone ill the Choi. 
 
 301 
 
 were turned north-west, while our followers, after 
 a few exj)ressions of disappointment, lapsed into 
 silence. "We travelled on thus for two hours, re- 
 gaining most of our lost ground. "Wilfrid was 
 then fortunate enough to discover a pool of rain 
 water, the first fresh water we had met with since 
 leaving El Haddr, and there we filled our goat 
 skins. We should have liked to encamp beside the 
 precious element, but Daessan, saying that seriously 
 there Avas danger in the country Ave Avere entering, 
 begged us to go a little further on. We are noAv 
 encamped in a wady, far away from all liAung 
 creatures, and nicely hidden from the surrounding 
 plain. Ali, Hanna and the rest are A’ery serious 
 and quiet this eA'ening, and AA^e hope to haA^e an 
 undisturbed night, having had troubles enough 
 during the day. 
 
 We are noAV in the heart of Mesopotamia (just 
 at the top of the second 0 in our map). The tents 
 have not yet been pitched, for fear of distant eyes 
 — for this is neutral ground, betAveen Eerhan’s 
 people and Earis’s, AAdiere nobody comes for any 
 good. 
 
 March 12. — Ali, Avdio had hitherto supported us 
 loyally in all our plans, came last night to our tent, 
 and sitting doAAm, explained that he considered it his 
 duty to warn us against persisting in our journey 
 any fiuther in the direction avc aa'ci’c taking. He 
 Avas convinced that Ave Avere going into an unin- 
 habited region, from Avhich avc should find no exit, 
 
302 Bedoum Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xiv. 
 
 and quite in an opposite direction to that \yliich we 
 intended. He remarked, as was perfectly true, that 
 Daessan was blind, and could not he exjDected to 
 make a very efficient guide, and that we had only a 
 couple of goat skins with us, and seven people to 
 supply with water, to say nothing of the four horses 
 and the donkey. We had great difficulty in pacify- 
 ing him, for, in trnth, we were a little anxious 
 ourselves ; hut we got out the map and showed him 
 our position on it and that of the Khd,hur, Avhich 
 could not now he more than eighty miles off, as, in 
 spite of our loss of ground yesterday, we have been 
 making long marches. He was not convinced, hut 
 did not insist with his objections, and I am sure we 
 can depend upon him. 
 
 Daessan, too, Avas rather gloomy this morning, for 
 the tAvisting and turning about yesterday had put 
 him out of his reckoning, and he is so blind that he 
 had not been able to see the Tell Melffeh, and had 
 lost his hearings. He Avas nerAmus too about enemies, 
 and constantly begged us to keep a good look-out 
 for khayal. HoAVCAmr, Ave saw nothing hut some 
 bustards and a fox. Wilfrid and I rode in front 
 giving the direction, and he folloAved a little behind, 
 so that the camel division might not lose sight of 
 us. The country noAV Avas no longer flat, hut rose 
 rapidly before us, and after an hour or tAvo Ave came 
 to a high position, from Avhich, to our great delight, 
 Ave could see hills to the north, Avhich Ave kncAV must 
 he Jehel Sinjar; Avhile heloAV us, to our left, an 
 
CH. XIV. We wade across a Lake. 305 
 
 immense lake appeared witli some high cliffs keyond 
 it. Here we dismoimted and waited for tlie rest to 
 come np. Daessaii, tliougli ke could not see these 
 things, recognised onr description of them, confirmed 
 ns in our recognition of the Jehel Sinjar, and gave 
 the lake a name, Sneyseleh. He told ns we should 
 have to go some way further in order to get round 
 the head of it, and asked us anxiously if we covdd 
 see no tents. 
 
 After a careful examination of the ground beyond 
 the lake, Wilfrid, who is long-sighted, made out 
 some black specks on a sort of plateau, with some 
 lighter specks around them, which by careful 
 watching Avere seen to moA^e, and he pronounced 
 them to be tents and camels. The encampment 
 appeared to be about six miles off, and Ave agreed 
 at once to go toAvards it. It lay to the Avest. 
 First, hoAvever, there Avas the subbkha to be circum- 
 vented, and Ave Averc obliged to alter our course 
 northAvards and skirt its shore, looking for a j^lace 
 where Ave could cross, for the upper part of the lake 
 was evidently quite shallow, though about three 
 miles in width. At last Ave came to the track of a 
 camel leading across the Avet mud, Avhich avo could 
 trace for a long distance till it disappeared in the 
 mirage, and Wilfrid, impatient to go straight to the 
 tents, determined to folloAV it, Avhilo Daessan and the 
 rest of the party should go round the head of the 
 lake. I foolishly went Avith him, and doubting the 
 soundness of the bottom did so on foot, but I had 
 
304 
 
 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xiv. 
 
 not got more than a few hundred yards before I was 
 quite exhausted, and my boots and skirt were so 
 clogged with mud that I was unable to get any 
 further. I confess that I was rather frightened, 
 for already there was such a dense mirage that we 
 could not see anything round us but the uniform 
 expanse of mud, and we had left the camel track, 
 which meandered about, and I thought we were 
 going to end our days in this miserable place. But 
 'Wilfrid would not timn back, and at last I managed 
 to scramble on to my mare, and then found matters 
 less hopeless, for the mud was not really much over 
 her fetlocks, and did not get any worse. Also from 
 the higher position I could see better, and make out 
 the form of the opposite hills wavering through the 
 mirage. So we struggled on for an hour and a half, 
 and at last landed safely on the other side. 
 
 As we got to higher ground, we looked back 
 across the siibbkha for the camels, but they were 
 nowhere visible, being far away, rounding the head 
 of the lake ; but about half a mile in front we saw 
 a man standing, and rode up to him. He had been 
 watching, no doubt, for a long time, and asked us why 
 we had come across the lake instead of going round. 
 He told us, too, after the usual evasive answers 
 Bedouins always begin with, that the tents of his 
 people were those that we had seen from the other 
 side, and expressed surprise that we had been able to 
 count them from so great a distance. As soon as he 
 heard that we were not marauders, but travellers 
 
CH. XIV.] 
 
 News of Paris. 
 
 305 
 
 on onr way to Faris, lie became very amiable, and 
 we all three sat down, while our mares grazed, 
 waiting for the camels to appear. This they soon 
 afterwards did, to onr no small relief. The man 
 told us he was a Gaet (one of the Shammar 
 tribes), and that his Sheykh, Beddr, was five or 
 six hours further on ; that Beddr was a friend of 
 Faris, and that Faris himself was at a place called 
 Sheddadi, on the Khabur, only a day’s journey be- 
 yond Beddr’s camp. This was indeed good news ; 
 and great was the rejoicing in our party when they 
 at last came up and heard it. 
 
 The man, who was a good-humoured honest 
 fellow, now put us on our road, pointing to a 
 line of hills, from which he declared we should 
 see Beddr’s camp. The ground rose rapidly from 
 the lake, and we travelled up an irregular incline 
 for another two hours, passing a nice pool of rain- 
 water covered with ducks, where we watered our 
 mares. The whole ascent above the subbkha must 
 be two hundred and fifty or three hundred feet ; 
 and the line of hills, as generally happens, turned 
 out to be the edge of an upper table-land, from 
 which a really magnificent view southward is ob- 
 tained, with the subbkha like a sheet of gold in the 
 middle of the lower plain. Beyond we could still 
 see the Melifeh hill, with its fiat top, a very promi- 
 nent landmark. Northwards and westwards the 
 upper plain also sloped away, an even expanse of 
 down, and about twenty miles off ran the line of 
 
 VOL. l. 
 
 X 
 
306 Bedouin Tribes of the E^lphrates. [ch. xiv. 
 
 tlie Sinjar hills, and of Jehel Abdnl Aziz, which is 
 a continuation of them westwards. We looked in 
 vain, however, for any tents. For ourselves we 
 should have been quite content to stop where we 
 were, having water with us and grass, hut Daessan 
 and the others were in a feverish state of anxiety to 
 get on and sleep at a camp to-night, and again the 
 talk turned on ghaziis and other “moving accidents,” 
 so that we consented to continue, though it was 
 growing late. We made for a little tell about two 
 miles oh, and from it we at last saw tents, but far 
 away to the north. There the camels waited with 
 me while Wilfrid galloped on to a yet further tell, 
 from which he was to signal us by moving to the 
 right or left, or standing still or coming back 
 toAvards us. He stood still, and we knew by that 
 that he had seen something and that Ave were to 
 come on. A camp had been discovered, and not 
 more than two miles oh. 
 
 We are noAV enjoying the hospitality (if enjoy- 
 ment it can be called) of one Sayah, Sheykh of 
 a fraction of the Sabit Shammar, a silly old man, 
 Avith an enormous family of rather ill-bred children, 
 who bores ns to extinction. However, he has 
 killed a lamb for us and brought dates and butter, 
 and promises to take ns to Sheddddi no later than 
 to-morrow, and our dangers and difficulties at last 
 are over. Yet I regret the calm of the desert in 
 this noisy dog-ridden camp. 
 
 March 13 . — Sayah’s hospitality was after all not 
 
€H. XIY.] 
 
 A Silly Old Man. 
 
 307 
 
 of tlie purest kind, for it turns out tliat lie made 
 Hanna give him a mejidie for the lamb last night, 
 and then ate up nearly all of it himself. Our own 
 share consisted of the liver, the heart, and the 
 great fat tail, none of which we could eat. More- 
 over, liis wife borrowed our cooking-pots for the 
 feast, and troubled us with her company after it. 
 Hut these are things one has to put up with 
 without remark. 
 
 In the night there was a hard frost, and some 
 water I poured into a tin cup at six o’clock this 
 morning had ice on it at seven, a difference of 
 climate since yesterday which may in part he 
 accounted for by the extra three hundred feet we 
 have climbed. We left Wady Adig, for such is 
 the name of the little valley where we found the 
 Sabit camp, at half-past seven, and expected to 
 reach Faris’s tents this evening ; hut Sayah, who 
 volunteered to he our guide, has led us such a 
 roundabout dance all the morning that now, after 
 nine hours and a half of hard marching, we have 
 been obliged to stop. 
 
 Of all weariful old geese I think I never met 
 Sayah’s equal. When we asked him the direction 
 at starting, he answered in the tone of one putting 
 off the foolish questions of a child, “Never mind 
 (my dears) ; if you have a little patience, you will 
 soon see, I, Sayah, you understand, /” (pointing 
 to his chest) “will show you the road, and, please 
 God, we shall he with Faris before noon,” So off 
 
 X 2 
 
3o8 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xiv„ 
 
 lie started due north, and then half an hour after- 
 wards took a turn due west, and then north-west, 
 and then stopped a little to consult with Daessan, 
 and then appealed to us (for he too is short-sighted) 
 to say whether we could see no tents. 
 
 “ Whose tents ? ” we asked. 
 
 “ Oh, any tents would do. Our object was to- 
 go to Faris; and we must find out where Paris 
 was.” 
 
 The sun had begun to warm the ground, and 
 there was a strong mirage, so that for a long time 
 we could see nothing further than a few hundred 
 yards any way, and we began to suggest that a 
 straight line might be the shortest way of arriving 
 somewhere, if not at Sheddadi. But Sayah explained 
 sententiously that we were now travelling “ in the 
 desert, which was not at all the same thing as- 
 travelling in a town, and that Ave could not be 
 expected to know the way about as he did. He 
 Avas a Bedouin, and Avas used to the desert from 
 youth upwards. We should soon find some tents, 
 please God, where Ave should learn the road.” We 
 Avandered on in zigzags all the morning, and at 
 last, coming to some higher ground, where there 
 were graves, discovered a large encampment of 
 forty or fifty tents, far away to our right under 
 the Sinjar hills. This range is A^ery beautiful, 
 and not further ofi noAV than twelve or fifteen 
 miles, so that we can see or fancy Ave see patches 
 of green trees and gardens at the foot of the slopes.. 
 
■CH. XIV.] The Blind Leads the Blind. 309 
 
 Sayali tells us there are fifteen villages in different 
 parts of the range, inhabited by a Kurdish race 
 called Zedfehs,* worshippers of Satan, who cul- 
 tivate gardens of figs, grapes, and pomegranates, 
 and wear black turbans on their heads. 
 
 Sayah wanted of course to go to these tents, hut 
 we knew they must he far out of our way, if Faris 
 was on the Khabur, and insisted on waiting till 
 something more nearly in our proper direction 
 should be sighted. Presently we came across a 
 large j)arty of Bedouins in marching order, moving 
 camp. It was a pretty sight. First of all came a 
 dozen horsemen with lances; then in a straggling 
 line some sixty baggage camels, some carrying 
 tents and pots and pans, others great Imvdalis full 
 of women and children ; then hoys and young men 
 on foot driving donkeys and surrounded by camp 
 dogs, with here and there a greyhound ; and lastly 
 herds of milch camels and flocks of sheep. They 
 Avere marching from north-east to south-Avest, and 
 so crossed our line at right angles. They informed 
 us that Faris had left Sheddadi and Avas gone do Am 
 the Khtihur. The tents Ave had seen to the north 
 Averc Beddr’s. They said there Avcrc some Ta’if 
 nearly Avcst of us, and to them Ave rcsolA'cd to go 
 Daessan informing us that Faris’s mother Avas from 
 those people, and that their Shejddi’s name is Ahd 
 cr Bahman, and that they number a thousand tents- 
 
 * Yczidis ; described by La5’ard and others, 
 t A “ noble ” tribe tributary to the Shammar, 
 
310 Bedouin Tribes of the Eitphrates. [ch. xir. 
 
 At lialf-past tAvelve we crossed a track said to go 
 from Nisibin to Melkh Ubriara, wliere tke salt is,, 
 Nisibin being three days’ journey from here. 
 
 Soon after one o’clock Wilfrid andSayah galloped 
 on to get information at the Tax tents, which we 
 perceived a long way off. Sayah is well mounted 
 on a Seglawid Arjebi, a poAverful bay Avith a good 
 head, but I and my mare Avere tired and Ave lagged 
 behind sadly. When they got AAuthin three miles 
 of the Tai camp, Wilfrid stopped for me and sent on 
 Sayah alone for information, but, considering on 
 reflection that the old man if left to his OAvn de- 
 vices would be unlikely to appear again to-day, he 
 galloped on again after giving me instructions Avhat 
 to do Avith the camels AA^hen they should come up. 
 It was beantifnl to see Hagar, after all these days of 
 hard travelling, doing these three miles at almost 
 racing speed, for in her anxiety to rejoin Sayah’s 
 mare she Avent off like an arroAV. The ground 
 sloped gradually down toAvards the Tai camp, and I 
 could watch her progress all the Avay. After I had 
 Avaited alone for nearly an hour the camels came 
 up, and Ave Avent on to a little hill in our line, which 
 Ave had agreed should be our rendezvous. He 
 joined us there soon aftei'Avards, and said that he 
 had had great difficulty in getting away from the 
 hospitality of the Sheykh Hamid, a venerable old 
 man Avho appeared to be very rich. His tent Avas 
 the largest and best furnished Wilfrid had yet seen, 
 not excepting Ferhan’s at Sherghat. The ucavs- 
 
CII. XIV.] 
 
 Paris at Last. 
 
 3 ” 
 
 learnt there was that Faris, Avho is this Hamid’s 
 nephew, moved dovm the Khabur in the direction 
 of Deyr this very morning and is not far off — 
 but we have lost so nincli ground to-day, that we 
 have stopped at the first good camping place we 
 could find after leaving the Tai, It is to my mind 
 a perfect camp, a holloAV in a rather high down 
 commanding a splendid vicAV of the Sinjar hills. 
 We have been cutting bundles of green stufi for 
 oiu’ mares to eat at night, for the corn has been 
 finished some days. It is a beautiful evening, the 
 moon just entering her second quarter, so that the 
 camels will be able to feed half the night, — an 
 evening Avhich Avell repays the hours of weariness 
 during the day, and even the miseries of last night’s 
 camp among the Sabit dogs and the Sabit w'omen 
 who so pestered us by peeping into oim tent. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ‘“Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with 
 me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son : hut, according to the kindness that I 
 have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast 
 sojourned.’ 
 
 “ And Abraham said ‘ I will swear.’ ” — Genesis. 
 
 A gentleman of the desert and his mother, the Hatoun Amsheh 
 — Well-behaved boys — Tellal — Faris goes out shooting — He 
 swims the river — Swearing brotherhood — Rashid ibn Ali and 
 the Sheykh of Samuga — The Yezidis — A raft on the Khdbur — 
 Camels swimming — Farewell to Fails — A gallop in to Deyr. 
 
 March 14. — We are with Faris. I -write it with 
 some pride, when I think how many impossi- 
 bilities ” once stood in our way, and how doubtful 
 success seemed even so lately as three days ago — 
 yet in point of fact there has been neither difficulty 
 nor danger to encounter. Only a little obstinacy 
 was wanted ; and here we are. 
 
 At early dawn on the day of onr arrival we sent 
 out Sayah, like the raven from the ark, to see what 
 tidings he could bring of the Shammar chief’s camp. 
 He came back sooner than w'e expected, in less than 
 three hours, and announced success from a distance 
 at the top of his voice as he approached us. ‘‘ Faris 
 was close at hand ; he had seen him ; he had spoken 
 to him.” “ Shil, shil ” (load up, load up) ] “ we 
 
TELLAL «TAllTd ON xV GHAZU. 
 
cH. XV.] Shammar Mares and Camels. 313 
 
 shall be there in an hour.” Such was the joyful 
 news ; and though, like most Bedouin statements, 
 this one hardly bore out its first promise, for Sayah 
 had not really either seen or spoken to the Sheykh, 
 having only met a shepherd belonging to his 
 establishment, yet it was little past noon when we 
 rode into the camp we had looked for so long. The 
 first tent indeed would have been visible from the 
 top of the down, not half an hour’s ride from where 
 we stopped, if we had gone to look for it last night. 
 
 The tents of Faris’s people are scattered down a 
 long meandering wady perhaps a mile in length, and 
 at noon, the time of our arrival, had not a very 
 animated appearance. The sheep and most of the 
 camels were away at pasture, and only the mares 
 remained near the tents. The wady Avas Avhite as 
 snoAV Avith camomile in full floAver, the faAmiirite 
 food of camels, and on this account no doubt the 
 spot had been chosen. The mares Ave passed Avere 
 not particularly attractive — raAV-boned, half-stai’A^ed 
 creatures Avith their Avinter coats still on them. 
 But the Shammar have, I fancy, hut few fine horses 
 in spite of Sayah’s tales of Paris’s stud, “ each beast 
 Avorth a thousand pounds.” More attractive Avere 
 the neAV-born camels Avhich every here and there 
 peeped out of the herbage, creatures all legs and 
 neck, Avhich Avhen squatting close may Avell be taken 
 for gigantic birds, so little heads they liaA'c and 
 such immense eyes. 
 
 At a bend of the AA'ady Ave came suddenly on a 
 
314 Bedouin Tribes of tJie Etfhrates. [ch. xv. 
 
 great tent, "vritli seven peaks, wkich we knew by its 
 size must be the Shejich’s. It was standing with 
 a dozen others just where the valley broadened out 
 into the plain, and as we rode np to it unannounced, 
 we began for the first time to feel a little anxious 
 about the reception Ave might meet with at the 
 hands of the man ^ye had come so far to see. But 
 we need not have doubted. As soon as Ave Avere 
 perceiA’ed, servants came out to meet ns and hold 
 our horses, AA’hile all those present in the tent 
 stood up and answered our salutation in a friendly 
 Amice. Faris himself, a young man of most attrac- 
 thm countenance, appeared fi oin the inner tent and 
 greeted ns AAuth a smile that had so much honesty 
 in it and good Avill that aa'o felt at once that we 
 were safe in his hands. He bade ns sit cIoato, and 
 made us comfortable AA'ith rugs and cusliions, and 
 sat himself beside ns and listened to onr compli- 
 ments and retiu’ned them gracefully and AA'ith the 
 ease of perfect good-breedmg. He inquired most 
 amiably about onr adA'cntimes since we left Deyr, 
 for he had heard of onr arrival there and CAmn of 
 oiu’ attempt to pay him a A'isit last month. He 
 said he had been long expeetmg us, and now we 
 must stay with him : his tent was our tent, his 
 people our people, and, though these and other 
 plu’ases are more or less couA’cntional in the East, 
 he put a tone of so much sincerity into the Avords 
 that they really touched us. His manner is quite 
 different to that of any one we haAm hitherto met 
 
OH. XV.] A Gentleman of the Desert. 
 
 315 
 
 in the desert, for it is franlc and cordial, as if its 
 owner was sure enough of Iris own position to be 
 able to do without the stiffness and false dignity 
 most of the Bedouins affect when they are Avith 
 strangers. Indeed a better bred man it Avonld be 
 difficult to find. Such are our first impressions, 
 and I write them doAvn Avhile they are fresh. I 
 think Ave haA^e at last found that thing aa'c haA^e 
 been looking for, but hardly hoped to get a sight 
 of, a gentleman of the desert. 
 
 But I am tired and must put off further descrip- 
 tion till to-morrow, for avo are to stay here iioaa' 
 some days. 
 
 ^ ^ % 
 
 March 16. — (I must condense Avhat I have 
 Avritten during the last two clays ; for my journal 
 has become a mere mass of notes, for the most part 
 taken from conA'^ersations we have had Avith various 
 interesting people here, and requires re-Avriting.) 
 
 By far the most important personage in Paris’s 
 camp, the young Sheykh himself not excepted, is 
 his mother, the Hatoun Amsheh*, better known in 
 the tribe as the “ Mother of Abd-ul-Kerim.” I 
 think it pretty and touching that they should retain 
 this title for her instead of calling her the IMother 
 of Paris, the rising sun among them, and that they 
 should thus do honour to the dead brother instead 
 of to him. But the fact is, Abd-ul-Kcrim Avas a 
 
 * Compare Lay aid’s account of licr as a young woman in 
 1843. 
 
3 1 6 Bedouin Bribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xv. 
 
 liero whose name will linger for many generations 
 yet among the Shammar, as that of their greatest 
 man. During his lifetime the tribe was rich and 
 powerful, and enjoyed a prestige in the desert such 
 as it is hardly likely ever to have again ; for the 
 unity of the Shammar is broken, and, divided, they 
 never can contend on equal terms with their great 
 enemies the Anazeh. That he was a real hero of 
 romance it is not difficult to see ; for his memory 
 pervades the whole life of the family and tribe ho 
 has left behind him, and is the motive of three 
 parts of the loyalty with which the present Sheykh 
 is honoured. The mother of Abd-ul-Kerim is a 
 sort of holy personage, and object of veneration, 
 with all the tribes of Northern Mesopotamia. She 
 was, as I have already mentioned, a Tai by birth, 
 and sister of the Sheykh Hamid, whom Wilfrid 
 made acquaintance with the day before our arrival ; 
 and she must have been formerly very beautiful. 
 The Tai have the reputation of being the hand- 
 somest women in the desert. She is now old and 
 fat (fat, alas ! is the tomb of beauty) ; but in spite 
 of infirmities she is a most dignified personage, and 
 her will is law in all the camp. To-day Faris, like 
 the spoilt boy that he sometimes is, amused himself 
 with firing off Wilfrid’s rifle close to the tent, and 
 at last took aim at some goats belonging to a 
 neighbour. The old lady very properly thought 
 this undignified behaviour in the Sheykh, and sent 
 to tell him so, and he put down the rifle at once 
 
CH. XV.] The Mother of Abd-zil-Kerini. 
 
 317 
 
 without a word. In Paris’s tent she reigns supreme, 
 allowing no other woman to share her power over 
 him. Even his present wife, a slave from the Tai, 
 lives in another tent. His first wife was a woman 
 of good birth, but she is dead; and there is one 
 son by her, a pretty boy of nine, named Salfij, who 
 is brought up by the Hatoun, along with Abd-ul- 
 Kerim’s son, Mohammed, and his daughter, Menifeh, 
 ten and thirteen years old, and a charming boy of 
 twelve, Tellal, the son of another brother, Abd-ur- 
 Eajak, also dead."'’ Both these boys are made more 
 account of in the tent than Paris’s own sons, 
 because they are orphans. They are all exceed- 
 ingly well brought up, and have charming manners, 
 besides being as straightforward, courageous boys 
 as you could possibly find in any part of the world. 
 
 I never saw a prettier sight than Tellal on his 
 chestnut mare, the day after our arrival, armed 
 with a lance three times his own length, doing the 
 fantasia with his uncle and a score of devoted re- 
 tainers, who, while they admired the boy’s courage, 
 seemed terribly afraid he should get hurt ; and all 
 the time the boy himself thought nothing, I am 
 sure, of danger, either to himself or to anyone else, 
 in the sport of pursuing and of being pursued, with 
 the steel point of a lance within six inches of his 
 back. He would gallop up to his uncle, as he was 
 riding beside us (for we were all marching in line, 
 
 * lie was shot by the Turks at the same time that his brother, 
 Abd-ul' Kerim, was captured. 
 
3 i 8 Bedotun Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xv. 
 
 moving camp) and cliallenge liim, according to 
 Bedouin practice, by pretending to attack ns, and 
 then shoot away like an arrow, with Faris, who is 
 a magnificent horseman, thundering close behind, 
 and making his lance quiver over his head, and 
 then twist and turn and double till he managed, 
 thanks to his feather Aveight, to escape. He often 
 comes to our tent to look at the guns, and knives, 
 and strange European knick-knacks Ave haA^e Avith 
 us, and talks as sensibly as an English schoolboy 
 about his amusements and what he is going to do 
 when he groAvs up, and in just the same frank, 
 outspoken Avay. He Avas looking to-day at Wilfrid’s 
 dress-sword, a merely ornamental piece of goods, 
 given him by Mr. S. to wear on state occasions, 
 and Avhich Tellal Avas at first inclined to admire 
 from its being covered with gilding and having a 
 handsome belt ; but, having draAvn it, and very 
 cautiously felt its edge, and found it as blunt as 
 SAvord could be, his face put on an expression of 
 unutterable disgust, and he threAV it down , — “ It 
 isn’t fit for the Beg to wear,” he said ; “ feel 
 mine ; ” and he showed us an old blade as sharp 
 as a razor in a very shabby sheath, which had 
 belonged to his father. Wilfrid has taken a great 
 fancy to him. 
 
 Mohammed, too, is a nice boy, but shy, which 
 Tellal is not, and, being some years younger, only 
 rides a pony ; while Salfij is still in the nursery. 
 All three boys are, of course, the delight of every 
 
CH. XV.] 
 
 A Well-behaved Family. 
 
 319 
 
 Arab in the camp ; for the men here are good- 
 natured to children, and these are the children of 
 their Sheykhs. 
 
 Among the Shammar there is a strong feeling 
 of loyalty towards what may be called the royal 
 family. It was Faris’s ancestor, Faris, who led the 
 Shammar from Nejd at the time of the Conquest, 
 two hundred years ago, and no pretender from any 
 other family has dared to claim the position of 
 Sheykh, to the prejudice of his descendants, since.'"'’ 
 These children, therefore, have a double title to the 
 people’s regard, as sons of their heroes, and as sole 
 
 * The following is Faris’s genealogj^ which he gave ns to-day, 
 correcting it now and then by an appeal to the elder men about 
 him : 
 
 FARIS, who came from Nejd. 
 Zadd 
 
 I 
 
 Mejeren 
 
 Hham^idi 
 
 1 
 
 Faris 
 
 Sfuk Mohammed el Faris 
 
 I i , , 
 
 Naif Mesoul el Faris 
 
 I f" ^ ;i, 
 
 Ferhdia Abd-ul-Kerim Ahd-er-Rajak Fans 
 
 I ) 
 
 I 1 , Salfij 
 
 Ali Tellctl 
 
 Ahd-ul-Mehsen Sfuk Mohammed 
 
 Eyssa Mijuel Jarrulla Muttlakh AV»d-iil- Abd-nl- Shellal Beudr 
 
 Mekhsia Aziz Hamid 
 
320 Bedottin Tribes of the E^lphrates. [ch. xv. 
 
 representatives, witli tlie present Sheykli, of tlie 
 family of their chiefs. That Abd-ul-Kerim, the 
 scion of such a family, and their Sheykli and their 
 hero, should have been seized by the Turks and 
 hanged as a common robber on the bridge of M6sul, 
 makes every Shammar’s blood boil. Ferhan is not 
 reckoned as legitimate by the independent Shammar, 
 and is despised even by his own followers in the 
 south, because he is the son of a Bagdad woman, 
 “not a Bedouin at all — a mere fellah, a rayah.” 
 Faris’s accent of disgust, while using these words 
 of his half-brother, is very amusing. And Ferhan’s 
 sons are worse, tainted over and above with Kurdish 
 blood — “ real Kadishes.” 
 
 Faris himself has justified all our first impres- 
 sions in his favour. He is frank, goodnatured, and 
 agreeable ; and he and Wilfrid have become the 
 greatest possible friends. From the very outset he 
 took us into his confidence, explaining his relations 
 with Ferhan and with the Turkish Government, 
 and treating us as if convinced of our loyalty and 
 goodwill. His account of the desert politics, in 
 which he is beginning to play a conspicuous part, 
 has especially interested us. I have already men- 
 tioned the tragical death of his two brothers, 
 Abd-ul-Kerim and Abd-ur-Eajak, and his mother’s 
 flight to Nejd, and their sojourn there. On his 
 return, three years ago, he found Ferhan acknow- 
 ledged by the Shammar as their Sheykh, and the 
 whole tribe in danger of becoming perverted from 
 
CH. XV.] Domestic Broils of the Ibn Sf tikes. 321 
 
 their ancient way of nomadic life by this Bagdadi,” 
 who had accepted the rank of Pasha from those 
 very Turks who had hanged his brother, and who, 
 in consideration of a yearly allowance, had agreed 
 to make his people cultivators of the soil, “ mere 
 rayah, and fellahin.” This the more high-spirited 
 of the Shammar have deeply resented, and Paris 
 no sooner appeared among them, recalling by his 
 presence the memory of the chief they had lost, 
 than he was joined by nearly half the tribe, and by 
 all those discontented with the new order of things. 
 Perhan, who cares more for his position at Bagdad 
 than for his real influence in the desert, and con- 
 scious, perhaps, of his own inferiority in birth to 
 his young half-brother, has not hitherto made any 
 vigorous attempt to control him ; but Paris com 
 plains bitterly of the machinations of the Pasha’s 
 sons, Eyssa and Mijuel, who are constantly attempt- 
 ing to involve him with the Turkish authorities, by 
 making raids on the fellahin tribes of the Euphrates 
 and throwing the blame upon Paris’s people. 
 Though not exactly at war, he and these sons of 
 Perhdn have once or twice come to blows, and on 
 one occasion Mijuel was wounded by his uncle’s 
 lance. Their people are not on speaking terms, 
 and the uninhabited region we have just crossed is 
 left by both sides as a neutral zone between the 
 northern and southern camps. 
 
 The very day of our arrival, Paris informed us 
 that he should be obliged to sacrifice the pleasure 
 
 VOI., I. 
 
 Y 
 
32 2 Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiphrates. [ch. xv. 
 
 of our society to the necessity of heading an expe- 
 dition against his nephews, for they had attacked 
 a merchant of Mosul, travelling under his safe con- 
 duct, and had taken sheep and camels from him. 
 There was a great bustle in the camp ; horsemen 
 arriving from all points of the compass to have 
 their mares shod, in anticipation of the ghazii, for 
 the only blacksmith among them lives in the 
 Sheykh’s tent. But in the morning a messenger 
 arrived to say that all the stolen beasts had been 
 recovered, and Mijuel driven back to his own 
 country; so Faris has remained with us. 
 
 As to his relations with the Turkish Government, 
 he has been equally communicative. From the 
 time of his brother’s death he had not entered a 
 town or trusted himself in the power of any Turk 
 until a month ago, when our old friend, Huseyn 
 Pasha, acting, I suppose, upon the advice we had 
 given him, sent him a polite invitation to come to 
 Deyr, offering him at the same time Government 
 pay and support if he would help the Turkish 
 authorities to keep order in Mesopotamia. Faris, 
 being a young man and perhaps a little dazzled 
 at this token of consideration on the part of the 
 Government (for influence “in the town’’ has a 
 wonderful attraction to the Bedouin mind), went to 
 Deyr, and was received there with all possible 
 honour by the Pasha, who, to do him justice, is a 
 man of great tact and discernment, and, being 
 of Syrian not Turkish birth, has a certain sympathy 
 
CH. XV.] We give Paris Advice. 323 
 
 ^vith the people of liis district. There it was agreed 
 between them that Faris should keep order in the 
 desert, in consideration of a certain sum of money, 
 to be paid monthly — a not uncommon arrangement, 
 — and that he should receive Huseyn’s support and 
 countenance in his quarrel with Ferhan’s sons. 
 
 We are rather sorry to hear of this ; for, though 
 in theory it would no doubt be an excellent jDlan 
 for keeping the peace, yet in practice we know that 
 little good ever comes of such arrangements to the 
 Bedouins, and that the less they have to do with 
 pashas and governors, the more easy it is for them 
 to retain their independence. Faris, besides, is too 
 straightforward and simple-minded to engage in 
 diplomacy with Huseyn, and he ought never to 
 put himself into the hands of the official enemy of 
 his house. Huseyn, though with the best private 
 intentions, may find himself any day ordered to 
 arrest the brother of Abd-ul-Kerim, and Faris’s 
 position as a guest at the Serai will be no protection 
 to him then. We are glad to see that the elder 
 men of the tribe, who look upon him with as much 
 affection as if he were their own son, are quite of 
 this opinion ; and they were delighted when we 
 explained to Faris how dangerous it was for him to 
 go to Deyr. “ Has he not his house here,” they say, 
 “ and his people and his friends, that he must look 
 for them in the town ? He should remember the 
 fate of Ibn Mershid.” And after all Huseyn’s 
 protestations, it aj^pears that the promised money 
 
324 Bedouin Ti'ibes of the Euphrates, [ch. xr. 
 
 has not been paid, insignificant as the sum is, and 
 that Faris’s Avork as zaptieh has been done 
 haldsh, gratis. But the Bedouins are like children 
 in their love of silver pieces, and will pursue the 
 prospect of touching a few mejidies like an ignis 
 fatims far beyond what its worth really is to them, 
 I am sure if Huseyn had offered him a thousand 
 sheep, Faris AA^ould not have gone out of his Avay 
 for them ; but the hundred Turkish pounds is quite 
 a different thing, and has just such a magical effect 
 as the fourpenny piece which children claim for 
 having a tooth out. He Avould not keep the money, 
 probably, if he got it, for a single day, but would 
 distribute it to those about him as he distributed 
 our cloaks and boots ; but it would be a vast plea- 
 sure to him to think that he had had such a sum in 
 his hands. Wilfrid has given him a deal of good 
 advice on these matters, all of which he takes in the 
 best possible spirit. “ You are my father,” he says, 
 “ and know better than I.” It is impossible not to 
 be fond of so charming a character. 
 
 In person Faris is small, as a true Bedouin should 
 be ; but he is a model of grace and strength and 
 activity. On horseback there is no one in the tribe 
 who can come near him ; and it is a fine sight to 
 see him put his mare to her full speed, and make 
 his lance quiver over his head till it almost bends 
 double ; and it is easy then to understand, what his 
 people say of him, that his presence on a ghazfi is 
 worth thirty horsemen. He is besides very good- 
 
CH. XV.] 
 
 Paris Handles a Gun. 
 
 325 
 
 looking, with features typically Arabian, a clear 
 olive complexion not darker than that of a Spaniard, 
 an aquiline nose, black eyebrows meeting almost 
 across his forehead, and eyes fringed all round with 
 long black lashes. His smile is one of the most 
 attractive one can see ; and, if there is a fault in his 
 face, it is a slight want of resolution in the shape of 
 his under jaw, which makes one fear for him some 
 tragical ending like his brothers’, brought on by his 
 own waywardness. He is twenty-seven years old, 
 but looks younger, and every now and then seems 
 subject to fits of boyishness which appear unsuitable 
 to his position, though he can assume the greatest 
 possible dignity on occasion. In his manner to- 
 wards his people he is especially happy — respectful 
 to the old men, who spoil him, and unpretending 
 with his equals, among whom his personal qualities 
 give him so much ascendancy that he can afibrd to 
 be familiar without losing any dignity. His people 
 are evidently devoted to him, soul and body, and 
 proud of him as the handsomest man and the best 
 rider in Mesopotamia. 
 
 On the 15th, the day after our arrival, the ghazu 
 having been abandoned, we all marched together to 
 fresh camping-ground on the banks of the Khabur, 
 where just now there is abundance of grass and 
 camomile for sheep and mares and camels. It was 
 on this occasion that the fantasia I have mentioned 
 was executed in our honour, and that Tellal made 
 so capital a figure on his chestnut mare. Paris’s 
 
326 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xr. 
 
 own mare is a tall bay, Sliu4ymeb Sbali, with a 
 powerful shoulder, great girth, legs like iron, but 
 a rather coarse hind quarter. She is not good- 
 looking. Indeed, we have not seen above three 
 good-looking mares in the whole of our journey 
 through Mesopotamia, the only really handsome one 
 being a grey Saadeh belonging to one of Paris’s 
 men, four years old, and standing about fifteen 
 hands. I do not, however, see any trace of mixed 
 blood in the Shammar horses, as some people main- 
 tain there is. The mares look thoroughbred enough, 
 if the head be an index, but they are defective in 
 shape and beauty. The great strains . of blood are 
 among the Shammar. 
 
 In the afternoon Wilfrid took the Sheykh out 
 alone shooting, as he wished to see how birds were 
 killed flying ; and he showed a childish pleasure in 
 the firing of gun and rifle, aiming sometimes with 
 the greatest precision at a crow a hundred yards off 
 with snipe-shot, and at others playfully letting off a 
 ball at a wagtail perched on a twig of tamarisk close 
 before him. It was dangerous Avork, but fortunately 
 no accident happened. Wilfrid shot a francolin, 
 which fell in the river, and Paris in an instant had 
 stripped and jumped in. The Khabur is deep and 
 strong, and has steep, muddy banks, so that Wilfrid 
 had some difficulty in getting his friend out again, 
 especially as the water was very cold. But Paris 
 was delighted, and came back in triumph with the 
 bird. It was amusing to see this powerful Sheykh, 
 
CH. XV.] Swearing Brotherhood. 327 
 
 whose word is law in half Mesopotamia, excited like 
 a child with the adventure. But I like him all the 
 better for it. 
 
 This little episode, and the help Wilfrid had 
 afforded in getting him out of the river, has made 
 them such fast friends, that this evening, while we 
 were sitting talking in our tent about his early 
 troubles, and his hopes and prospects, and the plea- 
 sure our visit is giving him, he said that now he 
 and Wilfrid must be as brothers, “ to-day and to- 
 morrow and hereafter,” to which Wilfrid willingly 
 responded, for we both of us feel a real affection for 
 him, and his friendship for us has been quite of 
 spontaneous growth ; and so without more ado it 
 was agreed that they should take the oath of 
 brotherhood. Wilfrid told him how he w^as alone in 
 the world without brothers living, just as Faris was, 
 and with few relations that were much more good 
 comfort to him than Ferhan and his sons were to 
 Faris, and he declared that now, inshallah, he and 
 Faris should be brothers for the rest of their lives. 
 Then they took hold of each other by the girdle 
 with their left hands, and, holding their right hands 
 up as appealing to heaven, they repeated the pre- 
 scribed form of words very seriously, for this is a 
 pledge no Bedouin ever takes lightly. Faris began : 
 “ WalMh ! Wallahi ! ” ( 0 , God ! 0 , my God !)," and 
 Wilfrid repeated after him, “ Walhlh ! Wallahf ! 
 Wallah! Walldhi!” each perhaps twenty times; then 
 “ Billdh ! Billahi ! ” (by God, by my God), “ Tilldh ! 
 
328 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xv. 
 
 Tillalii ! ” (through God, through my God) ; “ akh- 
 wan, akhwan, el yom u bokra 0 baad^n, akhwan,” 
 (brothers to-day, to-morrow, and hereafter) — an 
 oath as impressive as those of our marriage service, 
 and considered quite as binding by those who take 
 it. This pledge of brotherhood, once taken, cannot 
 be dissolved. It binds the swearers to be hence- 
 forth brothers, as though born of the same mother, 
 in all things, except that it is no bar to marriage of 
 the one with the near relations of the other. Per- 
 sonal combat is henceforth not allowed, even if the 
 tribes of the two brothers should afterwards be at 
 war ; nor can the property of a brother be seized by 
 a brother or by any of his people. The swearers 
 have, on the contrary, a right to aid and assistance 
 in case of need ; and a brother, if called upon, is 
 bound to avenge his brother’s quarrel. 
 
 There was something so impressive in the cere- 
 mony that, for some minutes after it was over, we 
 all three sat without speaking, till Paris, seeming to 
 recollect that something more was necessary, got up 
 and, calling to his mollah, or secretary, who was in 
 the other tent, to come, made him attest the validity 
 of the act by stating to him what had happened. 
 Two witnesses, he informs us, are necessary to make 
 the oath binding ; but it is considered sufficient that 
 the second witness should be informed of the fact on 
 the day on which it takes place. The mollah put 
 his hand to his head, and said gravely: “ The Beg is 
 now one of our people ; let him come into our tent.” 
 
CH. XV.] 
 
 Our New Relations. 
 
 329 
 
 He went on to tell the news to the rest of the 
 Sheykh’s household, and, when Wilfrid entered, they 
 all stood up, and the eldest made him a little speech 
 to the effect that this tent and all the Shammar tents 
 were his, and their camels and sheep and all that 
 they had ; and Faris said, “ You must stay with us. 
 Our people shall make you tents like their own, and 
 I will give you camels, and you shall live with us 
 instead of going away to your own country.” Wilfrid 
 tells me, and I can well believe it, that he was much 
 affected by all this, and that, come what may, he 
 shall always hold Faris truly as his brother, though 
 he may never be able, or bo called upon, to prove it. 
 
 March 1 7. — Our relations with the Shammar are 
 now on a quite different footing from heretofore. 
 Before it they were polite and friendly, but now Ave 
 are shown what is very like affection. The Hatoun 
 Amsheh sent for me and kissed me, and said that 
 she Avas noAv my mother, and that if we were ever 
 in any difficulty, inshallah, her son should help us, 
 I am sure these are not mere empty Avords. Faris, 
 too, Avho has up to this refused all our invitations 
 to eat or drink Avith us in our oaa’ii tent, Ave being 
 his guests, and Avho has alw'ays sat at the door 
 instead of coming inside, has now sent a message 
 through Hanna to “ his brother,” to say that he Avill 
 dine AAuth us. So Ave have produced our best curry 
 and burghul and SAveetmeats, and made him sit 
 between us, and poured a A\diole tin of sugar into 
 his coffee, the thing of all others Avhich he likes 
 
330 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xv* 
 
 best ; for the Bedouins, who have none of their own, 
 have a craving for sugar. The dinner has been so 
 successful, that now he says he will take his meals 
 nowhere else, and I am afraid will find it difficult, 
 when we are gone, to go back to the coarse Arab 
 fare of his own tent. I hope Faris will remember 
 his brother and sister as long as we intend to 
 remember him. 
 
 Besides the Sheykh's household, there are two 
 most interesting persons, guests of the Shammar, 
 The first is Rashid ibn Ali (mentioned by Palgrave 
 as the only member of the old reigning family of 
 the Sheykhs of Jebel Shammar which escaped the 
 general massacre of the “ Beyt Alec,” on the con- 
 quest of that country by Ibn Saoud). He is a man 
 of fifty-five or sixty, of rather dark complexion, and 
 much muffled up about the face, but of an ordinary 
 Arab type of countenance, and undistinguishable in 
 dress or manner from the other Bedouins here. On 
 better acquaintance, one perceives that he is a well- 
 bred man. He was pointed out to us originally 
 as a man of distinction, by our little old guide 
 Daessan, who knew what an interest _we take in 
 Hejd and in Jebel Shammar, and who informed us 
 that Ibn Rashid had killed fourteen of his relations. 
 AVe have accordingly made his acquaintance, and 
 have got from him a deal of interesting information. 
 AVilfrid has cross-questioned him narrowly on the 
 subject of Nejd horses, and he confirms everything 
 that has already been told us by Smeyr and Daessan, 
 
CH. XV.] A Gentle^naii from the Nejd. 
 
 331 
 
 stating most positively that there is no Nejd breed of 
 horses, ever heard of at Hiyel, nor any horses at all in 
 central Arabia but the horses of the Bedouins, whose 
 breeds are well-known and every vrhere the same. 
 He says that no horses are bred in the neighbour- 
 hood of Eiad, which is a country without pasture, 
 and that in other parts of Nejd the specimens are 
 smaller, and in no way better than the Anazeh 
 horses. He repeats that Ibn Eashid gets all his 
 mares from the Bedouins, mostly from the Anazeh, 
 and adds that Ibn Saoud gets what horses he has 
 from Ibn Eashid ; but the present Imam is not as 
 rich as his father F^ysul was, and has not in fact 
 many horses, while nobody else at Eihd has any at 
 all. The best horses in Arabia are the horses of the 
 Anazeh — especially the Sebda and the Fedaan. 
 
 With regard to Jebel Shammar, Eashid says that 
 the hills there are higher than the Sinjar; but he 
 does not talk of snow on them. Hiyel has a thousand 
 houses, walled houses, heyut hangar (he pronounces 
 his g’s hard, as in Egypt); but outside in the 
 Gehel there are twenty thousand tents, a few 
 of them only Shammar. Ibn Eashid himself is a 
 Shammar. One or two Franks have been to Hiyel, 
 one last year ; but Ibn Eashid had not received 
 them. He assures us that there would be no 
 danger to any one going to Jebel Shammar, but 
 that Ibn Eashid dislikes foreigners, and will have 
 nothing to say to them. If we wish to go there, he 
 will go with us. He is returning in a month’s 
 
332 Bedotdn Tribes of the Euphrates. [ch. xv. 
 
 time, and we should stay with him at Hiyel as long 
 as we liked. He is going the way he came, and 
 that is by Huseyn (Meshid AH). This is an itine- 
 rary of the route he has given us, which may be 
 worth transcribing : 
 
 Huseyn to Gerimne . 
 Gerimne to Hessib . . . 
 Hessib to Shebitshi . 
 Sbebitsbi to Shebrum 
 Sbebrum to Beraja. . . 
 Beraja to Kbadra . . . 
 
 Kbadra to Troba 
 
 Troba to Baga 
 
 Baga. to Hiyel 
 
 one day 
 one day 
 one day 
 one day 
 one day 
 
 one and a balf day 
 two days 
 one day 
 one day 
 
 The three principal Bedouin tribes of Jebel Sham- 
 mar are the Duebi, the Ibn Heyt, and the Firrme ; 
 west of it are the Sherarat. 
 
 I should like to be able to accept Rashid Ibn 
 Ali s invitation to Hiyel, but we are not professional 
 travellers, and a summer in Central Arabia cannot 
 be thought of. 
 
 The other person of interest staying here is 
 Matu, Sheykh of Samuga, the principal village of 
 the Jebel Sinjd,r, and, of course, a Zediyeh. He is 
 here on business with Faris, connected with a 
 quarrel he has with the village of Sekinieh, and I 
 fancy he wants Faris to help him. He is a Kurd, 
 and is quite different in features from the Arabs, 
 and has besides certain peculiarities of dress, the 
 chief being the black head-dress of which we had 
 heard. He also makes us take notice that his shirt 
 
CH. XV.] 
 
 A Devil Worshipper. 
 
 333 
 
 is cut square at the neck instead of being round ; 
 and this, too, we had heard of as a remarkable 
 point of distinction between the Zediyehs and the 
 Arabs, made almost as much of by the latter as the 
 belief that the Zediyeh worship the devil instead of 
 God, — for fashions in dress are more unalterable 
 than those in religion. He has told us a good deal 
 about his religion — more, I am sorry to say, than 
 we are quite able to understand. He denies, of 
 course, the worship of Shaictdn. According to his 
 account, the Zediyehs believe in one God and one 
 great prophet, with several lesser ones. They all 
 acknowledge Huseyn Beg,* chief of one of their 
 tribes north of the Sinjar, as the supreme head of 
 their religion. Mdtu’s words were, “ Melek ed 
 Taous, our prophet, is to us as Eyssa is to you, and 
 Huseyn Beg is to us as your Pope is to you.” He 
 says that they have two religious books, that of 
 Zabu, or Daoud, and that of Enjir or Eyssa, the 
 former accepted by all Zediyehs, the latter only by a 
 few, who have it in addition to the first. He adds 
 that they do homage to or worship the sun, “ like 
 the Parsees.” They have no restriction as to the 
 number of their wives, but usually take four. A 
 rich man, “ yakhud ketir amra,” takes many wives. 
 The Zediyehs eat the wild ass (wdhash), which is 
 common in their hills, but not the tame ass nor the 
 
 pig- 
 
 There are fourteen villages or places in the Jebel, 
 * Compare Layard. 
 
334 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xv. 
 
 containing two tliousanci houses, some of stone, 
 some only tents. His own people live principally 
 in tents. He has given me the names of eight 
 springs in the hills : Barah, Sekinieh, which flows 
 to the Subbkha Sneyzele, JidcMla, Gabdra, Belad, 
 Shingal, Sulahh, which is the Wady Thathar, and 
 Khersi. There are many sorts of fruit-trees grown 
 in the \dllages — figs, pomegranates, and others, but 
 no palms. 
 
 This morning Matu came to us, he said, to wish 
 us good-bye, he had had news from home, and must 
 be off. “Good news?” we asked. — “Yes, good 
 news.” His brother had been attacked by the 
 Sheykli of Sekinieh, but had beaten him off and 
 killed two of his men, and taken their guns and 
 mares. Faris has promised to send some khaydl 
 with him, and he hoped to carry on the war 
 vigorously with the Sekinins. He wished the Beg 
 to go wdth him too, and bring his gun. The ofier 
 was very tempting, as Samdga is not more than 
 sixty miles from here, and we don’t know how 
 much or how little is known of these Zediyehs, and 
 their religion makes them interesting, and we should 
 certainly accept it but for our engagement with 
 Mr. S. 
 
 Md,tu started later with fifty of Faris’s men under, 
 whom should you think, but our little friend 
 Telldl, as proud as a midshipman in command of 
 his first cutter, and quite unable, in his excitement, 
 to listen to anything we had to say in the way of 
 
CH. XV.] Telldl Takes his First Command. 335 
 
 farewells. Wilfrid had a clasp knife he had been 
 intending for Tellal for some time past, and which 
 the boy had coveted. It was now produced, but 
 the young commander Avas intent on far more 
 important matters, and had already put away from 
 him childish things. He was looking to his spear- 
 point to see if it AA^as sharp, and to his saddle 
 to see that it Av^as girthed, and could not be dis- 
 tracted. He gaA^e the knife to an old servant to 
 keep till he came back, and, Avithout bidding us 
 good-bye, jumped on his mare, the old retainers 
 hanging about gmng him good advice to the last. 
 And so he rode away. He is to collect a tribute 
 Avhich is due from some tribe or village in the 
 Sinjdr and, if it is refused, take it by force Avith his 
 fifty men. He is only twelve years old, but, I will 
 ansAver for it, he comes back with the booty. 
 
 We are now (March 18) becoming anxious for 
 news of Mr. S. It has been arranged betAveen us 
 all along that Ave are to meet on the 1,5th, at Deyr, 
 and he Avas to arrive there if possible a day or two 
 earlier so as to communicate Avith us, in case he 
 found an opportunity, at Paris’s camp. We are 
 already tAvo days behind our time, and still two 
 days’ journey from the toAvn, but Ave know he Avill 
 make alloAvance for our want of punctuality, con- 
 sidering hoAv A^ery difficult a march Ave have had to 
 accomplish. AVe cannot Avithout appearing unkind 
 to our host, Avho is noAv, our friend and brother, pro- 
 pose to leave him Avithout excuse. To-day, hoAV- 
 
336 Bedoimi Tribes of the Euphrates. 
 
 [CH. XV. 
 
 ever, neAvs came from Deyr, through some wandering 
 musicians, that a great personage was expected 
 there from Aleppo ; and we have no longer hesi- 
 tated to mention ourAvish to depart. Faris, though 
 sorry that we should lea\"e him so soon, has listened 
 to all we had to say in the kindest and most reason- 
 able Avay, and, seeing that we really were obliged to 
 go, has done all he could to expedite our journey. 
 In spite of his recent interview Avith Huseyn, and 
 its friendly termination, none of Paris’s people can 
 shoAV themselves at Deyr, without danger, except the 
 mollah, whose clerical character gives him a safe 
 conduct. This person, then, has been appointed to 
 accompany us, and at the same time to do a little 
 piece of business for his master in the toAvn. 
 
 The mollah is an important functionary here, not 
 that he has any religious duties to perform, for pub- 
 lic prayers are unknown among the Bedouins, but, 
 being the only man of liberal education in the camp, 
 he is made use of to read and write all the letters, 
 and to carry on all the diplomatic negotiations which 
 pass between the Sheykh and his neighbours, and 
 this is no small matter, for a great sheykh’s life is 
 one of constant business. The present negotiation 
 Faris has shortly explained to us (for since the oath 
 of brotherhood he has no secrets from us). It is that 
 of getting Huseyn to pay up the money due to him 
 for services rendered, and the mollah is to go to Deyr 
 in the character of dun, and do all he can to squeeze 
 the Pasha. It appears that the Avhole sum promised 
 
■CH. XV.] The Skeykk's Money Difficulties. 
 
 337 
 
 was only sixty pounds, but money is very scarce in 
 the Sliammar camp, and the people are clamouring 
 for their share of the mejidies. Not that any one 
 here would call Faris to account for this, only they 
 consider it an insult to their Sheykh that he should 
 be kept waiting for his money, and an injury to 
 themselves to have been made to do the Pasha’s busi- 
 ness for nothing. “ Here we have been,” they say, 
 ■“ for a whole month doing the work of zaptiehs, and 
 keeping the peace into the bargain, and all balash.” 
 
 Faris asked us what we thought he ought to do, 
 and we advised him if he really wanted the money 
 wery badly to march down with all his men and en- 
 camp just opposite Deyr, and then send in the mollah, 
 but he said he did not wish to quarrel with Huseyn, 
 if he could help it, and w'ould use friendly means 
 first, and thought that we might be able to persuade 
 Huseyn for him to do this act of justice. “ You 
 •see,” he said, “ the state of our camp here ; the women 
 have no clothes to their backs, and the coffee and 
 ^sugar are all done. My people are angry and will 
 not put up with this for ever, and, although I shall 
 do my best to keep them quiet, they v/ill be down 
 on some of the Pasha’s fcllaliin before long, just to 
 to do themselves justice. And whose fault will it be 
 then ? ” He requested us also to explain to the 
 Pasha that some recent raids, of which complaint 
 had been made, were no doing of his or his people’s, 
 but of his nephews, IMijuel and Eyssa. AVe asked 
 him' if he could affirm on oath to us that this was 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Z 
 
33^ Bedouin Tribes of the E^lphrates. [ch. xv. 
 
 true and lie did so, lifting up his hand and repeating 
 ‘ Wallah, Wallah,” after the Arab form of oath. We 
 know that the Pasha would not believe him, if he 
 had simply stated the thing to us without swearing. 
 
 It seems a pity that so much trouble should be 
 taken for so small a sum, and Wilfrid asked him 
 whether he could not wait for it, or do without it ; 
 but he said there was a tajer, or merchant, now in 
 the camp, to whom he owed ten pounds, and who had 
 come to be paid. We have seen the man about the 
 camp, in appearance something like the Kurd who 
 followed us from Smeyr’s, and whom we sent about 
 his business. We had a few more mejidies with us 
 than were necessary for our journey, for travelling 
 here costs almost nothin^, and were glad of an 
 opportunity of returning something of the SheykhA 
 kindness, so we offered to let him have the sum 
 necessary to pay off his J ew ; and this, after the 
 hesitation most people make before accepting help 
 of this kind, Paris agreed to. Ten pounds was not 
 a large sum, but he was very grateful, promising to 
 pay it back whenever he should be in funds, and 
 wishing to give Wilfrid a writing for the money. 
 But this Wilfrid, of course, refused, saying that he 
 was a brother, not a tajer. Indeed the Sheykh’s 
 word is far better than his bond, and it will interest 
 us afterwards to see whether he remembers this little 
 debt. At present, the mollah has orders to repay it 
 out of any money he may get from the Pasha, but 
 we have told Paris not to put himself out about it. 
 
Ch. XV.] 
 
 Paris Refuses the Rifle. 
 
 339 
 
 and that it will do just as well next year, when, 
 inshallah, we will return to Mesopotamia. He then 
 began to lament that he had no mokiira, filly, or 
 even a colt to give us as a remembrance of him, but 
 that too, he says, shall be ready for us next year. He 
 would not take the rifle or the pistol, which we tried 
 to make him accept, and which he had amused 
 himself so much with. “ No,” he said, “I am better, 
 as my fathers were, without firearms, and besides I 
 have no mokhra. Ail I can do for you is this. My 
 people shall make you the raft you will require for 
 crossing the Khabur. They would not do it for the 
 Pasha, or even for the Sultan, for it is fellahin 
 work, fit only for the Jiburi, but they will do it for 
 you, because, you see, you are one of us.” Tt is 
 agreed then that this shall be done next day, and 
 that the mollah shall ride with us into Deyr. 
 
 March 19. — We left the Shammar camp at 
 nine o’clock, Paris and a number of his people 
 riding with us to the river bank — those who re- 
 mained behind wishing us good-bye, and repeating 
 such phrases as, “ Our tribe is your tribe, our tents 
 your tents. Come back to us soon, and we will make 
 you tents and give you camels and mares. You 
 shall live with us every winter, and in the summer, 
 when it is hot, you shall have a stone house to retire 
 to at Deyr.’’ The “ old man of the mountain,” too, 
 as Wilfrid calls Rashid ibn Ali, took an affectionate 
 leave of us, renewing his invitation to Hiyel. 
 
 The river Khabur, which is the only tributary 
 
340 Bedottin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xy.. 
 
 the Euphrates receives during the whole of its course- 
 through the desert, is a considerable stream, and a 
 difficult one to cross. It is about sixty yards wide,, 
 has a strong current, and is very deep, — not an 
 interesting river, at least where we saw it directly 
 opposite a mound called Tell Fdddrumi, as it flows 
 between deep banks of alluvial soil, and has only a 
 thin fringe of brushwood to clothe its nakedness on 
 cither side, with here and there a willow struggling 
 to look like a tree. To one of these a cord had been 
 tied and made fast to a tamarisk root on the oppo- 
 site bank ; and, floating on the water, we saw the 
 most rickety looking thing ever people trusted 
 themselves to on deep water. It was a square raft,, 
 made of eight goats’ skins blown out to serve a& 
 bladders and tied together with a slight framework 
 of tamarisk boughs. It was at most four feet six 
 inches square, and lay nearly level with the water’s- 
 edge. On this we were expected to embark, and I 
 confess that I had no pleasant anticipations of the- 
 voyage. But first there was the baggage to be fer- 
 ried, and the camels and mares to be swum across. 
 
 A camel forced to swim is a very ridiculous- 
 object. He hates the water sincerely, and roars 
 and moans piteously when he is obliged to face it. 
 Ours were of course unloaded, and then brought 
 one by one to the river bank. A man on the back 
 and half a dozen others to push behind were needed 
 to get them down the bank, a steep slide of mud, 
 down which the camels went, . with all their legs 
 
CII. XV.] 
 
 Crossing the Khdhir. 
 
 341 
 
 together, souse into the water. The men, who 
 were stripped, then jumped in after them, and, 
 shouting and sj)lashing water in their faces, forced 
 them on, till at last they were out of their depth 
 and everything had disappeared except the camels’ 
 noses. Then they seemed to resign themselves, 
 and swam steadily hut slowly to the opposite 
 shore, where, fortunately, there Avas a better landing- 
 place. One of the camels, however, obstinately 
 refused to approach the bank, and, Avhen other 
 means had failed, was thrown down and dragged 
 by the legs into the Avater, when it at last made up 
 its mind and folloAved the rest. Once on shore, 
 they all set off, scampering and kicking up their 
 ungainly heels, at full speed, and Avere Avith some 
 difficulty got back again by a couple of horsemen. 
 The mares managed it Avith much less difficulty. 
 
 And now our turn Avas come. Hanna, inspired 
 by the martial company he has been keeping of late 
 Avith the Shammar, Avith Avhom he has become a 
 great favourite from his good humour and his good 
 cooking, insisted upon being the first to cross, and 
 got over without accident. His A^ehement thanks 
 to Heaven on landing Avere greeted Avith shouts of 
 laughter from both sides of the river : for a number 
 of Jiburi, Avho arc encamped beyond it, had come 
 down to help and to see the fun. Faris Avas in 
 high spirits, keeping up a fire of small chaff at every 
 stage of the proceedings. The Agheyls Avent next, 
 prudently taking off most of their clothes for fear 
 
342 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xv. 
 
 of accidents ; and tlien it was our turn. There 
 was an old man who acted as ferryman, and with 
 ourselves and a pile of luggage I thought it more 
 than a load, when, just as we started, in jumped 
 Faris too ; and, before we could stop, we were off, 
 our feet dangling through the framework of the 
 raft, and clinging to each other to keep ourselves 
 balanced. As we got to the middle the strain 
 became too great for the old man, who let go the 
 rope ; and in an instant we were swept away down 
 the river, without any means of stopping or guiding 
 ourselves, and expecting every moment to upset. 
 But there was no real danger. As soon as they 
 saw what had happened, every Shammar on the 
 bank jumped straight into the water, and we had 
 hardly gone fifty yards before they were around us 
 and guiding us to shore. There we found Hanna, 
 wringing his hands and shedding floods of tears, 
 after his custom, at our loss — a new source of 
 amusement to Faris, who liad never seen a grown 
 man weep before. The mirth, indeed, was so in- 
 fectious that everybody was agog for fun, and poor 
 fat Ali was made a speedy victim of, and upset in 
 mid-stream amidst roars of laughter. Fatness is a 
 never-ending subject of joke with the Bedouins, 
 who are lean as whipping- posts themselves, and 
 look upon any other condition as a deformity. 
 
 And now the time had come when we were to 
 take leave of Faris, for he could go no further with 
 us, as the country between the Khabur and the 
 
CH. XY.] 
 
 A Brotherly Fm'ewell. 
 
 343 
 
 Euphrates is not his district, and the Government 
 lays claim to it for their tame tribes, the Jiburi, 
 Buggara, and others. The moment was almost 
 affecting ; for, though we have known him for so 
 few days, he has become our friend and our rela- 
 tion ; and who knows if we may ever see him 
 again ? He recapitulated to us what we were to 
 say to the Pasha about his affairs ; and he again 
 recommended the mollah to take good care of us. 
 Wilfrid pressed him a second time to keep the 
 rifle ; but, though he evidently would have liked it, 
 he persisted in refusing, because he had nothing 
 to give us in its stead. So we promised to send 
 him one from England. Wilfrid’s last words to 
 him were a recommendation to keep clear of the 
 towns. “ Huseyn,” he said, “ may be an honour- 
 able man and a friend ; but he is the servant of the 
 Turks, who killed your father and your brothers, 
 and who some day may find it to their interest to 
 kill you. Stay at home. You have all you want 
 in the Jezireh, and you are safe there ; and, if you 
 must see the Pashas, let them come out to you in 
 the desert.” The mollah, who stood by, heartily 
 joined in this advice, and Paris promised to be wise. 
 Then they, Wilfrid and Paris, kissed each other, 
 such being the custom between Bedouin relations ; 
 and we went on our way.* 
 
 * ^Ye learned afterwards that he was nearly drowned going 
 back across the Khabur, for the raft upset with him, and somehow 
 got oyer his head, but he w^as pulled out by his people. 
 
344 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xv. 
 
 We liave camped to-niglit under tlie Meze, or 
 “ Goat Hills,” listening to the cry of the owls in 
 a ruined town close by us, and meditating a rush 
 for Deyr to-morrow morning. Mr. S. must have 
 arrived, for Hdnna has heard from the Jiburi, or 
 some one, of a great personage with a white beard 
 having arrived at Deyr. 
 
 March 20.^ — -Leaving Hanna and Ali and the 
 rest to follow, we have galloped with the mollah 
 to Deyr. From the foot of the hills to the banks of 
 the Euphrates it is an uninterrupted level plain, 
 vdthout a stone and thinly turfed with grass — the 
 perfection of galloping ground ; — and we did the 
 distance, forty-two miles, in something under six 
 hours. The sun was scorchingly hot all day, as it 
 has been for a week past, and the mares were pretty 
 well exhausted at the end of their gallop, for they 
 still have their winter coats on, and are only grass 
 fed. Our supply of corn has been long exhausted. 
 Still we held on, stopping every four or five miles 
 for the mollah to overtake us, for his beast was 
 slow, and could not keep ours in sight ; and letting 
 our mares feed a few minutes, and then going on 
 again. We passed several camps on our way be- 
 longing to the Buggara, where we got milk and 
 lebben, but we ate nothing all day, so as not to 
 suffer from the heat of the sun. 
 
 Once we passed through an immense herd of 
 gazelles, many thousands of them, all moving in 
 the same direction — northwards, and we drove one 
 
CH. XV.] 
 
 We Gallop into Deyr. 
 
 345 
 
 lot before us for a mile or two, coming so near 
 them that if Wilfrid bad bad bis gun (be bad left 
 it with tbe baggage) be could have certainl}^ got 
 several, for tbej Avere packed together. Then we 
 came upon trufile-bunters, wbo told us tbe town 
 was jerib, jerih, — near, just before us. There are 
 three low, isolated bills Avbicb mark tbe direction 
 from Meze to Deyr, called respectively Hejef-el- 
 Zorat, Hej4f-el-Wustane, and Hejef-esb-Shamiye, 
 tbe last being beyond the river. 
 
 We Avere beginning to get AAuld for news of 
 Europe, and for tbe letters Avhicb Ave knew Mr. S. 
 would bring us, for Ave have bad none noAV for three 
 months ; and for tbe delight of telling to one Avbo 
 Avould appreciate them our adA’entures, our diffi- 
 culties, and our successes. Tbe Consul’s arriA^al, 
 too, has become A^ery necessary to us, for tbe resto- 
 ration of our credit Avitb tbe authorities, a credit 
 rather compromised, we fear, by our flight from 
 Bagdad. Then nobody knows Avbo has not expe- 
 rienced it, tbe delight of talking again in a European 
 language, after having been stumbling on for Aveeks 
 in Arabic. This thought carried us on Avitbout 
 flagging to tbe end of our ride ; though the last fiA^e 
 miles, Avbicb Avere across the lower valley of the 
 Euphrates, in part cultivated, Avere very severe 
 upon the mares. I doubt if Tamarisk could haA’c 
 gone another mile, and I rode her straight doAvn 
 into the river and let her drink her All. Poor 
 beasts ! they had carried us Avell. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 A A 
 
34^ Bedouin Tribei, of the Euphrates, [cir. xv. 
 
 The mollah was out of the race, and far behind ; 
 and though we waited two hours on the bank for 
 the ferryman, who would not hear our shouts, he 
 did not appear. 
 
 This was the hardest part of our day’s work, this 
 sitting on the river-bank from one to three o’clock 
 in the sun ; and all the time with the knowledge 
 that there was a cool room waiting for us, and per- 
 haps a table spread in the Serai not half a mile 
 away. Why did not Mr. S. look out of the window 
 and see us there, and move the lubberly ferrymen 
 out of their mid-day sleep to release us ? But it 
 was not to be. 
 
 At last we got across, and hurried on to the 
 Serai. The door stood wide open, and the rooms 
 were as we had left them. The Pasha’s servants, 
 too, received us with a smile ; but it was evident 
 we were not expected. “ Where was the Beg, the 
 Consul Beg ?” — “ The Beg returned to Aleppo the 
 day your Excellencies left this house, two months 
 ago, and has not since been seen or heard of.” — 
 “ And the great personage who has arrived in the 
 town ? ” — “ The great personage is Kadderly Pasha, 
 the new Valy of Bagdad, going to join his post.” 
 
 We have had our long ride for nothing. Mr. S. 
 is not at Deyr ! 
 
 END OF VOl. I. 
 
 BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS, LONDON. 
 
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 THE LIMITS OF CULTIVATION 
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