336

TREATMENT OF AN ARAB PRISONER.

secured by irons to a post driven into the foot of the trench; his head rested on the edge, and his long lock of hair was well secured to another post or large peg. Small places were cut at right angles to the trench, in which each arm was intruded, the wrists well secured; a rope round his waist held him there; and there the poor wretch lay, fly-eaten, miserable. Sometimes a little water was poured over his mouth. He stoutly persisted he was wretchedly poor, and they might let him go and work to earn a little to pay them. As many as twenty or even fifty camels are sometimes paid for a ransom, according to the wealth of the captured. My servant finally could bear it no longer, and himself went and besought the sheik to let him go. Dahhal quietly answered, "Give the man his price and I have no doubt he will let him go, and both will thank you.

The bargaining now began; a Christian, named Jacob, who lives with Dahhal in the capacity of secretary, accompanied him. He had passed half his life among the Arabs, and was with them at Palmyra when they went there to meet Lady Hester Stanhope, who he said took with her three camel

ABOUT TO CROSS THE DESERT.

337

loads of presents. We opened the discourse by saying that we had come with a wish to see him and his people, and had been much gratified; that we were now on our return to Orfa, but if he chose to take us to Nisibis, or the Singar, we would give him so much, to be paid on our arrival; if not, it was really very indifferent to us by which route we went, and thanking him for his hospitality, we would return. Jacob, on the part of the sheik, accepted the offer, but his son interposed and said an extra sum must be given to each horseman. This the Christian said was unfair.

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May your mother be childless of you," retorted the young man. His father rose, and with the short dromedary stick, aimed a blow at him; but he darted out, saying he would kill that dog yet. He afterwards mounted his mare, nor did we see him again.

VOL. I.

N

338

ADVICE OF SHEIK ABDALLAH.

CHAPTER XXI.

Difficulties urged against crossing the Desert-The Sheik Dahhal on the unchangeableness of the Arabs-Confessions of Arab plundering prepossessions-Anecdotes in illustration of them-Sheik Abdallah on the milking of pigs-Burden of a song of Arab children-The magnanimous Guide-His violent return to worldliness-Transitory beauty of Arab women-A Bridal party-Arab mode of contracting Marriage Indifference of Turks to their Children-Turkish regular and irregular Troops-Their Duties-How they exercise them— Costume of the Koords-Reflections excited by the Scenery-Reach the Tscham Uschai River-Beauty of the Night Rides—We reach Yel Bagdad.

DAHHAL Owned he could not enter Mosul, or Nisibis, or Mardin, but said he would conduct us to a short distance from either, and leave us at the last halting place or shortly afterwards. Sheik Abdallah sent again to beg us not to go, saying that Dahhal was unable to perform what he undertook. "If you are attacked, he will gallop off, and save himself in the Desert, of which he knows every inch, while you will be as certainly carried off and held for ransom." So most reluctantly the majority determined not to proceed.

Sheik Dahhal came and said he heard we had

UNCHANGEABLENESS OF THE ARABS. 339

determined not to go. "It is well whether you go or stay, all Dahhal has, all his enemies have left him, is yours." We asked him if he saw any change in the Arab since he remembered: he looked quietly round at his tents, at his camels now crowded round them, the flocks lowing to their homes; his dress, his arms, and then said, "No: since the time of the Prophets,-since time was, we are unchanged; perhaps poorer, perhaps less hospitable in consequence; but otherwise unchanged." He made a very just remark afterwards. "Our habits are the only ones adapted to the country we live in; they cannot change unless we change our country: no other life can be lived here."

He said his tribe had been driven up by, or come with, the Wahabees; but owned, from the mingling of tribes, from families deserting one sheik and joining another, from wars, &c., none of the tribes now could boast of much antiquity. With regard to southern Nedjid, or the southern portions of the Desert, he said, "I never had men enough to venture there; the tribes are larger and more united. I have plundered south of Bagdad; but had to fly, so saw little. Fortune has never

340

ARABS PLUNDERERS ON PRINCIPLE.

smiled on me; for here I am what I am, though I ventured further than most men." He himself was at Palmyra once on a plundering excursion, but not when the Bint el Melek, the king's daughter, was there,-Lady Hester Stanhope.

On his retiring, we continued conversing with his people. One said: “Allah has been very good to me (meaning he had been a successful plunderer), but he never yet sent me a Frank. Ya Wallah! * I would not touch you; I know your faces; but another, I should strip to his skin." "But he would die." "Well, he came stripped into the world, and as a helpless child managed to grow up and get clothed Allah Kerim! God is merciful! He might do so again surely, now he is a man, and able to take them of himself. God gave the Beni Adam (sons of Adam) gold, silver, riches, cities, plenty to us he gave the barrehee (Desert) all that comes on it is our own."

The fellow was a plain-spoken man, and freely owned he robbed all who came in his way, "except his friends;" and "at night it is difficult to distinguish them, particularly if they are weaker than yourself."

"But of what use would our

* Yes, by God.