We were encamped not far from Menouna, the last town of Persia, twenty leagues from the frontiers of India, on the banks of a river which the Bedouins call El Gitan.
On the seventh day we took leave of Sahid, and recommenced our march, in order to reach Syria again before the heats of summer set in. We marched rapidly, and without precautions, till one day, while we were passing through the province of Karman, our beasts were carried off; and the next day we were ourselves attacked by a powerful tribe, commanded by the Emir Redaini, an imperious man, and jealous of his authority, who constitutes himself the guardian of the caliphate of Persia. These Bedouins, very superior in number, were as much our inferiors in courage and tactics: our troops were vastly better commanded. Our position was, however, extremely critical—we were lost if the enemy gained the smallest advantage; for all the Bedouins of the Karman would at once have surrounded us, and hemmed us in as with a net, from which there would have been no possibility of escaping. The necessity, then, of inspiring them with respect by a decisive victory, which should at once cure them of any inclination to try their strength with us for the future, was imperative; and the Drayhy made the most skilful and best combined dispositions for ensuring the triumph of courage over numbers: he displayed all the resources of his military genius and long experience, and himself performed prodigies of valour,—he had never commanded more calmly, nor fought more impetuously: accordingly, the enemy was obliged to retreat, leaving us at full liberty to pursue our homeward journey. The Drayhy, however, considering that it would not be prudent to leave behind him a hostile though beaten tribe, slackened his march, and sent a courier to the Emir Sahid, to give him intelligence of what had passed. The messenger returned in a few days, bringing a very friendly letter to the Drayhy, enclosing a second, addressed in the following terms to Redaini:
“In the name of God the supreme: Be homage and respectful prayers ever addressed to the greatest, the most powerful, the most honorable, the wisest, and the handsomest of prophets! the bravest of the brave, the greatest of the great, the caliph of caliphs, the master of the sabre and of the red ruby, the converter of souls, the Iman Ali. This letter is from Sahid el Bokhrani, the grandee of the two seas and of the two Persias, to his brother the Emir Redaini, the son of Kronkiar. We give you to know that our brother the Emir Drayhy Ebn Chahllan, of the country of Bagdad and Damascus, is come from far to visit us and form an alliance with us. He has marched on our land and eaten of our bread; we have granted him our friendship, and moreover have entered into particular engagements with him, from which great good and general tranquillity will result. We desire that you do the same: take care that you do not fail in this point, or you will lose our esteem, and act in opposition to the will of God, and of the glorious Iman Ali.”
Here followed many citations from their holy books, the Giaffer el Giameh, and the customary salutations.
We sent this letter to the Emir Redaini, who thereupon came to us, accompanied by five hundred horsemen, all richly dressed in gold brocades: their arms were mounted in chased silver, and the Damascus blades of their sabres exquisitely worked. Some amicable explanations having passed, Redaini copied with his own hand the particular treaty of the Emir Sahid, and signed it: he then took coffee, but refused to dine with us, the fanatics of the sect of Ali being prohibited from eating either with Christians or Turks. To ratify his contract, however, he swore upon bread and salt, and then embraced the Drayhy with great protestations of fraternity. His tribe, called El Mehaziz, numbers ten thousand tents. After taking leave of him, we continued our journey by forced marches, advancing fifteen leagues a day without halting. On reaching Bagdad, Sheik Ibrahim went into the city to take up money; but the season requiring expedition, we lost as little time as possible. In Mesopotamia we got news of the Wahabees. Ebn Sihoud had given a very ill reception to his general, Hedal, after his defeat, and had sworn to send a more powerful army than the former, under his son, to take vengeance upon the Drayhy, and exterminate the Bedouins of Syria; but after having obtained more correct information respecting the resources and personal reputation of the Drayhy, he changed his tone, and resolved to make an effort towards concluding an alliance with him. Foreign events also gave an air of probability to these rumours; for the Pacha of Egypt, Mehemet Ali, was preparing an expedition to invade Arabia Petrea, and to take possession of the riches of Mecca, which, for the present, were in the hands of Ebn Sihoud. Either of these prospects was agreeable to our projects, which would have been equally forwarded, whether his proposed alliance took effect, or whether he was weakened by a foreign power. We were continually meeting on our route tribes which had not yet signed the treaty, but which eagerly took advantage of the opportunity of doing so.[T] On arriving in Syria, we received a courier from the King of the Wahabees, who brought us a little bit of paper, about three fingers in breadth, and twice as long. They affect to use these diminutive missives in contrast to the Turks, who write their firmans upon large sheets of paper. The Arabian character takes so little room, that in this small space was written a very long and sufficiently imperious letter. It commenced with a sort of confession of faith, or declaration, that God is one, universal, and without equal; then came all the titles of the king whom God has invested with his sabre to maintain his unity against the idolaters (the Christians) who affirm the contrary. And it continued thus:—
“We, Abdallah, son of Abdel Aziz, son of Abdel Wahabs, son of Sihoud: We give you to know, O son of Chahllan, (may the only adorable God direct you in the right way!) that if you believe in God, you must obey his slave Abdallah, to whom he has delegated his power, and come and see us without fear. You shall be our well-beloved son; we will pardon the past, and treat you as one of ourselves. But beware of obstinacy and resistance to our call; for he who listens to us is reckoned in the number of the inhabitants of paradise.
“Health.
“Signed,
El Manhoud Menalla Ebn Sihoud Abdallah.”
On the reception of this letter we held a great council of war; and after having deliberately weighed all the perils of the journey against the advantages of the alliance of Ebn Sihoud, the Drayhy determined to comply with this authoritative invitation. Sheik Ibrahim having asked me if I felt my courage equal to undertaking a visit to this fanatic, I replied: