A MELEK OF THE SHAGEEA TRIBE.

On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by L. Bandoni.
Printed by C. Hullmandel.

Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835.

The ancient race of the meleks still exists, but the fortunes of many are wofully changed. I took the portrait of one, an uncommonly fine-looking fellow, who was constantly in the temple where I resided, talking with my servants. (See [Plate XXX.]) His long gown, or shirt, is called, in Arabic, e’tobe. The shawl, or el melayah, is always put on very gracefully. Their sandals, or nohel, are useful in walking on the sand, except when the latter is soft and heated by the sun: they then afford them little protection, as their feet constantly sink above the sole. As there was no barber in the village, and I was told he had some skill in shaving, I allowed him to officiate in that capacity; but most anxiously shall I avoid to have my head again shaved by the son of a king. Never did I endure such a scarification. His razor, one of the twopenny sort from Trieste, was blunter than even a French table-knife; and he had no means of sharpening it, but, according to the custom of the country, on his bare arm. He drew blood four times, and scraped my head in such a manner that it smarted for several hours afterwards; but it is impossible to endure the wearing of one’s hair in this climate after having once been accustomed to the luxury of having it shaved every week; and having lost my penknife, I have been obliged to take my own razor to cut my pencils. Travellers, in these unprovided regions, must often have recourse to strange means of supplying their necessities.

[Plate I.] represents a Shageea with the dress of the desert—merely a cloth around his waist: his colour is darker than the other, which is accounted for from the life he leads, continually exposed to the scorching sun.[34]

During our residence in the temple of Tirhaka we were often troubled with wolves, attracted, I presume, by the smell of the meat, and who made too free with our larder. Fatigued always by measuring and drawing all the day under this burning sun, we slept too soundly to detect the thief; indeed, the roaring of a lion would scarcely have roused our Arab servants: but we had a guardian of another description, whose instinctive vigilance proved fatal to the intruder. The little monkey the Mahmoor of Berber gave me was chained to, and had his bed among, a heap of stones in the corner of the sanctuary where Mr. B. and I slept. The poor little animal, frightened most desperately at the approach of so powerful an enemy as a wolf, and, besides his bodily fear, having, of course, an interest in the preservation of our larder, succeeded in rousing us by rolling down the stones that were near it. It did this three nights together: last night, one of my servants succeeded in shooting the thief.

Pl. 1.

On stone by W. Walton from a Drawing by L. Bandoni. Printed by C. Hullmandel.

Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835.