Crabbet Park,
August 1, 1880.
CONTENTS TO VOL. I.
CHAPTER I. | |
| PAGE |
The charm of Asia—A return to oldfriends—Desert News—The Palmyrene colony atDamascus—New horses and camels—Mrs. Digby and herhusband Mijuel the Mizrab—A blood feud—Abdel-Kader’s life—Midhat Pasha discourses on canals andtramways—He raises a loan | |
CHAPTER II. | |
Brotherly offices—We prepare for acampaign—Mohammed Dukhi comes to court—A nightrobber—We start for Nejd—Tale of a penitent—Theduty of revenge—We are entertained by poorrelations—The fair at Mezarib | |
CHAPTER III. | |
Beating about—Bozra—We leave the Turkishdominions—Mohammed vows to kill a sheep—The citadelof Salkhad and the independent Druses—We are received by aDruse chieftain—Historical notice of the Hauran | |
CHAPTER IV. | |
We start in earnest—The Harra—A theory ofMirage—Camp of the Beni Sokkhr—Wady er Rajel—AChristmas Dinner in the Desert—Sand-storm—We reachKâf | |
Kâf and Itheri—More relations—The WadySirhán—Locust hunting—Hanna sits down todie—Tales of robbery and violence—We are surprised bya ghazu and made prisoners—Sheraratstatistics—Jôf | |
CHAPTER VI. | |
The Jôf oasis—We are entertained by IbnRashid’s lieutenant—A haunch of wildcow—Dancing in the castle—Prayers—We go on toMeskakeh | |
CHAPTER VII. | |
The Ibn Arûks of Jôf—Mohammed contractsa matrimonial alliance—Leah and Rachel—We cheapen thebride’s dower—A negro governor and his suite—Athunder-storm | |
CHAPTER VIII. | |
Mohammed in love—We enter the red sanddesert—Geology of the Nefûd—Radi—Thegreat well of Shakik—Old acquaintance—Tales of theNefûd—The soldiers who perished of thirst—Thelovers—We nearly remain in the sand—Land at last | |
CHAPTER IX. | |
Jobba—An unpleasant dream—We hear strangetales of Ibn Rashid—Romping in the Nefûd—A lastnight there—The Zodiacal light—We enterNejd—The granite range of Jebel Shammar | |
Haïl—The Emir Mohammed Ibn Rashid—Hismenagerie—His horses—His courtiers—Hiswives—Amusements of the ladies of Haïl—Theirdomestic life—An evening at the castle—Thetelephone | |
CHAPTER XI. | |
Political and historical—Shepherd rule inArabia—An hereditary policy—The army—TheLaw—Taxation—The finances of Jebel Shammar—IbnRashid’s ambition | |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. I.
| Portrait of Lady Anne Blunt in her Arab Costume (by Molony) | Frontispiece |
| PAGE | |
| Pilgrim Banner | [xxvi] |
| Salkhad | [45] |
| Run to Earth | [63] |
| Sand-storm in the Wady er-Rajel | [80] |
| Kâf | [83] |
| Ghazû in the Wady Sirhán | [104] |
| Castle of Jôf | [112] |
| The Oasis of Jôf | [120] |
| A Nejd Sheep | [149] |
| The Nefûd or Great Red Sand Desert of Arabia | [160] |
| A Delúl Rider | [186] |
| Reception at Haïl | [212] |
| The Great Kahwah | [214] |
| Ibn Rashid’s Stables at Haïl | [250] |
| Evening with the Emir | [256] |
| Our House at Haïl | [273] |
| Map of Nejd | At the End. |
CHAPTER I.
“You have been a great traveller, Mercury?”
“I have seen the world.”
“Ah, a wondrous spectacle. I long to travel.”
“The same thing over again. Little novelty and much change. I am wearied with exertion, and if I could get a pension would retire.”
“And yet travel brings wisdom.”
“It cures us of care. Seeing much we feel little, and learn how very petty are all those great affairs which cost us such anxiety.”
Ixion in Heaven.
The charm of Asia—A return to old friends—Desert news—The Palmyrene colony at Damascus—New horses and camels—Mrs. Digby and her husband Mijuel the Mizrab—A blood feud—Abd el-Kader’s life—Midhat Pasha discourses on canals and tramways—He fails to raise a loan.
Damascus, Dec. 6, 1878.—It is strange how gloomy thoughts vanish as one sets foot in Asia. Only yesterday we were still tossing on the sea of European thought, with its political anxieties, its social miseries and its restless aspirations, the heritage of the unquiet race of Japhet—and now we seem to have ridden into still water, where we can rest and forget and be thankful. The charm of the East is the absence of intellectual life there, the freedom one’s mind gets from anxiety in looking forward or pain in looking back. Nobody here thinks of the past or the future, only of the present; and till the day of one’s death comes, I suppose the present will always be endurable. Then it has done us good to meet old friends, friends all demonstratively pleased to see us. At the coach office when we got down, we found a little band of dependants waiting our arrival—first of all Mohammed ibn Arûk, the companion of our last year’s adventures, who has come from Palmyra to meet and travel with us again, and who has been waiting here for us, it would seem, a month. Then Hanna, the most courageous of cowards and of cooks, with his ever ready tears in his eyes and his double row of excellent white teeth, agrin with welcome. Each of them has brought with him a friend, a relation he insists on calling him, who is to share the advantage of being in our service, and to stand by his patron in case of need, for servants like to travel here in pairs. Mohammed’s cousin is a quiet, respectable looking man of about five and thirty, rather thick set and very broad shouldered. He is to act as head camel man, and he looks just the man for the place. Hanna’s brother bears no likeness at all to Hanna. He is a young giant, with a rather feckless face, and great splay hands which seem to embarrass him terribly. He is dressed picturesquely in a tunic shaped like the ecclesiastical vestment called the “dalmatic,” and very probably its origin, with a coloured turban on his head. He too may be useful, but he is a Christian, and we rather doubt the prudence of taking Christian servants to Nejd. Only Ferhan, our Agheyl camel-driver, is missing, and this is a great disappointment, for he was the best tempered and the most trustworthy of all our followers last year. I fancy we may search Damascus with a candle before we find his like again.