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CONTENTS TO VOL. II.
CHAPTER XII. | |
| PAGE |
Nejd horses—Their rarity—Ibn Saoud’sstud—The stables at Haïl—Some notes ofindividual mares—The points of a Nejd head—The tribesin the Nefûds and their horses—Meaning of the term“Nejdi”—Recipe for training | |
CHAPTER XIII. | |
Mohammed loses his head—A ride with theEmir—The mountain fortress of Agde—Farewell toHaïl—We join the Persian Haj—Ways and manners ofthe pilgrims—A clergyman of Medina | |
CHAPTER XIV. | |
We go in search of adventures—Taybetism—Anhyena hunt—How to cook locusts—Hawking—Thereservoirs of Zobeydeh—Tales and legends—A coup dethéâtre—Mohammed composes a kasid | |
CHAPTER XV. | |
Muttlak Ibn Arûk and the Ketherin—Theirhorses—We are adopted by the tribe—The Hajagain—Ambar sends round the hat—A forced march of onehundred and seventy miles—Terrible loss ofcamels—Nejef | |
The Shrines of the Shias—Bedouinhonesty—Legend of the Tower of Babel—Bagdad—Ourparty breaks up | |
OUR PERSIANCAMPAIGN. | |
CHAPTER I. | |
New plans and new preparations—We leave Bagdad forPersia—Wild boar hunting in the Wudian—A terribleaccident—We travel with a holy man—Camps of the BeniLaam—An alarm | |
CHAPTER II. | |
We are betrayed into the hands of robbers—Ghafil andSaadun—We diplomatise—A march across“No-man’s-land”—Night terrors—Weclaim protection of a Persian prince | |
CHAPTER III. | |
A prince in exile—Tea money—Rafts on theKherka—Last words with the Beni Laam—KerimKhan—Beautiful Persia—We arrive at Dizful | |
CHAPTER IV. | |
Pleasures of town life—The Khani’scourt—Bactiari shepherds—Shustar—Its palace,its river, and its garden—A telegraph clerk | |
Illness and misery—A Persian escort—TheShah’s Arab subjects—Ram Hormuz and itsnightingales—Night marching—Desertedvillages—How they collect taxes in Persia—Bebahan | |
CHAPTER VI. | |
A last rush through the sun—We arrive at Dilam onthe Persian Gulf—Politics of the Gulf—A journey“in extremis”—Bashire—The End | |
APPENDICES. | |
Notes on the Physical Geography ofNorthern Arabia | |
Historical Sketch of the Rise andDecline of Wahhabism in Arabia | |
Memorandum on the Euphrates ValleyRailway, and its Kindred Schemes of Railway Communication betweenThe Mediterranean and the persian gulf | |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II.
| Portrait of Mr. Blunt (by Molony) | Frontispiece |
| PAGE | |
| Ibn Rashid’s Mares | to face [16] |
| Hamúd Ibn Rashid | [17] |
| Pilgrimage Leaving Haïl | to face [46] |
| Edible Locust | [48] |
| Reservoir of Zobeydeh | to face [80] |
| Persian Pilgrims in Front of the Haj | [100] |
| Meshhed Ali | to face [110] |
| Ariel, an Ánazeh Mare | [140] |
| Canora | [161] |
| Shagran | [193] |
| Granite Range Of Jebel Shammar (Effect of Mirage) | to face [234] |
| Fortress Of Agde | to face [266] |
| Rock Inscriptions and Drawings in Jebel Shammar | [285] |
CHAPTER XII.
“Je ne trouvai point en eux ces formes que je m’attendais à retrouver dans la patrie de Zeid el Kheil.”—Guarmani.
Nejd horses—Their rarity—Ibn Saoud’s stud—The stables at Haïl—Some notes of individual mares—The points of a Nejd head—The tribes in the Nefûds and their horses—Meaning of the term “Nejdi”—Recipe for training.
A chapter on the horses we saw at Haïl has been promised, and may as well be given here.
Ibn Rashid’s stud is now the most celebrated in Arabia, and has taken the place in public estimation of that stud of Feysul ibn Saoud’s which Mr. Palgrave saw sixteen years ago at Riad, and which he described in the picturesque paragraphs which have since been constantly quoted. The cause of this transference of supremacy from Aared to Jebel Shammar, lies in the political changes which have occurred since 1865, and which have taken the leadership of Central Arabia out of the hands of the Ibn Saouds and put it into those of the Emirs of Haïl.