:

who had caused all the trouble to Messrs Bankes, Legh, and Irby and Mangles in 1818; pushing his obstinacy at that time so far, as almost to kindle a war among the Arab tribes, in order to prevent the approach of the party to Wady Musa.1 I had supposed him long dead; as no traveller since that time has spoken of him or appears to have seen him. But he now revived before us in all the obstinacy and tenacity of purpose, which had marked his former character; and we knew henceforth whom we had to deal with. He was at present an old man of nearly eighty years; and had put on a new Arab cloak, and a new glaring yellow Kefîyeh, bound around his head with an unusual quantity of new woollen yarn-in short his gala-dress, -to do us honour. His demeanour was calm; and he now went over his arguments to us in a mild tone, and we ours to him in return.

He enumerated one and another who (he said) had paid him the Ghufr, or, as he called it, made him a present; and he presumed we were more noble and generous than any who had gone before, and would give liberally. When told that as bearing the Pasha's Firmân, we were free from all such exactions, and that moreover he was held responsible for our safety while within his limits; his reply was, that he knew all this, and on account of this very responsibility he claimed a present; if the government would relieve him from this obligation, he would ask nothing of visitors. We told him, we had been travelling through the provinces of Gaza and Hebron, where the Sheikhs of the villages, of their own accord, had always given us a guard around our tent, and had never thought of claiming or of hinting a wish for pay; and that his best way would have been in like manner to have done us some favour, before he claimed any return. But nothing made any impression upon the stubborn old Bedawy; there he sat, tall, gaunt, with thin and time-worn visage and gray beard, not violent in gesture and manner, but cold, determined, and tenacious of his supposed hold upon us as a bloodhound.

His reiterated demand was for one thousand piastres, equal to fifty Spanish dollars, from ourselves; and for five hundred piastres in addition from our Arabs. On this last he seemed to lay less stress, as they were neighbours and might come again; but as to us, he evidently regarded us as a windfall already in his power, which he was bent upon turning to the utmost advantage.

He had made the same demand of Bertou when here a few

1 Irby and Mangles' Travels pp. 383400. [117-122.] Legh under May 2326th.-Mr. Kinneir in A. D. 1839, writes

his name Magabel; see his work: Cairo, Petra, etc. p. 131, etc.

weeks before. Lord Prudhoe, about the same time, he had not caught; as he came from the west, remained only for a night, and was off again before the old man had time to pay his respects. Such indeed appears to have been the case with all, those travellers, who of late years have taken this place in their way from 'Akabah to Hebron; their visits have been short; and entering by way of Mount Hor, they have been able to leave again before information of their arrival could reach the Sheikh. This advantage we had lost by ascending the mountains further north, where our visit became known at once to the Arabs around Dibdiba.-Bertou, as he himself told us, had got off by giving the Sheikh all the money he had with him, less than one hundred piastres, with a quantity of powder, soap, tobacco, and the like.

The old man appears not to have been satisfied with this result; and had now, on the first intelligence of our arrival, come down upon us by night with some twenty armed men, who already had increased to thirty; determined to have the matter this time in his own hands, and not to let the opportunity slip away so easily. Against this array, we could number in all only thirteen men, including our Haweitât, on whom we could place no dependence whatever. Our Jehâlîn too, although their interest was the same as ours, proved to be men of no nerve; Sheikh Hussân, an easy good-natured man, had neither decision nor energy. We were thus really and truly in the power of Abu Zeitûn; and his men, the worst looking set of miscreants we had yet seen, seemed not unwilling to exercise this power, and waited apparently only for a signal to plunder us outright. But the old Sheikh was more politic, and obviously kept them in check.

After long and loud talking, the upshot of the whole matter on the part of Abu Zeitûn was, that unless we paid his demand we should see nothing more, and should return the way we came. There was also again some talk of camels coming from Eljy to take us back; but this seemed not to be much insisted on, and was rather a feint. We now told the old man plainly, that in

1

1 This story of other camels rested on a strict interpretation of Bedawîn common law, which secures to every tribe the right and profit of carrying all travellers and freight within its own territories. Strictly speaking, perhaps neither the Jehâlîn nor 'Alawîn have a right, according to this law, to bring travellers to Wady Mûsa, any more than to the convent at Sinai; and the Tawarah cannot do it, because they would have to pass through the country of the 'Alawîn, and thus invade their

rights. Yet these claims are relaxed in practice, especially among leagued tribes; so that the Tawarah cross the territories of the Haiwât and Tiyâhah without question, to take travellers to Gaza and Hebron. So too both the Alawîn and Jehâlîn carry travellers to Wady Mûsa; but they endeavour to avoid the notice of the neighbouring Arabs, and make their visits as short as possible; feeling that they are doing that for which they may perhaps be called to account.

the shape of Ghufr we should give nothing. If he was in rebellion against the government, we only wanted to know it, that we might make our report accordingly; at any rate we should make a report of his conduct to the English and American consuls in Cairo, who would lay the affair before the Pasha, and take measures that future travellers should not be thus exposed to exactions. After all, we were now in his power, and if he chose to rob or kill us outright, we were ready; but he must abide the consequences. Here the matter rested for some time.

It was already past 10 o'clock, and we began to be impatient at this delay. Rather than give up the ascent of Mount Hor, (although we had now seen it fully from below,) we thought it best to tender to the old man through Sheikh Hussân, at first, what the chief Sheikh of the Jehâlîn had told us would be enough, viz. forty piastres. It was returned; and also afterwards eighty, which we offered. I would have gone up to one hundred piastres; but the tenacious Sheikh was now so certain of his prey, that he would hear of nothing short of the full thousand. We therefore concluded, that it would be better on the whole, as we could not carry the matter through by force, to take him at his word, and return the way we came. The followers of Abu Zeitûn had gradually increased to nearly forty armed men, including some of the 'Ammârîn, and a brother of Sheikh Husein the 'Alawy. Keeping our own counsel, we ordered the camels. to be loaded, which was done without hindrance from any one; and we mounted.

Not wishing however to give up the point except from actual compulsion, we now attempted to set off on the way to Mount Hor, Sheikh Hussân leading the forward camel; but the hostile party at a signal from Abu Zeitûn instantly closed around, and swords were drawn and brandished; which however, among these Arabs, as we had now learned, means nothing more than to make a flourish. The heads of our camels were seized and turned in the opposite direction, with orders to go by the way we came. Not a step, my companion replied, except by force; and dismounting he stood up before them and told them: We now knew them to be robbers, and were ready for them; let them rob and kill us if they chose, but not a para more of money should they get, than we had offered them. They replied, that not for a para less than a thousand piastres should we go to Mount Hor. Our resolute Komeh next seized the halter of the head camel and tried to go on as before; but with no better success. He then in great wrath, threw down his gun and pistol and pipe on the ground before them, (the pipe was shivered in pieces,) declaring them to be thieves and robbers, and calling on them to take possession of his arms and all that he had. All this however was

of no avail; and we accordingly, about 11 o'clock, turned the heads of our camels the other way, and proceeded on the path which issues from the northeast corner of the area, leading close along under the tombs in the eastern cliffs.

Our departure in this manner seemed, after all, to be wholly unexpected to the adverse party. The old Sheikh had reckoned upon us so surely, that this movement took him by surprise and threatened to thwart his plans. He detained our Arabs long in consultation; and when Sheikh Hussân at length came up, he brought an offer that we might return and stay as long as we pleased on paying five hundred piastres. To this of course we paid no regard; being determined not to renew the negotiation. At this time our five Haweitât, whom we were desirous to retain at least for the present, thinking it a favourable moment to profit by our necessities, demanded their wages, and refused to accompany us any further, except at an extravagant price. We paid them off, and let them go. There now remained with us only our four Jehâlîn, in these mountains teeming with such ruffians. But we put our trust in God, and went forward; not knowing but that at any moment we might be overtaken and plundered.

After we had proceeded for nearly an hour, a man from Abu Zeitûn overtook us, inviting us to return; the Sheikh did not wish us to depart thus; our good will was worth more to him than money; and we might come back and finish our observations without paying any thing. We sent word to the effect, that we had seen all we desired in the valley; that he had driven us away, and we should not return; but should make our report to Cairo. After another hour came a second messenger, begging us at least to wait until the Sheikh himself could come up and get our good will;" which means, being interpreted, to part with words of peace, but get a bakhshish if possible. We were now on the plain of Sutûh Beida, nearly opposite Dibdiba; and turning aside under the shade of the western precipice, we waited accordingly.

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The old man came at length on his dromedary, and most of his company with him. Dismounting, he seated himself near us, repeated coldly the assurance, that our good will was dearer to him than money; said we might return if we chose, and whatever we might please to give him would be acceptable; or, if we chose to go on, we might go in peace. We told him, he was now too late, and we should go on; and left him coldly, without his present. I proposed indeed to my companion, that we should so far put his good will to the test, as to let him give us a guide to conduct us to Mount Hor by some other route, not leading through Wady Musa. But to this my friend was averse; thinking it better when once out of the old man's

clutches, not to place ourselves again in his power. We therefore reluctantly gave up Mount Hor, and proceeded on our way, after having been thus delayed for about an hour.

The head Sheikh of the Jehâlîn afterwards assured us, that such an exaction had never been attempted nor such a claim set up by Abu Zeitûn, before the present year; but this has probably been owing, as already suggested, to the shortness of the visits made by travellers, whose arrival did not become known to the Sheikh. The peasants, it was said, had sometimes come around, and asked for bakhshish; and a few piastres had occasionally been given them. At any rate, we were probably the first, on whom the old miscreant had once laid his grasp, who ever escaped from it without yielding to his demand; and we received many compliments from the Sheikhs of the Jehâlîn and others at Hebron for the boldness and address, with which we had extricated ourselves from his power. We owed our escape, no doubt, to the awe in which he stood of the strong arm of Muhammed 'Aly; a circumstance of which we did not discover the full extent until after we had left him. Hussân remained behind; and him he charged, that the Jehâlîn should bring no more Christians to Wady Musa, without an express paper with the seal of the government; such a paper he would obey. This means, of course, nothing more than a Tezkirah from the governor of Gaza, under whose jurisdiction this region belongs; or probably one from Jerusalem or Hebron would answer just as well.

We had committed the oversight of leaving our Firmân among our other papers at Hebron; not dreaming that it could be necessary to us in these mountains. to us in these mountains. But I am since persuaded, that had we had the Firmân to flourish in the old man's face, and more especially the Tezkirah of Sheikh Sa'id, which had been offered to us in Gaza,1 we should have carried our point without much difficulty. As it was, this could be done only by submitting to his demand, or by force. To the former we were not disposed, either for our own sakes or for the sake of those travellers who should come after us; and the latter was all on the adverse side. We suppose it was the same awe of Muhammed 'Aly, which alone prevented them from plundering us outright; helping themselves to that which we refused them.2

1 See p. 37, above.

2 We afterwards presented a written report of this whole affair to the American consul at Cairo, whom we met at Alexandria; but nothing appears to have been done in the matter. Mr Roberts, the English artist, and his party, who went to Wady Mûsa in 1839, were met by the Sheikh before they reached the spot; but got off with paying three hun

dred piastres instead of one thousand. Kinnear's Cairo, Petra, etc. p. 137.—In 1840, a large party of sixteen individuals, English, Americans, and Germans, making up a caravan of some fifty camels, visited Wady Mûsa together; and paid to the Arabs of the place, (as I am informed by one of the party,) not less than seventy-five piastres for each, or twelve hundred piastres in all