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SECTION XXIV
OF THE BEDOUIN OR WANDERING ARABS
CHAP. I.
Peculiarities in the
Manners of the Bedouins.
The Arabs
settled in cities, and especially those in the sea-port towns,
have lost somewhat of their distinctive national manners, by their
intercourse with strangers; but the Bedouins, who live in tents, and in
separate tribes, have still retained the customs and manners of their
earliest ancestors. They are the genuine Arabs, and exhibit, in the
aggregate, all those characteristics which are distributed respectively among
the other branches of their nation.
I have repeatedly noticed the different
acceptations in which the word Schech or Schiech is used. Among the Bedouins it belongs to
every noble, whether of the highest or the lowest order. Their nobles are
very numerous, and compose in a manner the whole nation; the plebeians
are
invariably actuated and guided by the Schiechs, who
superintend and direct in every transaction.
The Schiechs, and
their subjects, are born to the life of shepherds and soldiers. The greater
tribes rear many camels, which they either sell to their neighbours,
or employ them in the carriage of goods, or in military expeditions. The
petty tribes keep flocks of sheep. Among those tribes which apply to
agriculture, the Schiechs at least live always in
tents, and leave the culture of their grounds to their subjects, whose
dwellings are wretched huts.
It is the difference in their ways of living
that constitutes the great distinctions which characterise
the different tribes. The genuine Arabs disdain husbandry, as an employment
by which they would be
degraded. They maintain no domestic animals but sheep and camels, except
perhaps horses. Those tribes which are of a pure Arab race live on the flesh
of their buffaloes, cows, and horses, and on the produce of some little ploughing. The former tribes, distinguished as noble by
their possession of camels, are denominated Abu el Abaar;
and the second Moædan. The latter are
esteemed a middle class, between genuine Arabs and peasants. I have heard
some tribes mentioned contemptuously, because they kept buffaloes and cows.
The
Moædan
transport their dwellings from one country to another, according as pasturage
fails them; so that a village often arises suddenly in a situation where, on
the day before, not a hut was to be seen.
The genuine Bedouins, living always in the
open air, have a very acute smell. They dislike cities, on account of the fœtid exhalations produced about them. They cannot
conceive how people, who regard cleanliness, can bear to breathe so impure
air. I have been assured, by persons of undoubted veracity,
that some Bedouins, if carried to the spot from which a camel has
wandered astray, will follow the animal by smelling its track, and
distinguish the marks of its footsteps, by the same means, from those of any
other beasts that may have travelled the same way.
Those Arabs, who wander in the desart, will live
five days without drinking, and discover a pit of water by examining the soil
and plants in its environs. They are said to be addicted to robbery; and the accusation is
not entirely unfounded; but may be laid equally to the charge of all nations that lead an
erratic life. The Schiechs ride continually about
on their horses or dromedaries, inspecting the conduct of their subjects,
visiting their friends, or hunting. Traversing the desart,
where the horizon is wide as on the ocean, they perceive travellers
at a distance.
As travellers
are seldom to be
met with in those wild tracts, they naturally draw nigh to those whom they
discover, and are tempted to pillage the strangers when they find their own
party the strongest. Besides, travellers passing
through these desarts go generally in caravans; and
a single person, or a small party, has a singular and suspicious appearance,
which is a temptation to the Bedouins.
In Arabia, as in all other thinly inhabited
countries, robbery is practised; but the Arabian
robbers are not cruel, and do not murder those whom they rob, unless when travellers stand upon the defensive, and happen to kill a
Bedouin, whose death the others are eager to revenge. Upon all other
occasions they act in a manner consistent with their natural hospitality. Upon
this head I have heard some anecdotes, which it may not be amiss to introduce
here.
A Mufti of Bagdad, returning from Mecca, was robbed in Nedsjed. He entered into a written agreement with the
robbers, who engaged to conduct him safe and sound to Bagdad
for a certain sum, payable at his own house. They delivered him to the next
tribe, those to a third; and he was thus conveyed from tribe to tribe, till he arrived safe at
home.
An European, belonging to a caravan which
was plundered, had been infected with the plague
upon his
journey. The Arabs, seeing him too weak to follow his companions, took him
with themselves, lodged him without their camp, attended him till he was cured, and then
sent him to Basra.
An Englishman, who was travelling
express to India, and could not wait for the departure of a caravan, hired
two Arabs at Bagdad, who were to accompany him to Basra. By the way he was attacked by some
Schiechs, against whom he at first defended himself with his
pistols; but, being hard pressed by their lances, was forced to surrender.
The Arabs, upon whom he
had fired, beat him till he
could not walk. They then carried him to their camp, entertained him for some
time, and at last conduced him safe to Basra. When Mr Forskal was robbed by the
Arabs in Egypt,
a peasant, who accompanied him, was beaten by the robbers, because he had pistols,
although he had
made no attempt to defend himself with them.
The pillaging of the caravans is not always owing merely to the propensity which the
Arabians have to robbery. Their pillaging expeditions are commonly considered
by themselves as lawful hostilities against enemies who would defraud the
nation of their dues, or against rival tribes, who have undertaken to protect
those illegal traders.
In one of those expeditions, a few years
since, undertaken against the Pacha of Damascus,
who was conductor of the Syrian caravan to Mecca, the tribe of Anæse,
which gained the victory, showed instances of their ignorance, and of the
simplicity of their manners. Those who happened to take goods of value knew
not their worth, but exchanged them for trifles. One of those Arabs having
obtained for his share a bag of pearls, thought them rice, which he had heard to be good food, and gave
them to his wife to boil, who, when she found that no boiling could soften
them, threw them away as useless.
Of the political
Constitution of the wandering Arabs.
TREATING of
the government of the Arabs in general, I said a few words occasionally
concerning that of the Bedouins. To avoid unnecessary repetition, I shall add
here only a few particulars concerning chiefly their political interests, in
respect to the neighbouring nations.
The dignity of Schiech
is hereditary, but is not confined to the order of primogeniture. The petty Schiechs, who form the hereditary nobility,
choose the
grand Schiech out of the reigning family, without
regarding whether he
be more nearly or
more distantly related to his predecessor.
Little or no revenue is paid to the grand Schiech; and the other Schiechs
are rather his equals than his subjects. If dissatisfied with his government,
they depose him, or go away with their cattle, and join another tribe. These
emigrations, which happen pretty frequently, have reduced some tribes, which
were once potent, to a low and inconsiderable state; and have greatly
augmented the numbers and power of some petty tribes.
Personal slavery is established among the
Bedouins; but none of them are ascripti glebæ. A peasant, when dissatisfied with his master,
may quit his service, and remove any where else.
The Bedouins, who live in tents in the desart, have never been subdued by any conqueror; but
such of them as have been enticed, by the prospect of an easier way of life,
to settle near towns, and in fertile provinces, are now, in some measure,
dependent on the Sovereigns of those provinces.
Such are the Arabs in the different parts of
the Ottoman empire. Some of them pay a rent
or tribute for the towns or pasturages which they occupy. Others frequent the
Banks of the Euphrates, only in one season
of the year; and, in
winter,
return to the desart. These last acknowledge no
dependence on the Porte.
Neither are,
properly speaking, subject to the Turks, to whom, on the contrary, they would
be dangerous neighbours, if the Pachas did
not find means to sow dissentions among the tribes and great families, when
there are more than one pretender to the dignity of Schiech
of Schiechs.
The policy of the Turks occasions frequent
wars among the Bedouins; but these are neither long nor bloody.
Whenever the Turks interfere in their
quarrels, all the tribes combine to repulse the common enemy of the whole
nation.
Every Grand Schiech
justly considers himself as absolute lord of his whole territories; and
accordingly exacts the same duties upon goods carried through his dominions
as are levied by other princes. The Europeans are wrong in supposing the sums
paid by travellers to the Grand Schiechs
to be merely a
ransom to redeem them from pillage.
The Turks, who send caravans through the desart to Mecca,
have submitted to the payment of these duties. They pay a certain sum
annually to the tribes who live near the road to Mecca; in return for which, the Arabs keep
the wells open, permit the passage of merchandize, and escort the caravans.
If the Bedouins sometimes pillage those
caravans, the haughty perfidious conduct of the Turkish officers is always
the first cause of such hostilities. Those insolent Turks look upon all the
Arabs as rebels; that is, in the modern signification of this word, as a
people who, although weak, have the audacity to withstand the oppression of
their stronger neighbours. In consequence of this
selfish reasoning, they violate their engagements; and the Arabs take their
revenge by pillaging the caravans.
The famous Ali Bey,
when he conducted
the Egyptian caravan to Mecca, would not pay
all the duties on his way to Mecca,
but promised to pay the rest, on his return, and forgot his promise. On the
year following, the Arabs assembled in greater numbers, and obliged the
Captain of the caravan to pay for himself and Ali Bey
both. The Turks exclaimed against this as an act of robbery; yet the Arabs had
only done themselves justice.
The conduct of Abdalla,
Pacha of Damascus, who commanded the Syrian caravan
in 1756, was still more odious. When the Schiechs
of the tribe of Harb came to meet him, to receive
the stipulated toll, he
gave them a friendly invitation to visit him; but, instead of paying the
toll, cut off their heads, and sent them to Constantinople, as a proof of his
victory over the rebel Arabs. The stroke which those suffered by the death of
their
chiefs hindered them from attempting any thing in revenge, on either that or
the following year: The caravans travelled in
triumph to Mecca;
and the Turks boasted of the valour and prudence of
Abdalla Pacha. But, in
the third year, the Arabs avenged the slaughtered Schiechs,
and, with an army of eighty thousand men, raised out of all the tribes,
routed the Turks, and pillaged the caravan. The tribe of Anæse,
under the command of their Schiech, distinguished
themselves particularly in this expedition.
There is a certain
subordination among the tribes. The petty tribes, being unable to defend
themselves, place themselves under the protection of the greater, and are
governed by their laws. Thus are powerful tribes formed by the union of
several small tribes.
The Arabian nation are much more numerous,
and wider spread, than they are generally supposed to be. They occupy countries, once
cultivated and populous, whose ancient inhabitants have disappeared. The
period at which these Arabian settlements were formed, cannot now be ascertained; nor is
it known whether they may not have been anterior to the reign of the Caliphs.
The ancients did not distinguish accurately between different nations. The
Kings of Palmyra, who have been supposed to be Jews, were more probably Arabs.
Of the Bedouins on the
confines of the Desart.
The most
ancient and powerful tribes of this people are those which easily retire into
the desart when attacked by a foreign enemy. These
too have preserved the national character in its greatest purity, and have
maintained their liberty unimpaired. Of this number are the following tribes,
of whom I shall mention such particulars as have come to my knowledge.
The Beni
Khaled are one of the
most powerful tribes in all Arabia, on
account of their conquests, their wealth, and the number of other tribes
subject to them. From the desart of Nedsjed, they have advanced to the sea, and have
conquered the country of Lachsa, as I mentioned in
the proper place. The Schiech of this tribe does
not live always in the city of Lachsa, but sometimes in tents
in the desart.
The tribe of Kiab, who inhabit north from the Persian Gulph, and of whom I have already spoken, rarely encamp;
they have possessions in the province
of Susistan,
in Persia.
In this province
of Susistan,
near the principality of Havisa, and in the neighbourhood of the city of Schuster, five different considerable
tribes of
independent Bedouins. From the existence of these establishments, I should
judge the authority of the Persians in this country to be precarious, and Susistan to be interspersed with desarts.
Beni
Lam, are a great tribe between Korne and
Bagdad, upon the banks of the Tigris,
the Arabic name of which river, in constant use among the inhabitants of the
country, is Didsjele. They receive
duties upon goods carried between Basra and Bagdad. These Arabs sometimes pillage caravans. The Pacha of Bagdad then sends troops against them, and
sometimes chastises them by beheading their chiefs. But the successors of the
Schiechs, who have been beheaded, are always as
great enemies to the Turks, and as zealous to maintain their liberty, as
their predecessors have been.
Montefidsi,
or Montesik, are the most powerful tribe north from
the desart, whether in respect to the extent of
their territories, or the great number of the subaltern tribes who
acknowledge their authority. They possess all the country upon both sides of
the Euphrates, from Korne
to Ardje.
In summer, when the grass in the desart is in a manner burnt up, the reigning Schiech resides at Nahhr
el Antar, a town upon the banks of the Euphrates. In winter, they drive their
cattle to
feed in the desart, and encamp in tents. The
inhabitants of the villages, who apply to agriculture, and are for this
reason held in contempt by the Bedouins, pay a tribute. They are poor, as
must naturally be
the condition of the subjects of those Schiechs who
live comfortably themselves, but are not disposed to suffer their peasantry
to grow rich.
The Arabs of this tribe often plunder travellers going between Helle
and Basra.
The Pacha of Bagdad commonly chastises them; some,
times even deposes the reigning Schiech, and
advances another prince of the same family in his room. These Arabs submit to
this slight degree of dependence on the Turks, because they are unwilling to
lose their establishments on the fertile banks of the Euphrates.
In the late troubles of these provinces of the Ottoman
empire, frequent notice was taken of this tribe, and they acted
no unimportant part.
The tribe derive
their name from one Montesik, who came from Hedsjas, and was descended from a family who were
illustrious before the days of Mahomet. One thing certain is,
that the descendents of this Montesik have
been sovereigns in this country from time immemorial. They are divided into
many branches; and, in my time, the reigning family consisted of one
hundred and
fifty persons, all of whom might aspire to the supreme power.
In 1765, the reigning Schiech,
who was not of the elder branch, was named Abdallah.
The other princes of his family enjoyed, at the same time, a certain share of
authority; each having his own subjects, with whom, in time of war, they all
join the troops of the Schiech of Schiechs; in some districts they levy taxes and customs
upon their own account.
There were named to me more than a score of
inferior tribes, who live all in subjection to that of Montesik,
which, of itself, is not extremely numerous. Among these subordinate tribes,
are some who have others again still less considerable, dependent upon them. The Arabs call those dependent tribes El Araye.
All these tribes upon the confines of the desart, whose names I have mentioned, are genuine Arabs,
who breed sheep and camels, and live in tents. But this description is, with
more peculiar propriety, applicable to the reigning tribes; for, I believe,
that some of the inferior tribes have lost their nobility, by intermixing the
practice of agriculture with the habits of pastoral life.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Bedouins of Mesopotamia.
The rich
plains of Mesopotamia and Assyria, which were once cultivated by a populous
nation, and watered by surprising efforts of human industry, are now
inhabited, or rather ravaged, by wandering Arabs. As long as these fertile
provinces shall remain under the government, or rather anarchy of the Turks,
they must continue desarts, in which nature dies
for want of the fostering care of man. A hereditary Sovereign, seated at Bagdad, and none else, might restore this country to
its once flourishing state.
The Pachas, not
knowing how to improve the value of these depopulated districts, and not
being able to drive away the Arabs, permit them for an annual rent to
cultivate those lands, or feed their flocks upon them. But that people are
passionately fond of liberty, and shew by their conduct that they consider not themselves
as subject to the Turkish yoke. The frequent wars, in which several of the
tribes are engaged with the Pacha of Bagdad,
although viewed as rebellion by the Ottoman officers, are proofs of the independence
of the Arabs.
So rich a tract of country, naturally
invites its inhabitants to cultivate it. The lands between the Tigris and the
Euphrates are intersected by numerous
canals, and are inhabited only by tribes practising
agriculture, or Moædan. Such are the
Beni Hæhkem, a tribe situate eastward from the Euphrates, whose present Schiech
is named Fontil, and who rules several petty tribes
of husbandmen.
Khasaal,
a powerful tribe of husbandmen, likewise on the east side of the Euphrates. They have a great many petty tribes of
Arabs, who live in villages, subject to them. One of these petty tribes
comprehends five and twenty inferior tribes, and two others forty each. The
tribes which practise husbandry appear therefore to
be less numerous
than the Bedouins, who often unite into very large bodies. The tribe of Khasaal can muster two thousand cavalry, and a
proportionate number of infantry. The Pacha of
Bagdad has lately made war on these people, with various success.
These Arabs are Shiites; and this is one motive more to set them at variance
with the Turks. The reigning Schiech is named Hammoud, and levies customs from vessels
coming up the Euphrates.
All the Arabs within the territories of the
government of Bagdad are not husbandmen.
South from that city are some Bedouins, who breed camels. Of these are the
tribes of Beni Temim,
and Dafasa, as well as some other
tribes between Bagdad and Mosul.
The tribe of Al Toba have become very
considerable, through the favour of the Pacha of Bagdad, one of whose principal officers was a
near relation to the reigning Schiech. All that
tract of country between Bagdad and Mosul is possessed by hordes of Bedouins;
one of which, occupying the range of hills adjacent to the Tigris, lately
made an attack upon the troops of the Pacha; and
another, denominated Al Buhamdan, pillaged a
caravan when I was in Mosul.
Thay are a
great and powerful tribe of Bedouins between Merdin
and Mosul.
The reigning Schiech, who is of the family of Salie, for a small annual tribute, possesses
the large and fertile plain of Assyria. Were it not for the usual Turkish
policy of sowing dissention among the neighbours,
the Pachas would find it impossible to maintain any
shadow of authority over this tribe. But, the Pacha
of Bagdad sends the Togk, or
horse’s tail, sometimes to one Schiech,
sometimes to another; and thus is a constant rivalry kept up among them,
which weakens their common strength. This horse’s tail is not merely
an ensign
of empty honour. It confers the dignity of Beg,
with the right to the possesion of the plain, which
is held to be
with the Turks, The deposed Beg quits his place of residence between Mosul and Nissibin, and retires with his partizans to the banks of the river Khabour,
and there waits an opportunity to supplant his rival.
All travellers
complain of the robberies of there Bedouins of Assyria. The restlessness and
thievish disposition of these people seem to increase the farther they recede
from their native desarts, and approach the country
inhabited by the plundering Kurdes and Turcomans.
I was told of ten wandering tribes, Arak
Arabi. The most considerable encamps in the
environs of Helle; its name is Solæd; and its branches are spread even
into the governments of Aleppo and Damascus.
An Arabian Schiech,
with whom I was acquainted at Aleppo, gave me
the names of eight tribes of Bedouins who live towards the head of the Euphrates, in districts comprehended within the
government of the Pacha of Orsa.
But, as he could
give me no farther information concerning these tribes, I pass them by in
silence.
Of the Bedouins of Syria.
The Pachas of this province have as much to do with the
wandering Arabs, as the Turkish governors on the Persian frontier. It is of
great consequence to the cities of Aleppo and Damascus, that their caravans, travelling
to Bagdad or Basra,
he
suffered to pass in safety through the desart.
Without escorting them with an army, the Pachas
could not protect them from insult and pillage, did they not artfully
contrive to employ one tribe of Arabs against the rest.
With this view, the Pacha
gives the title of Emir to the most powerful Schiech
in the neighbourhood. This emir is obliged to guide
the caravans, to keep the other Arabs in awe, and to levy the dues from those
who feed their cattle on the Pacha’s grounds.
As payment for his trouble, and to reimburse his expences,
he receives a
certain sum yearly. But the Arabs having little confidence in Turkish
promises, the Pacha settles upon the Emir a number
of villages, the revenues of which make up the stipulated sum. These villages
were miserable enough before, but have been absolutely
ruined by
the precarious government of the Arabs.
Upon a calculation of the scanty revenue
which the Porte derive from this part of their dominions, and the trivial
rents paid by the Arabs for the liberty of ravaging whole provinces; and, on
the other hand, a comparative estimate of the sums expended in maintaining
that vagabond race in a specious subjection; it is plain, that they are
losers by the shadow of authority which they pretend to have over the Arabs;
but Ottoman vanity is pleased with the vain fancy of possessing immense
territories, from which the Sultan derives no revenue, and in which his
orders are not respected.
The most powerful tribe near Aleppo, are the Mauali, whose reigning Schiech
is of the family of El Burische. The Pachas put some times one, sometimes another of the Schiechs of this family in possession of the villages and
revenues belonging to the dignity of Emir. He whom they depose,
retires commonly with his party to the banks of the Euphrates,
and there awaits an opportunity to soften the new Pacha
by presents, and recover his place. A few years since, an Emir foreseeing
that he was to be deposed, plundered a
caravan, carried away 30,000 head of cattle from the pastures about Aleppo, and conveyed his booty to a place of safety near
the Euphrates.
Some time after, he surprised and
pillaged the city of Hæms. It was
supposed, when I was in Aleppo,
that the Pacha would be obliged to recal
and reinstate him in the office of Emir.
A nephew of the Emir, or reigning Schiech of the tribe of Mauali,
named to me fifteen considerable tribes who inhabit the neighbourhood
of Aleppo.
Another Schiech, a great traveller,
mentioned five others, somewhat farther distant, and near the road from Aleppo to Basra.
All these Bedouins pay each a trifle to the Emir, for liberty to hire out or
sell their camels, and to feed their cattle through the country. The neighbouring tribes in the desart
of salt, who are subject to the Pacha, pay
something to a farmer (of the tax) for liberty to gather the salt formed in
that desart.
I was surprised to see among those tribes
the tribes of Thay and Sobæd,
which must of consequence be
spread very widely over the country. The tribe of Rabea
boasts of its antiquity, and pretends to have come from Yemen to
settle in the north, at the time when the dyke of the reservoir of the Sabæans at Mareb was broken
down.
As my stay at Damascus was very short, I could not
acquire enough of information concerning the Bedouins in the government of
or Scham. I learned only the names of a dozen of their
tribes, one of which named Abu Salibe,
consists, as I was told, solely of Christians. Another, Beni
Hamjar, pretend that they are descended from
the old Arabian kings of this name.
Several circumstances lead me to presume,
that, of the other nations in Syria,
Kurdes, Druses, Metuæli,
Nassaries, and Tschinganes,
some are of Arabian ancestry.
The tribe of Anæse are esteemed to be the greatest tribe
in the desart of Syria. They have even spread into
Nedsjed, where they are reckoned the most numerous tribe in the heart of Arabia.
The caravans of Turkish pilgrims pay them a considerable duty for their free
passage through the country. This tribe too, when
dissatisfied, plunder the caravans. They often make war on the Pacha of Damascus. They lately routed and killed the Pacha of Ghassa in his
own government.
In my time, the departure of a caravan from Bagdad was retarded by news received of those Arabs
being on ill terms with the Pacha of Damascus. Two
Turkish lords, who were very much beloved in Arabia,
resolving to attend the caravan, the merchants ventured to pack up and send
off their goods. But, I not choosing, after so many dangers, to expose myself
anew
and unnccessarily, took the road from Bagdad to Mosul, and intrusted a trunk
to an Arab, a camel-driver in that caravan, directing him to deliver it to a
certain man at Aleppo.
Within a day’s journey of Damascus,
the whole caravan were plundered by the tribe of Anæse. The trunk was opened. The Bedouins
took what they chose, but left me my books, papers, a box of medals, and two
watches. The camel driver collected the broken pieces of my trunk, and
brought the whole honestly to Aleppo.
Thus had I, at the same time, a proof of Arabian rapacity and Arabian
integrity.
CHAP. VI.
Of the Bedouins of Arabia
Petræa, and Palestine.
The name of Arabia
Petræa is used in a vague manner by our
geographers. It seems to be
a denomination given to those countries which are mostly desart,
between Egypt, Syria, and Arabia
properly so called. It would be difficult to determine exactly the limits of those
countries, which are little known, and but thinly inhabited; the inhabitants
of which wander among dry sands and rocks, seeking here and there a few spots
which afford some scanty food for
their
cattle. None but Bedouins haunt these desarts.
In the account of my journey to Mount Sinai, I spoke of three tribes whom
I found settled by the highway. Those are no doubt of that class which acknowledge the superiority of a greater tribe. On the other
side of that chain of mountains, and in the environs of Akaba,
there must be
other tribes, but the names of these I know not.
I have already mentioned the great tribe of Harb, who live to the north of Hedsjas. In this province are also the
ancient tribes of Beni Ottæba,
Hodeil, Jom, and
others, which the inhabitants of Mecca
call bands of robbers, seemingly for no other reason, but that their Sherriffe has frequent quarrels with those Bedouins.
There are also several considerable tribes
upon the confines of Nedsjed, and the great desart. The tribe of Beni Temim, among
these, were famous in the days of the successors of Mahomet, for a
prophetess named Sedsjay, who did honour to the tribe. Schiech Dahber, Master of Acca,
and the greater part of Palestine,
is also an Arab, but I know not to what tribe he belongs.
I could learn nothing of consequence
concerning the Arabs of Palestine. They seem to be poor neglected hordes, who
inhabit that barren and dismal country.
I was told of the tribe of Dsjœrhamie, between Rama and Jerusalem. The European
monks, who are now the only pilgrims that visit the Holy
Land, describe those Arabs as devils incarnate, and complain
dolefully of their cruelty to the poor Christians. Those lamentations, and
the superstitious pity of good souls in Europe, procure large alms to the
convent of Franciscans at Jerusalem.
The exaggerated relations of the sufferings of the pilgrims, from those
inhuman Bedouins, will therefore be continued as long as they can serve the purpose for which
they are intended.
It must he confessed, however, that this tribe of Dsjœrhamie form, in one instance, a
remarkable exception from the ordinary national character of the Arabs, who,
in general, never maltreat a stranger, unless they have first received
provocation. But, those Arabs in the neighbourhood
of Jerusalem
have a rooted aversion to the monks; in other respects, they are honest
enough people.
They convey every year, from Jafa to Jerusalem, money
and goods, sent to the monks from Europe, to
a considerable amount, without ever touching or embezzling the smallest
article. They know that the superior of the convent at Jerusalem pays the travelling
expences of the pilgrims,
and that
they are poor monks, who have nothing to lose. Yet they wait to intercept
those indigent caravans, not to pillage them, but that they may have the
pleasure of venting their hatred against the monks.
It would be a gross mistake, therefore, if any European
should fancy that he
might travel safely through Judea, in
consequence of putting himself under the protection of the monks. A young
Frenchman had a trial of this when I was in that country. Passing the river Jordan, he was severely beaten
by the Bedouins, solely for being found in company with the monks, which made
the Arabs view him in a suspicious light.
←Vol. II, Sect. XXIII Table of Contents Vol. II, Sect. XXV →
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