Charles Montagu Doughty - Travels in Arabia Deserta

CHAPTEE II.

LIFE IN HAYIL.

PAGE

The great tribes beyond Ibn Rashid. Akhu Noora. The princely families. The Prince Mohammed childless. His " Christian wife." Abd el-Aziz the orphan child of Telal, and his half-brother Bunder's orphan. Secret miseries of Princes. The family of Abeyd. A song of Abeyd. Abeyd could be generous. Fahd. The poor distracted soul sells his daughter to his father Abeyd. Feyd. Sleyman. Abdullah. Wealth of Abeyd's family. Hamud's daughter. The government of Ibn Rashid. Beginning of the Shammar state. By some the Emir is named Zdlim, a tyrant. A tale of Metaab's government. A Christian Damascene tradesman visits Hayil. Discord among tribes of the Emir's domination. The Rajajil es-Sheukh. Imbarak. The Moors' garrison in the tower Marid at Jauf. Their defection and the recovery of Jauf. Tale of the Ottoman expedition against Jauf. Words of Sherarat tribesmen, to the sheykhs in Jauf. Ibn Rashid rides to save Jauf. Ibn Rashid and the Ottoman pasha. Beduins among the rajajil. Men of East Nejd and of er-Riath come to serve the Western Emir. Ibn Saud is " ruined." A messenger from er-Riath. Kahtan tribesmen at Hayil. Their speech. The Wady Dauasir country. Hayzan their sheykh. He threatens to stab the Nasrany. People's tales of the Kahtan. ' Their graves are crows' and eagles' maws.' Ibn Rashid's lineage. Kindreds of Shammar. Rashid, a lettered Beduwy. A fanatic kady. Dispute with the pedant kady. "The Muscovs of old possessed the land of Nejd." Inscriptions at Gubba. Study of letters in Nejd. Their nomad-like ignorance of the civil world. A village schoolmaster. A prophecy of Ezekiel. Plain words among the Arabs. Travelled men in Hayil. Winter weather. An outrage in the coffee-hall. The coffee-server called before the Emir. [Note : itinerary from Hayil to Kuweyt.] ..... 2446

CHAPTEK III.

DEPART FROM HAYIL ; JOURNEY TO KHEYBAR.

The ' Persian pilgrimage.' Imbarak's words. Town thieves. Jauf pilgrims in Hayil. Beduins on pilgrimage. The Caravan to Mecca arrives from the North. An Italian hajjy in Hayil. The Persians passed formerly by el-Kasim. Murderous dangers in Mecca. Concourse at Hayil.The Kheybar journey. Violent dealing of Imbarak. Ibn Rashid's passport. Departure from Hayil. Gofar. Seyadin, Beduin pedlars. El-Kasr village. Biddia hamlet. Adventure in the desert. Eyada ibn Ajjueyn. Kasim ibn Barak. Salih the rafik. " It is the angels." The Wady er-Rummah. Kasim's sister. Set forward again with Salih. The Nasrany abandoned at strange tents. The hospitable goodness of those nomads. Thaifullah. Set forth with Ghroceyb from the menzil of Eyada. The Harra in sight. Heteym menzil in the Harra. Lineage

PAGE

of the Heteym. The lava-field. The division of waters of Northern Arabia. The dangerous passage. The great Harrat (Kheybar). El-Hayat, village. Cattle paths in the Harra. An alarm near Kheybar. Locusts. Ghroceyb in trouble of mind. Wady Jellas. Kheybar village. The Husn. An antique Mesjid 4776

CHAPTEE IV.

KHEYBAR. " THE APOSTLE'S COUNTRY."

The night at Kheybar. Abd el-Hady. Ahmed. The gunner's belt. Kheybar by daylight. Medina soldiery. Muharram. Sirur. The Nasrany brought before the village governor. Amm Mohammed en-Nejumy. Aman. The Gallas. Evening in the soldiers' kahwa. Ibrahim the kady. Abdullah's tale of the Engleys. Hejaz Arabic. A worthy negro woman. Amm Mohammed's house. Umm Kida. Brackish soil. Wadies of Kheybar. The Albanians. Kheybar genealogy. The Nasrany accused. The villagers in fear of his enchantments. Friendship with Amm Mohammed. Our well labour. His hunting. Kasr en-Neby. El-Asmieh. Blood-sprinkling. Hospitality of the sheykh of the hamlet. Gatunies. Barrows upon the Harra. Magicians come to Kheybar to raise treasures. The Husn rock. 77105

CHAPTEE V.

THE KHEYABARA.

Kheybar witches. Dakhilullah, the Menhel. Ibrahim. Our garden labour. Their custom to labour for each other without wages. Housebuilding. The negro villagers are churlish and improvident. Famine in the land. Kheybar " THE LAND'S WEALTH." Antique Kheybar conquered by the Annezy. The ancient partnership of Beduins and villagers. Sirur. The villagers' rights in the soil. Their husbandry is light. Afternoons and evenings at Kheybar. The Asiatic priests' mystery of stabbing and cutting themselves. Villagers going out for wood are surprised by a ghrazzu. ' The work of the Dowla is mere rapine.' Kheybar occupied by the Dowla. The Beduins taxed. A day of battle with the Aarab. Vility of a Turkish colonel. Perfidy of the Fukara. The Kheyabara sup of their hostile (nomad) partners' camels. The ears of the slain are cut off. The Medina soldiery at Kheybar. The cholera. Wandering hills. Fabulous 'opinion, in the East, of Kheybar. Abdullah's letter to the Governor of Medina. Abdullah's tales. His tyranny at Kheybar. Sedition in the village. The village kindreds. Abdullah's stewardship. Dakhil the post. Aly, the religious sheykh, an enemy to death. The Nejumy's warning to Abdullah, spoken in generous defence of the Nasrany. The ostrich both bird and camel. Amm Mohammed had saved other strangers.......... 106137

CHAPTER VI.

THE MEDINA LIFE AT KHEYBAR.

Amm Mohammed's Kurdish family. His life from his youth. His son Haseyn. His easy true religion. He is a chider at home. Ahmed. A black fox. The kinds of gazelles. The Nejumy a perfect marksman. His marvellous eye-sight. The ignorances of his youth. A transmuter of metals. A brother slain. His burning heart to avenge him. A Beduin marksman slain, by his shot, in an expedition. A running battle. He is wounded. Fiend-like men of the Bashy Bazuk. The Muatterin at Damascus. Religious hospitality of the Arabs. Syrian tale of a bear. Mohammedan and Christian cities. Mohammed (in his youth) went in a company, from Medina, to rob a caravan of pilgrims. He saves a pilgrim's life. The Lahabba of Harb, a kindred of robbers. Tales of the Lahabba. Imperfect Moslems in the Haj. A Christian found at Medina. His martyr's death. A friar in Medina. Another Christian seen by Mohammed in Medina. Yahud and Nasara. ' Whose Son is Jesus ? ' Mohammed answers the salutation of just men, from his tomb. The martyrs' cave at Bedr Honeyn. Dakhil returns not at his time. The Nasrany's life in doubt. Amm Mohammed's good and Abdullah's black heart. Dakhil arrives in the night. Atrocious words of Abdullah. " The Engleys are friends and not rebels to the Sooltan." Andalusia of the Arabs. An English letter to the Pasha of Medina. Abdullah's letter. Spitting of some account in their medicine...... 138-164

CHAPTEE VII.

GALLA-LAND. MEDINA LORE.

The Abyssinian Empire. Galla-land. Perpetual warfare of (heathen) Gallas and (Christian) Abyssinians. A renegade Frank or Traveller at Mecca and Medina. Subia drink. A hospitable widow (at Tayif). " The Nasara are the Sea's offspring." Wady Bishy. Muharram's death. The Nasrany accused. Sale of Muharram's goods. Aly, the (deadly) enemy of the Nasrany. The Ferra. El-Auazim. Thegif. The Nejumy in Hayil. A Roman invasion of ancient Arabia. Aelius Gallus sent by Augustus, with an army, to occupy the riches of A. Felix. Season of the Haj. Alarms. Tidings from the War. Palm plait. Quern stones wrought by the Arabs. New Alarms. Antique building on the Harra. Yanba. The Kheybar valleys. Harrats of Medina. The Halhal. The Hurda. Clay summer-houses of W. Aly Beduins. The Kheyabara abstain from certain meats. Another Ageyly's death.His grave ' violated by the witches.' Tales of the Jan. A man wedded with a jin wife at Medina. 165-194