DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4996#0124
102 DISAPPOINTMENT.
sterling, for the number of six camels only, all patience forsook us
at once. On such occasions nothing is more provoking than to find
that you cannot make your -wrath intelligible. In the choicest
broken English and Italian, I now desired Korneh to tell him that
the Alawin had made the name of the Bedouin to stink in an
Englishman's nostrils ; that I would never be foolish enough to pay
such a sum ; that we were not going to Syria from Petra, but return-
ing to Cairo ; and that unless by noon the following day they came
to reasonable terms, I would not waste another moment, but would
then set off there direct, denounce them to the Consul, and prevent
a single traveller from taking that route to Petra. A stormy alter-
cation now ensued between Komeh and the rest of the conclave ; all
howled and gesticulated simultaneously, without respect of persons,
the commonest Arab being here on a level with the sheik, and
at liberty to give his opinion with his utmost stress of lungs. At
length the whole body departed, declaring positively, that I should see
nothing of Petra, unless I acceded to their terms.
This was an unexpected issue, but happily materials of conso-
lation were at hand: Akaba proved to be a little Goshen ; fish,
flesh, and fowl, fresh fruit and vegetables, came pouring in ; a sup-
ply of bread was ordered for the following morning ; and in the en-
joyment of the best dinner we had compassed since leaving Cairo,
I endeavoured to forget the antecedent tribulations. -
We had got rid for a while of the Arabs and their clamour,
they had retired to discuss the matter in all its bearings, and were
probably for hours in noisy conclave, but, for the moment, it touched
me not. The sun, whose noon-day beams had shone upon a scene
of furious debate, now sunk in glory behind the hills of the west-
ern wilderness ; the sea murmured gently at the foot of the waving
palms ;—the Mughreby soldiers of the little fortress came down to
the sands to pray ; 1 left my tent, and strolled along the cool
shore : there, one might have fancied one's self on the edge of some
green island of the Southern Ocean, so sweetly did the thick verdure
hem in the rippling waves, so lonely and solitary was the place, at
but a stone's throw from my tent ; and there too were the ruinous
sterling, for the number of six camels only, all patience forsook us
at once. On such occasions nothing is more provoking than to find
that you cannot make your -wrath intelligible. In the choicest
broken English and Italian, I now desired Korneh to tell him that
the Alawin had made the name of the Bedouin to stink in an
Englishman's nostrils ; that I would never be foolish enough to pay
such a sum ; that we were not going to Syria from Petra, but return-
ing to Cairo ; and that unless by noon the following day they came
to reasonable terms, I would not waste another moment, but would
then set off there direct, denounce them to the Consul, and prevent
a single traveller from taking that route to Petra. A stormy alter-
cation now ensued between Komeh and the rest of the conclave ; all
howled and gesticulated simultaneously, without respect of persons,
the commonest Arab being here on a level with the sheik, and
at liberty to give his opinion with his utmost stress of lungs. At
length the whole body departed, declaring positively, that I should see
nothing of Petra, unless I acceded to their terms.
This was an unexpected issue, but happily materials of conso-
lation were at hand: Akaba proved to be a little Goshen ; fish,
flesh, and fowl, fresh fruit and vegetables, came pouring in ; a sup-
ply of bread was ordered for the following morning ; and in the en-
joyment of the best dinner we had compassed since leaving Cairo,
I endeavoured to forget the antecedent tribulations. -
We had got rid for a while of the Arabs and their clamour,
they had retired to discuss the matter in all its bearings, and were
probably for hours in noisy conclave, but, for the moment, it touched
me not. The sun, whose noon-day beams had shone upon a scene
of furious debate, now sunk in glory behind the hills of the west-
ern wilderness ; the sea murmured gently at the foot of the waving
palms ;—the Mughreby soldiers of the little fortress came down to
the sands to pray ; 1 left my tent, and strolled along the cool
shore : there, one might have fancied one's self on the edge of some
green island of the Southern Ocean, so sweetly did the thick verdure
hem in the rippling waves, so lonely and solitary was the place, at
but a stone's throw from my tent ; and there too were the ruinous