DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4996#0200
BEDOUIN DISPUTES. 167
and much as we despised him, we promised, for the sake of peace, to
comply with his wish, provided he dealt justly by him, in giving a
fair proportion of the money. What this really was, I of course,
unskilled in Bedouin law, could not determine, or I should at once
have decided the matter, had it been only to save my ears the in-
terminable disputes and discussions that ensued.
Next morning opened with a fresh row between the sheiks, who,
instead of loading the camels, began to quarrel about their claims ;
swords were drawn and flourished, and though in the abstract it little
concerned us whose throat was cut, (a consummation of which, how-
ever, there is but little dread, Arab valour being equally noisy
and prudent,) yet, as our progress was at a stand-still as long as this
dispute went on, I proceeded with Komeh to separate the disput-
ants, and had some difficulty in keeping in my intrepid follower;
for with no weapons but those which nature had bestowed on him,
he would at any moment have readily attacked, and probably well
beaten, any two of these fellows, armed to the teeth, and formidable-
looking ruffians as they were.
The termination of the vast gravelly plain we had been crossing
from Nukl was now at hand ; but we could yet see it, spreading
out wide to our left, the mirage giving its distant portions the
appearance of a succession of blue lakes: directly in front were
the mountains which close it in ; and far to the ritrht we could see,
stretching away, a still higher range running to the north, and on
the left the tops of the mountains about Wady Ghurundel, the
Taset Sudr being conspicuous afar. We entered these mountains
by a slight ascent, which struck, soon after, the head of a long,
winding valley, descending towards Suez : the immense plain we had
traversed floated away in mist, and we had now done with the pla-
teau of the Great Desert, upon which, dreary as it was, and glad as
we were to have passed it, I looked back with no small interest.
And here, before we turn away from it, let us sum up in a few
words all that appears clearly known as to the course of the
wanderings of the Israelites. I have already anticipated, in some
general observations on the history of the Exodus, what must so
and much as we despised him, we promised, for the sake of peace, to
comply with his wish, provided he dealt justly by him, in giving a
fair proportion of the money. What this really was, I of course,
unskilled in Bedouin law, could not determine, or I should at once
have decided the matter, had it been only to save my ears the in-
terminable disputes and discussions that ensued.
Next morning opened with a fresh row between the sheiks, who,
instead of loading the camels, began to quarrel about their claims ;
swords were drawn and flourished, and though in the abstract it little
concerned us whose throat was cut, (a consummation of which, how-
ever, there is but little dread, Arab valour being equally noisy
and prudent,) yet, as our progress was at a stand-still as long as this
dispute went on, I proceeded with Komeh to separate the disput-
ants, and had some difficulty in keeping in my intrepid follower;
for with no weapons but those which nature had bestowed on him,
he would at any moment have readily attacked, and probably well
beaten, any two of these fellows, armed to the teeth, and formidable-
looking ruffians as they were.
The termination of the vast gravelly plain we had been crossing
from Nukl was now at hand ; but we could yet see it, spreading
out wide to our left, the mirage giving its distant portions the
appearance of a succession of blue lakes: directly in front were
the mountains which close it in ; and far to the ritrht we could see,
stretching away, a still higher range running to the north, and on
the left the tops of the mountains about Wady Ghurundel, the
Taset Sudr being conspicuous afar. We entered these mountains
by a slight ascent, which struck, soon after, the head of a long,
winding valley, descending towards Suez : the immense plain we had
traversed floated away in mist, and we had now done with the pla-
teau of the Great Desert, upon which, dreary as it was, and glad as
we were to have passed it, I looked back with no small interest.
And here, before we turn away from it, let us sum up in a few
words all that appears clearly known as to the course of the
wanderings of the Israelites. I have already anticipated, in some
general observations on the history of the Exodus, what must so