DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0293
AN" AEAB SALE.
275
toil—Mrs. Finn sent for the Eev. Mr. Mcholayson—
the first of all the missionaries in Jerusalem, and the
most venerated by all classes and all religions, a cautious
and sagacious man : he came and willingly put his hand
to the work. They then sent for Mr. Bergheim, the
hanker, himself a converted Jew, and explained their
object; he ran home, and soon returned with 50l. in a
bag, which he advanced, joyfully and gladly as a loan,
to buy a bit of the land of his fathers, for his despised
brethren. Mr. Graham (the Lay Secretary of the Mis-
sion) gathered the other 50^. in small sums, chiefly as
loans also, and the purchase-money then stood complete.
Two or three of the English residents, who loved and
laboured for the Jews, assembled at the Consulate, and
the actual sale began.
And this Arab sale—which is called "the sale by the
broken group "—is a curious affair: should the price be
only a distinct number of piasters, the money might be
returned at any change of mind in the original owner, or
at least quarrelled with afterwards: the custom is
therefore to buy for a definite and also for an un-
known sum; a quantity of bazaar trinkets, small coins,
and trifles, are collected in a handkerchief, which is
rolled up, thrown into the air, and the scattered con-
tents scrambled for by all present.
An exciting scene it was—the group of picturesque
Arab Sheikhs, headed by a wild Bedoueen—a notorious
robber but a powerful chief, whose presence Was a
guarantee for the truth and fidelity of all the others, —
and the little band of Europeans, some of whom had
long planned, worked for, and earnestly desired this happy
moment-—some who loved the Jews, and some who had
themselves been Jews, — all assembled in the little room
at the Consulate, with the precious money counted out
275
toil—Mrs. Finn sent for the Eev. Mr. Mcholayson—
the first of all the missionaries in Jerusalem, and the
most venerated by all classes and all religions, a cautious
and sagacious man : he came and willingly put his hand
to the work. They then sent for Mr. Bergheim, the
hanker, himself a converted Jew, and explained their
object; he ran home, and soon returned with 50l. in a
bag, which he advanced, joyfully and gladly as a loan,
to buy a bit of the land of his fathers, for his despised
brethren. Mr. Graham (the Lay Secretary of the Mis-
sion) gathered the other 50^. in small sums, chiefly as
loans also, and the purchase-money then stood complete.
Two or three of the English residents, who loved and
laboured for the Jews, assembled at the Consulate, and
the actual sale began.
And this Arab sale—which is called "the sale by the
broken group "—is a curious affair: should the price be
only a distinct number of piasters, the money might be
returned at any change of mind in the original owner, or
at least quarrelled with afterwards: the custom is
therefore to buy for a definite and also for an un-
known sum; a quantity of bazaar trinkets, small coins,
and trifles, are collected in a handkerchief, which is
rolled up, thrown into the air, and the scattered con-
tents scrambled for by all present.
An exciting scene it was—the group of picturesque
Arab Sheikhs, headed by a wild Bedoueen—a notorious
robber but a powerful chief, whose presence Was a
guarantee for the truth and fidelity of all the others, —
and the little band of Europeans, some of whom had
long planned, worked for, and earnestly desired this happy
moment-—some who loved the Jews, and some who had
themselves been Jews, — all assembled in the little room
at the Consulate, with the precious money counted out