DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0228
A FRENCH SHEIK.
217
who have risen to distinction in foreign lands by-
military talents, and the force of that restless ener-
gy so peculiar to his countrymen. Many years
before, he had thrown himself into the Arabian
Desert, where he had become so much beloved by
the Bedouins, that on the occasion of a dispute be-
tween two contending claimants, the customs of
their tribe were waived, the pretensions of the ri-
vals set aside, and he was elected sheik of Mount
Sinai, and invested with the flattering name, which
he retains to this day, of Abdel Heg, or the slave
of truth. Notwithstanding his desert rank and dig-
nity, he received me with a politeness which sa-
voured of the salons of Paris, and encouraged me
in my intention of visiting Petra, assuring me
that it would abundantly repay me for all the diffi-
culties attending it; in fact, he spoke lightly of
these, although I afterward found that his acquaint-
ance with the language, his high standing among
the Bedouins, and his lavish distribution of money
and presents, had removed or diminished obstacles,
which, to a stranger without these advantages,
were by no means of a trifling nature. Tn addition
to much general advice, he counselled me particu-
larly to wear the Turkish or Arab dress, and to get
a letter from the Wabeeb Effendi to the governor
of the little fortress of Akaba. Mr. Linant has
been twenty years in Egypt, and is now a bey in the
pacha's service, and that very afternoon, after a
long interview, had received orders from the great
reformer to make a survey of the pyramids, for the
purpose of deciding which of those gigantic monu-
VOL. I.—T
217
who have risen to distinction in foreign lands by-
military talents, and the force of that restless ener-
gy so peculiar to his countrymen. Many years
before, he had thrown himself into the Arabian
Desert, where he had become so much beloved by
the Bedouins, that on the occasion of a dispute be-
tween two contending claimants, the customs of
their tribe were waived, the pretensions of the ri-
vals set aside, and he was elected sheik of Mount
Sinai, and invested with the flattering name, which
he retains to this day, of Abdel Heg, or the slave
of truth. Notwithstanding his desert rank and dig-
nity, he received me with a politeness which sa-
voured of the salons of Paris, and encouraged me
in my intention of visiting Petra, assuring me
that it would abundantly repay me for all the diffi-
culties attending it; in fact, he spoke lightly of
these, although I afterward found that his acquaint-
ance with the language, his high standing among
the Bedouins, and his lavish distribution of money
and presents, had removed or diminished obstacles,
which, to a stranger without these advantages,
were by no means of a trifling nature. Tn addition
to much general advice, he counselled me particu-
larly to wear the Turkish or Arab dress, and to get
a letter from the Wabeeb Effendi to the governor
of the little fortress of Akaba. Mr. Linant has
been twenty years in Egypt, and is now a bey in the
pacha's service, and that very afternoon, after a
long interview, had received orders from the great
reformer to make a survey of the pyramids, for the
purpose of deciding which of those gigantic monu-
VOL. I.—T