DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0123
ARAB NOTIONS OF TRAVEL.
107
cent of Mount Hor, and our adventure with the
Bedouins of Wady Moussa ; and wishing to show
them that we Christians conceived ourselves to
have some rights and interest in Aaron, I read to
them, and Paul explained, the verses in the Bible
recording his death and burial on the mountain.
They were astonished and confounded at finding
any thing about him in a book; records of travel
being entirely unknown to them, and books, there-
fore, regarded as of unquestionable veracity. The
unbeliever of the previous night, however, was
now as obstinate as if he had come from the banks
of the Zuyder Zee. He still contended that the
great high-priest of the Jews was a true follower
of the Prophet; and I at last accommodated the
matter by allowing that he was not a Christian.
That evening Paul and the sheik had a long and
curious conversation. After supper, and over
their pipes and coffee, the sheik asked him, as a
brother, why we had come to that old city, Wady
Moussa, so long a journey through the desert,
spending so much money; and when Paul told
him it was to see the ruins, he took the pipe from
his mouth, and said, " That will do verv well be-
fore the world ; but, between ourselves, there is
something else ;" and when Paul persisted in it,
the sheik said to him, " Swear by your God that
you do not come here to search for treasure f and
when Paul had sworn by his God, the sheik rose,
and pointing to his brother as the very acme of
honesty and truth, said, after a moment's hesita-
»
107
cent of Mount Hor, and our adventure with the
Bedouins of Wady Moussa ; and wishing to show
them that we Christians conceived ourselves to
have some rights and interest in Aaron, I read to
them, and Paul explained, the verses in the Bible
recording his death and burial on the mountain.
They were astonished and confounded at finding
any thing about him in a book; records of travel
being entirely unknown to them, and books, there-
fore, regarded as of unquestionable veracity. The
unbeliever of the previous night, however, was
now as obstinate as if he had come from the banks
of the Zuyder Zee. He still contended that the
great high-priest of the Jews was a true follower
of the Prophet; and I at last accommodated the
matter by allowing that he was not a Christian.
That evening Paul and the sheik had a long and
curious conversation. After supper, and over
their pipes and coffee, the sheik asked him, as a
brother, why we had come to that old city, Wady
Moussa, so long a journey through the desert,
spending so much money; and when Paul told
him it was to see the ruins, he took the pipe from
his mouth, and said, " That will do verv well be-
fore the world ; but, between ourselves, there is
something else ;" and when Paul persisted in it,
the sheik said to him, " Swear by your God that
you do not come here to search for treasure f and
when Paul had sworn by his God, the sheik rose,
and pointing to his brother as the very acme of
honesty and truth, said, after a moment's hesita-
»