Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-05-15

claimed by his sheik, he viii
have between three and four
hundred dollars in coin. The SHELF
realize large amount, besides re-
ceivlng a monthly salary from tho
| government. L have often euuniraJ
what these Bedwins do with tl,c,.
money, for they have neither lands nn,
houses, and the COran fOrbids Nohnn,
edans to lend out money on interest
Sometimes they buy more camels O..
sheep and goats from which they ,in
rive their principal nourishment: but
have been assured that most of than'
GurY Their money. This custom nral
vailed all over Egypt, Syria, and Pal
estine, under the rule of the TurIi..
Pachas, who made it a practice -
plnuder every man who was tiiouoht
to have any money; and III this land
where manners are unchangea-
bic, the habit remains, aIthnnal,
the Turkish oppressors have gone .
1t often happens both in tow,
and country, that a man dies before
| having time to reveal to his family H.
hiding place Of his treasure, which j.
probably found by a stranger after
long lapse of years.
AS [ said above, we are free from ii;
the troubles and annoyances yL;.l,
beset ordinary travellers. We naval
and we halt just when and where th.,
commanding officer decides If thn,a
is no wafer, the camel water train oo.s
for it every day OF every two DAYS ,,,-
cording to the distance, for We can car
ry six to eight days water i: Necessary
but so far we have found plenty nl !,
at convenient distances. E.yerytL;a
moves smoothly and regularly il
military manner and when ~,
happen to camp IN green waJ,-
with plenty OF grass and fnel. and cool
water near, soldiers and Bedouip@ ava
happy and glad to stay as long as pnsl
sible.
| Now, to come back to orr Bf,lwi,.
They have a high sense Of pprson,i
honor, as they understand it. and ora
| quick to avenge an injury, as vii; ,,.
pear from the following sketch of oIn.
manned Kalifa, the principal she'll, nf
| the Ababdehs, who accompanies our
expedition. He is about fifty y.ors
old, nearly six feet high, and Of ,iigni-
| fed portliness and bearing. His corr.
plexion is a very dark chocolate color
like all his people, but without any
! trace of negro feature, form or Loit
| He is man Of much intelligence and
| character. He reads and writes Arabic
well, but understands no European
! language. He dresses in the tiowino
| robes and turban of the old Eastern
costume which becomes him we'll. He
| is a man Of much wealth ard impor-
lance in his country and his uncle *
Governor of Berber and Dongoia. ANY
one would be struck by the dignity
| and gracefulness of his gestures and
the courtesy of his manners. His
father was Sheii1 Kralif, a man of much
fame i'll his day. After the massacre
of the Memlooks at Cairo, in 1911.
(Which [ mentioned III former letter,
three hundred Memlook chiefs sta
toned in Upper Egypt, knowing
that Nathaniel Ali would try
to complete their destruction. tool,
refuge among the Ababdehs. When
Ibrahim Pacha arrived in pur-
suit with his army, he bitterly re-
preached the Ababdeh Sheiks with
having received the Memlooks hos
pitably, and Kralif was the only one
bold enough to vindicate his course.
kralif was some years afterward as
sassinated by a Turkish governor, and
his brother Baraca succeeded him.
The latter accompanied Linant Dey in
his expedition i'll 1892 through this
same region, but the lapse of time had
not made him forget the duty of
avenging his brothers blood, ami
a year or two afterward he
assassinated the Turkish GOV
ernor, whose relatives i'll turn retail
ated upon Baraca some years later
Many similar cases prove that the jew
lsh Legislation about the "ayengine Of
blood" by the family of the deceased
Is in force among the Bedwin tribes.
The next in Importance is Mohamel
Bey, the nephew of MOhamed Kalifa.
He resembles his uncle III person but
is very far inferior in character. He
Is superintendent of routes and trans
portatiOn in the SOudan aud accom-
panies US in his official capacity.
Below these two in rank, are
Achmot, Sheik of the camel driv
ers; Hassan, sheik Of the guides;
and SULLIVAN, second Sheik do. Both.
Mohammet kalifu and Mohammed
Bey have servants and retainers as
BELTS their rank. They also receive
pay, ratlons, tents, &r., from the
government.
l have written you this long letter
Just as fast as my pen conId run,
taking advantage Of the night hour4
during this halt We have been at
this point (Dtrehibi for six days to
map out the surrounding country, and
also to examine carefully the ancient
gold mines Of which / will speak at
greater length i'll my next. / am
obliged TO postpone also my continua-
ton of the description Of the person
nel Of our caravan, for we move to-
morrow C2lst) at sunrise, and do not
know that | will have a chance to
add another line until We reach
the Nile at Abonhamcd where tbs
letter Will be mailed. We expect to
get there about the 10th or Eth OF
March, and L can hardly express how
anxious we are to reach that point, for
there We expect to get orr mails, and
we have not heard Il word FROM Amerl-
ra later than October 9th or Europe
later than December LIST. The last
news that reached us from the outer
work. was the wholesale massacre OF
one hundred and twenty Americans
md English by the Spanish for
ces in Cuba and the intense excite
nent, both in America and England.
We are burning to know whether war
and Cuba belongs to the
United Standardization the Pope is
lead or Don Carlos has been driven
out of Spain, or Francois still 4 Re
public, and Il thousand other thinga;