, 1880-03-27
~. y . = a v 7 s.

was descended, and though no commune
cation had been kept up between the fami.
lies during these one hundred and thirty
years, MOhammed was aware by tradition
of the existence of his cousins in tho south,
Now it %happeued that Mohammed had .
wish, a very common one among Arabs, OF
taking a wife from his own people, and ne
had often spoken to me of his intention OF
going some day to Nejd and finding out his
relations there ; and /, seeing in this an
excellent opportunity of making the jour-
ney / intended, encouraged him to accom-
pany us, by the promise of helping him to
choose a wife and paying her dover, no
small matter to a poor man. 10 this ne
readily assented, and when | left Damas-
Gus to return to England it was with the
understanding that he should meet me
again in the autumn, and that we should
make the intended journey together. As
a preliminary we took the customa-
ry oath of brotherhood, by virtue OF
which we should be bound to stand ~
each other in case of danger on the ROAD,
and so we parted. On my return to Damas-
Gus last winter QS7S) | found that Meham-
med was waiting for me there, and that he
had made the necessary purchases OF
camels for the expedition. / had therefore
lilUlC IIO1c'lO w Uldll W POAOuNoO PAOSA
siOns, and in less than a week we were
fairly on our way sonthwards" The follow
ing adventure by the way forcibly Illus
trates the pecnliarities of the Arab eharac-
ter. 1--WE were suddenly attacked by q
band of horsemen. Lady Anne and /
happened to be separated from the rest OF
our party, and were sitting under a ghatha
bush eating our midday meal of da ties,
when we suddenly heard the gulloping OF
horse hoofs in the sand. Looking up we
saw a dozen Bedouins bearing dow ON
us with their lanceS and we made a rush
to get on our mares and rejoln our caravan.
We should probably have succeeded III
this but for the accident OF Lady AnneS
having sprained her knee the day before
in d~iSmounting from her camel, and now III
the act of mounting her knee gave way.
In another instant they were upon ms ;
Lady Anne was knocked down by a lance,
and [ had the stock of q gun broken over
my head, but fortunately we were neither
of us hurt. Our thick cloaks saved us
from the points of the ~lances, and my Be-
douin head rope saved my head, "iYa
when we had cried HdahiP'. :" yleld", anu
givenup our mares, they lett OH knocking
us about. 1t then turned OUT ChaC our
captors were a party of ROalas, TRENDS OF
our own and of Mohammed's though they
know nothing of us personally, aud after
we had sworn to our identity, they brought
us back our mares and everything that had
been d1oppedin the scuffie. They liz tins
che erfully enough, though with evident
regret, for the mares were good ones:
We then all sat down and ate dates ana
drank water together, and they told Us
that they were out on % scouting eApeul-
ton and had come across our track IN the
sand, and followed it. 1t was an accl,
dent their having found us separated
from our party, and they were amused anu
a little ashamed at finding they had been
engaged against q woman. they hao
had no time, however to ask questions,
and the cloak which Lady Anne wore
over her riding habit very well excuSeH
them. They were well bred men, as all
the Roala are but it was lucky. for us
that they were friends not enemles,. as
nv desert law they would have had q rlgnt
t0 Dlunder us of every thing we possessed,
and leave us to find way on foot out OF
the desert" -.
Mohammed found his wife among ms
kinsfoIk in the Jof oasis, Mr.. Blunt paie
5000 as her dowry, and it was arrahgeu
that Mohammed was to return 1or noi
in two years.
Mr.. Blunt gives many interesting pais,
~ticulars about the table land of the Neg"
which he saws is much higher than CON,
monty supposed he puts it at 1000 IT, anu
the mountains at 5000 feet. he says tna'