Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-01-01
A Draeoman.

From the illustrated article entitled
"a Photographers Visit TO Petra" in
the November loRt0fV, we quote the
following: The first step was to Sc
cure Il dragoman. knew of only one
with whom | felt willing to risk my
life. He had guided through the desert
General George B. Mcclellan, DR..
Charles S. Robinson, Professor Charles
M. Mead, and DR.. Henry Clay Trum-
bull, the author of 'Kadesh Barnea.'
He had been spoken of by Mr.. Charles
Dudley Warner in his In the Levant'
IN such terms as to confirm my desire
TO secure him. His name, Mohammed
Achmed Efendi Hedayah. Indicated,
among other things, that he was a good
Mussulman, IAN educated man. as he
put it, OF good social standing, able to
read and write, and of partly Moorish
extraction. Never shall | forget our
first consultation. The difficulties and
dangers of what proposed were map
ped out for me with true Arabic elo-
'quence. Seeing that l did not shrink,
my new-made acquaintance then de-
picted the horrors which those who
had made the attempt to get into Petra
were obliged to undergo. He failed to
move NE from my determination.
Then, said he, pushing his red tar
5oush %nervously back upon his head
and rolling his eyes up toward heaven,
Il see you are an old traveller and an
educated gentleman and | will go with
YOU. | am an educated man; | have
beer twenty-five years a dragoman; l
have been three times to Petra; no
white MAI has been there for eight
years. know Salim the Sheikh of
Petra; once he was brought to Hebron
and put in prison for stealing from
travellers. found him there and went
security for his good behavior, and he
was released. He is as my brother.
shall see Petra and perhaps l can get
you in the short way. No other drago-
man could take you. would 90 only
with an educated gentleman, an old
traveller, OF a very religious man. l am
all these myself. My business is good,
but L love to act as dragoman better
than L love selling silk oreating-where
l can 90 with an educated gentleman
"tou months of companionship with
the worthy Achmed taught me that
none too much had been said in his
praise. lie knew his business exactly.
lie proved truthful, trustworthy, gener-
Gus, manly. and brave. | have seen
him rush at Il fellah who was pointing
his musket at him, wrench the weapon
away and fling it on the stones at his
feet. have seen him hasten with a
long stride peculiarly his own into the
midst OF Il fight between our attend
ants, jerk their swords away and send
the combatants sprawling upon the
ground. | have seen him, when we
We're surrounded, kneel first upon the
sand and commit the gentlemen TO the
keeping OF Allah, and her go out with
his life in his hand to meet insult and
injury in our behalf. have seen him
too, when we had all been taken pris-
oners, act with the greatest f~orbearance
and wisdom, knowing full well that our
safety depended upon his patience. He
understood STOPPING to conquer. Ach-
med was as bright as any Yankee, as
polltlc as . Pennsylvania Congress-
man: lie was seldom at a. loss even
under the most trying circumstances. A
hint that the accomplishment of any
task would add to his fame ALWAYS Sc
cured his best efforts, which would be
supplemented by the request: Please
mention i'll your book that Hadayah
Efendi's address is No. s Silk Bazaar,
Alexandria. Mounted on his camel,
Aclncd H~cdayah WAS even noble look
ingg-nor did his character belle his APP
p~earance. Side by side, on camel, on
horse, and on foot, we travelled for four
months. happy and free"