Richard Francis Burton

“ The ridge itself is strewed with spalled stone, quartz broken from the veins that seam the granite, and with slag as usual admirably worked. Not a trace of human habitation appears, nor is there any tradition of a settlement having existed here; consequently we concluded that this was another atelier of wandering workmen. Below the rock-tongue we found for the first time oxydulated iron and copper, either free or engaged in trap and basaltic dykes: the former metal, also attached in layers to dark-red vermeilled jasper, here appears streaked with white quartz. ”

“ On the other hand, fuel, here a necessary of life, was wanting; nor could the camels find forage. Thus we were camped upon the western edge of the Hismá. The Ma’ázah Shaykhs, who vainly urged us forwards, showed a suspicious disappointment at our not reaching their quarters on the far side, where, they said, a camel was awaiting to be slaughtered for our reception.
Meanwhile, we were enjoying the reverse of hospitality. The Bedawin evidently now held that all which was ours had become theirs. Their excessive greed made them imprudent. ”

“ We cannot be Conservatives in geography and ethnology; nor can we attach much importance, in the nineteenth century, to a race, the Beni Tamúd, which had wholly disappeared before the seventh. On the whole, it still appears to me that by adopting my innovation we gain more than we lose; but the question must be left for others to decide.
In our days, two great Sultánis or “highways” bound Madyan the Less and Midian the Greater. The western, followed by the Hajj el-Misri (Egyptian caravan) , dates from the age of Sultán Selim Khán the Conqueror ”

“ Looking down the long and gently waving line, we feel still connected with the civilized world by the blue and purple screen of Sinai forming the splendid back-ground. Everything around us appears deserted; the Ma’ázah are up country, and the Beni ‘Ukbah have temporarily quitted these grazing-grounds for the Surr of El–Muwaylah. We camped for the night, after a total march of eleven miles, at the Sayl el-Nagwah, a short Nullah at the foot of a granite block similarly named ”

“ The ringing of the large bell suspended to the middle pole of the tents at sunset, “to hail the return of the camels and the mystic hour of descending night,” is an old custom still maintained, because it confers a Barakat (“blessing”) upon the flocks and herds. Certainly there is nothing of the Bedawi in this practice, and it is distinctly contrary to the tradition of El–Islam; yet many such survivals hold their ground amongst the highly conservative Wild Men, and they must be looked upon only as local and tribal peculiarities. ”

“ The Ma’ázah is a Syro–Egypto-Bedawi clan, originally Arab, or rather Syrian, but migratory, as are all Arabs. It now extends high up the valley of the Nile, and it is still found in the Wady Musá (of Suez) and on the Za’faránah block. Even in Egypt it is turbulent and dangerous: the men are professional robbers; and their treachery is uncontrolled by the Bedawi law of honour—they will eat bread and salt with the traveller whom they intend to murder. ”

“ Subject to Egypt, the people will learn discipline and cease to torment the land.
Happily for their neighbours there will be no difficulty in reducing the Ma’ázah. They are surrounded by enemies, and they have lately been obliged to pay “brother-tax” to the Ruwalá as a defence against being plundered: the tribute consists of one piece of hair-cloth about twenty cubits long. On the north, as far as El–Ma’án, they meet the hostile Beni Sakr (Jawázi) , under the Shaykh Mohammed ibn Jázi ”

“ This north-eastern Khuraytah (Col) is termed the Khuraytat el-Hismá or el-Jils, after a hillock on the plateau-summit, to distinguish it from the similar feature to the south-west: the latter is known as the Khuraytat el-Zibá; or el-T h m , the local pronunciation of Tihámah. About two miles of rough and broken ground lead to the foot of the ladder. The zigzags then follow the line of a mountain torrent, the natural Pass, crossing its bed from left to right and from right again to left: the path is the rudest of corniches, worn by the feet of man and beast ”

“ Having broken our fast and sent forward the caravan, we at once began to descend the southern Pass, the Khuraytat el-Zibá. Here the watershed of the Wady Surr heads; and merchants object to travel by its shorter line, because their camels must ascend two ladders of rocks, instead of one at the top of the Wady Sadr. ”

“ After the usual half-hour’s delay, the “palaver,” to speak Africanicè, “came up,” and M. Lacaze had a good opportunity of privily sketching the scene. The Shaykh, Mohammed bin ‘Atíyyah, who boasts (falsely) that he commands more than half the two thousand males composing the tribe, is a tall, sinewy man of about fifty, straight-featured, full-bearded, and gruff-voiced: his official style of speaking from the throat, a kind of vaccine low, imitated in camp for many a day, never failed to cause merriment. ”

“ The first and the eldest took a name from their Ma’áz (“he-goats”) ; while the junior called themselves after the Annáz (“she-goats”) : from the latter sprung the great Anezah family, which occupies the largest and the choicest provinces of the Arabian peninsula. Meanwhile genealogists ignore the Ma’ázah.
Wallin would divide the tribe into two, the Ma’ázah and the “Beni ‘Atiyá:” of the latter in Midian I could hear nothing except that they represent the kinsmen of the Shaykh’s family. We find “Benoo Ateeyah” in maps like that of Crichton’s (1834) , where the Ma’ázah are laid down further south ”

“ And—
“By thy eyes (I swear) , O she-camel, if we go (to the attack) and gird (the sword) , We will make it a day of sorrow to them, and avert from ourselves every ill.” We dismounted, looked to our weapons, and began to parley. The ragged ruffians, some of them mere boys, and these always the readiest to blow the matches of guns longer than themselves, began with high pretensions. ”

“ Entering the block, we made two short cuts to save great bends in the bed. The first was the Sha’b el-Liwéwi’, the Weiwî of Wallin (p. 304) —wild riding enough; the path often winding almost due east, when the general direction was north-north-east. We saw, for the first time, pure greenish-yellow chlorite outcropping from the granite. The animals were apparently hibernating, and plants were rare; we remarked chiefly the sorrel and the blue thistle, or rather wild artichoke, the Shauk el-Jemel, a thorn loved by camels (Blepharis edulis) , which recalled to mind the highlands of Syria. ”

“ Lastly, we were informed, a few weeks afterwards, that the Ma’ázah Shaykhs had carried it off to their tents—I fear piecemeal.
It was not pleasant to beat a retreat; but, under the circumstances, what else could be done? No one was to be relied upon but the Europeans, and not all even of them. The black escort, emancipated slaves, would have run away at the first shot; except only Acting–Corporal Khayr. ”

“ Their north-south length would be easily ascertained, but the width would still remain unknown. The “Land of Midian,” through which we have been travelling, has evidently been worked, and in places well worked; thus the only chance of finding a virgin California would be in the unknown tracts lying to the east of the “Harrahs.” Too bad to be thwarted in such a project by the exorbitant demands of a handful of thieves!
The disappointment was aggravated by other considerations. From all that I had heard, the Hismá is a region full of archæological interest. ”

“ The Remingtons numbered ten, and there were also ten picks, of whom five waited upon the mules; of the sixty-one camels six were dromedaries, and as the road grew lighter our beasts of burden increased, somehow or other, to sixty-four. The caravan now loads in twenty minutes instead of five hours; and when politiké, or fear of danger, does not delay us, we start in a quarter of an hour after the last bugle-sound. ”

“ The Bedawin far more reasonably declare that this Harrah is not a mere patch as it appears in Wallin’s map, a narrow oblong not exceeding sixty miles (north lat. 27°—28°) , disposed diagonally from north-west to south-east. According to them, it is a region at least as large as the Hismá; and it extends southwards not only to the parallel of El–Medínah, but to the neighbourhood of Yambú’. The upper region has two great divisions: the Harrat–Hismá or the Harrah par excellence, which belongs to the Ma’ázah, and which extends southwards through El–Sulaysilah as far as the Jaww. ”

“ The country began to show a few donkeys and large flocks of sheep and goats; the muttons have a fine “tog,” and sell for three dollars and a half. The women in charge, whose complexions appeared notably lighter than those of the seaboard, barked like the men. They were much puzzled by a curious bleating which came from the mules ”

“ The ground, composed mostly of irregular rock-steps, has little difficulty for horses and mules; but camels laden with boards (the mess-table) and long tent-poles must have had a queer time—I should almost expect after this to see an oyster walking up stairs. ”

“ They dismount, and squat in council round the fire, sending on three dromedary-riders to crown a hill commanding the pass. The “burning question” is now whether armed clansmen are or are not lurking behind the heights.
3. Shaykh Mohammed comes forward, and demands blackmail to the extent of two hundred dollars. I offer one hundred dollars.
4. Our hosts break off the debate in a towering rage; refuse coffee, and declare that the caravan of “Effendíná” (the Viceroy) shall not be loaded. Mohammed’s feet twitch more violently as the camels are made to kneel.
5. The caravan shows too much emotion. ”

“ This operation is under charge of Lieutenant Amir, who does his best to introduce Dar–Forian discipline: the camels being first charged with the Finátís (“metal water-barrels”) , then with the boxes, and lastly with the tents.
After passing the ruins of Abú Hawáwit, we began at 9:15 a.m. to exchange the broad Wady Surr of the flat seaboard, with its tall banks of stiff drab clay, for a gorge walled with old conglomerates, and threading the ruddy and dark-green foot-hills of the main Ghát. ”