Ilam

“ Ilam agreed.
“Well, isn’t this the greatest fun?” Rosie whispered to Pauline when they drove off. “We can go where we like in the City. We can save at least five hundred a year, and perhaps we shall be his heiresses.”
“Hush!” Pauline admonished her.
And three hours later those two extremely practical twins were thoroughly installed in the Ilam bungalow. They had the air of having lived there all their lives as they chatted with Ilam in the drawing-room. Ilam himself was decidedly looking a little better. ”

“ Then, despairing of finding Uns el Wujoud and seeing that Ibrahim was distracted for the loss of his daughter, King Dirbas’s Vizier addressed himself to return to his own country, for all he had not attained the object of his journey, and said to Ibrahim? ‘I have a mind to take yonder fakir with me; it may be God, for his sake, will incline the King’s heart to me, for that he is a holy man; and after, I will send him to Ispahan, which is near our country.’ ‘Do as thou wilt,’ answered Ibrahim. ”

“ Wilt thou now return to playing with me?’ ‘Yes,’ replied Ibrahim. So they played and the young man beat him. Quoth the other, ‘When thy thought was occupied with the bag, I beat thee: but, now I have brought it back to thee, thou beatest me. But, tell me, O my son, what countryman art thou.’ ‘I am from Egypt,’ answered Ibrahim. ‘And what is the cause of thy coming to Baghdad?’ asked the other; whereupon Ibrahim brought out the portrait and said to him, ‘Know, O uncle, that I am the son of El Khesib, lord of Egypt, and I saw with a bookseller this picture, which ravished my wit. ”

“ I re-established the altered laws in full force.
39 I imposed tributes on the countries of Bet-Iakin, the high and low part, and on the towns of Samhun, Bab-Dur, Dur-Tilit, Bubi, Tell-Khumba, which are the resort of Elam. I transplanted into Elam the inhabitants of the Commagene, in Syria, that I had attacked with my own hand, obeying the commands of the great gods my Masters, and I placed them on the territory of Elam, in the town of Sakbat. Nabu-Pakid-Ilan was authorized to collect the taxes from the Elamites in order to govern them; I claimed as a pledge the town of Birtu. ”

“ Surely we had created enough excitement at the time we left the king’s village to ensure a degree of interest in our return. If the savages imagined their puny ditch any protection they were likely to find themselves much mistaken.
Presently we saw something that aroused us to action. Ilalah appeared, crossing the enclosure from one of the side huts to the king’s palace. Her hands were bound firmly behind her back and her eyes were covered with a thick scarf which effectually blindfolded her. She was led and pushed along by two sour visaged old women, who showed their princess scant courtesy. ”

“ They had not returned my salutation, peace be between us; but one of them asked me who I was? — "Tell me first, said I, who that is you have before?" — "It is an Arab, our enemy, says he, guilty of our blood." — "He is, replied I, my servant. He is a Howadat Arab, his tribe lives in peace at the gates of Cairo, in the same manner your's at Shekh Ammer does at those of Assouan." "I ask you, Where is Ibrahim your Shekh's son?" — "Ibrahim, says he, is at our head, he commands us here. But who are you?" — "Come with me, and shew me Ibrahim, said I, and I will shew you who I am." ”

“ CHAPTER XII AN ANCIENT TOWN
"I feel sorrier even than I expected," said Irma, as their train drew out of the station at Rome. "No other city can be half as interesting."
"Just wait, my dear," replied Uncle Jim; "wherever you go in Italy you will find more churches and pictures than you can properly grasp. You are a pretty good sightseer, but in another month you will have had enough."
"It isn't antiquities and pictures that I mind leaving," responded Irma smiling; "but I was only beginning to realize how many pleasant people there are in Rome." ”

“ Another early conqueror of Elam, who was probably of Semitic origin, was Alu-usharshid, king of the city of Kish, for, from a number of his inscriptions found near those of Sargon at Nippur in Babylonia, we learn that he subdued Elam and Para’se, the district in which the city of Susa was probably situated. From a small mace-head preserved in the British Museum we know of another conquest of Elam by a Semitic ruler of this early period. ”

“ Then Ilya stood forth amongst them and said boldly, “Ye traders of Chernigof, and citizens all, why do you pray when the time is come for action? Why do you meet together to bid farewell to the white world with all its joys?” Then one of the merchants, who was very richly dressed, explained to Ilya, as if he were quite ignorant of outside affairs, how the city was at that moment besieged by the Tatars. Ilya made a slight gesture of impatience and disgust, “Go out,” he said, “upon the broad wall of your famous city, and look towards the open steppe.” ”

“ I was very angry. "Whew! says Ibrahim with a kind of whistle, that is downright nonsense. Who are those of my people that have authority to murder, and take prisoners while I am here? Here one of you, get upon Yagoube's horse, and bring that man to me." Then turning to me, he desired I would go into the tent and sit down: "For God renounce me and mine, (says he) , if it is as you say, and one of them hath touched the hair of his head, if ever he drinks of the Nile again." ”

“ So Ibrahim related his whole story to the tailor, who was amazed at his speech and said, ‘O my son, fear God [and have mercy] on thyself, for she of whom thou speakest is a virago and averse from men. Wherefore, O my brother, do thou guard thy tongue, or thou wilt destroy thyself.’ When Ibrahim heard the hunchback’s words, he wept sore and clinging to the tailor’s skirts, said, ‘Help me, O my lord, or I am a dead man; for I have left my kingdom and the kingdom of my father and grandfather and am become a stranger and lonely in the lands ”

“ The vicinity of Iram can be cultivated, and both grapes and pine trees would flourish admirably there. It is thus possible that the Arabian nomads saw the remains of old vineyards and pine groves in that locality.
Al-Ḳazwîni, ʻAǧa’ib (Cairo, 1321 A. H.) , Vol. 1, p. 224, states that the members of the ʻÂd tribe had their houses on the peak of Mount Gajš Iram in the territory of the Ṭajj tribe. It is said that statues wrought of stone are to be found there. The houses and the statues are weathered by wind-blown sand, by heat, and by frost ”

“ Ibrahim said to the chief, “and thy people must help. In the desert there is an oasis, and on the oasis is a great man, one Sherif el Habib, [128] who is seeking the Mahdi of his people. We wish to find him.”
Ibrahim explained the locations of the oasis as well as he could, and the chief recognized it as being a place some adventurous member of his tribe had told him about.
After some days absolute rest a caravan was formed, and with girls playing cymbals and others beating drums, Max and Ibrahim started on their journey across the desert to find their friends. ”

“ Even with the best of company a long ride on a warm afternoon becomes tiresome. After a time Irma found herself counting the milestones, or kilometre stones, and she saw that instead of being perfectly plain blocks, most of them had some little carved ornament. On one hill they saw a wall that enclosed an old town, and the coachman could hardly find words to express the rapidity with which the population was diminishing.
"Why in the world should any one wish to live on the top of a hill?" asked Uncle Jim. ”

“ In the reign of Abêshu’, Samsu-iluna’s son and successor, Iluma-ilu appears to have undertaken fresh acts of aggression against Babylon; and it was probably during one of his raids in Babylonian territory that Abêshu’ attempted to crush the growing power of the Country of the Sea by the capture of its daring leader, Iluma-ilu himself. The new chronicle informs us that, with this object in view, Abêshu’ dammed the river Tigris, hoping by this means to cut off Iluma-ilu and his army, but his stratagem did not succeed, and Iluma-ilu got back to his own territory in safety. ”

“ That Elam should always be mentioned first in the lists is probably due to the fact that she was the hereditary enemy of the cities of Sumer and Akkad, whose rulers could never be sure of immunity from her attacks. The agricultural wealth of Babylonia offered a tempting prey to the hardy tribes who dwelt among the hills upon the western border of Elam, and the dread of the raider and mountaineer, experienced by the dweller in the plain, is expressed by Eannatum in his description of Elam as "the mountain that strikes terror." ”

“ Among the other chief cities mentioned in the inscriptions may be named Naditu, Khaltemas, Din-sar, Bubilu, Bit-imbi, Khidalu and Nagitu on the sea-coast. Here, in fact, lay some of the oldest and wealthiest towns, the sites of which have, however, been removed inland by the silting up of the shore. J. de Morgan’s excavations at Susa have thrown a flood of light on the early history of Elam and its relations to Babylon. ”

“ East of Babylonia were the mountains of Elam, inhabited by non-Semitic tribes. Among them were the Kassi or Kossæeans, who maintained a rude independence in their mountain fastnesses, and who, at one time, overran Babylonia and founded a dynasty there which lasted for several centuries. The capital of Elam was Susa or Shushan, the seat of an early monarchy, whose civilisation was derived from the Babylonians.
In the south the Tigris and Euphrates made their way to the region of salt-marshes, called Marratu in the inscriptions, Merathaim by the prophet Jeremiah. ”

“ They were very fond of Indoma, as he was a just man.
A few years after they had built their compound, the two adjoining countries, Inde and Akparabong, made war against the Inkum, but Chief Indoma, who was skilled in warfare, led his people so well and wisely that both countries were driven back, and they have occupied the land ever since.
Indoma had two sons by his wife Isibe, whose names were Agatin and Ogum. When they were grown up, Chief Indoma died. All the country people were very sorry, and a big play was held, and the mourning was kept up for a long time. ”

“ Two short days' walk from the settlement at Blantyre brings one once more to the banks of the Shiré. Here I found waiting the famous little Ilala, a tiny steamer, little bigger than a large steam launch. It belonged originally to the missionaries on Lake Nyassa, and was carried here a few years ago from England in seven hundred pieces, and bolted together on the river bank. No chapter in romance is more interesting than the story of the pioneer voyage of the Ilala, as it sailed away for the first time towards the unknown waters of Nyassa. ”

“ Finally Aunt Caroline stopped her flow of words to show Irma that the massive lion's head with its open mouth was but a flambeau holder to light the path of guests at night.
"You will need more than one flambeau to light your path to-night," said Uncle Jim, joining them, as they stood there reading a tablet with an interesting inscription. "Remember that we take an early train for Paestum."
"Paestum—what is Paestum?" rejoined Irma mockingly, as she hurried ahead of Uncle Jim up the long marble staircase that led to her room. ”

“ Bilma is their chief city, and the residence of their sultan.
On the arrival of the travellers at Bilma, the sultan, escorted by a number of men and women, came out to meet the strangers. The women were much better-looking than those in the smaller towns; some of them had indeed very pleasant faces, their white, regular teeth contrasting admirably with their shining black skins, and the three "triangular flaps of hair, streaming with oil." Coral ornaments in their noses, and large amber necklaces round their throats, gave them what Denham calls a "seductive appearance." ”

“ That is far madder than to seek a camel on a roof." At these words, fear seized the heart of Ibrahim, who spent the rest of the night in prayer, till the early dawn. The next morning he took his seat upon his throne, round which were ranged all the grandees of his kingdom and his guards, according to their rank, in the usual manner. All of a sudden Ibrahim perceived in the midst of the crowd a majestic figure, who advanced towards him unseen by the rest. When he had come near, Ibrahim asked him, "Who art thou, and what hast thou come to seek here?" ”

“ Irma gave an exclamation of delight as he put in her hand a small piece of the travertine that in some way had been broken off from the column, inside which was a tiny shell,—a shell now exposed to the light for the first time in the more than two thousand years since the temples were built. When she had tied this up in a corner of her handkerchief, and had pressed two of the pink blossoms that Uncle Jim called "asphodel" between the leaves of her notebook, Irma felt that she indeed had begun to collect classical trophies. ”

“ The eastern and southern part of the island is the province of Ilo-ilo. The principal river is the Talana, which, rising quite near the source of the River Panay, runs in a southerly and south-easterly direction into the channel between Negros and Panay to the north of the island of Guimaras. There are many spurs to the principal range of mountains, but between them is a considerable extent of land under cultivation. The province of [297] Ilo-ilo is one of the richest and most densely-populated in the Philippines. It now contains at least half a million inhabitants. ”