(slight murmurs amongst Arari's attendants), which I feared was not always the case.[1]
Arari replied that the Ghawarneh were also his friends; that he would not allow them to be ill-treated, and that they (Arari's people) always paid for what they got.[2]
Knowing this to be a slight stretch of the truth, I replied that the Ghawarneh were a peaceful people, cultivating the ground, and raising crops of corn, tobacco, and other produce, which are necessary for the Bedawin; and that if they should be driven away by oppression they (the Bedawin) would have no means of procuring necessary supplies; therefore it was their interest to protect them. We then parted with expressions of goodwill, and with the hope on my part that this interview may not have been without some benefit to our oppressed friends.
While I was writing the above an Arab came into the camp with the good tidings that he had seen the mules and horses approaching from the opposite side of The Ghôr, and that they would be here before sunset. This intelligence was received with a general cheer from our party, and I slipped a dollar into the hands of the bearer of the good news. Orders were issued to prepare for an early start on the following day. Some time after, and (as the Arab had stated) before sunset, a muleteer rode into the camp, and was welcomed by Bernhard Heilpern, who recognised an old friend from Jerusalem; others soon followed, and presently some thirty horses and mules were gathered round our camp, accompanied by a very ancient sheikh, already known to most of our readers—Sheikh Hamzi, of Hebron,[3] whom Major Kitchener immediately recognised.
We now learned that notwithstanding it had been represented to the Pasha of Jerusalem that we had been for over a month in Turkish territory, and all in perfect health, we were again ordered to proceed to Gaza for quarantine of fifteen days. An additional evidence of the hostility of the Turkish authorities was their refusal to send a guard of soldiers, and it was only on the strong representations of our Consul that on the
- ↑ This was not a surmise on my part, but a notorious fact.
- ↑ This is, perhaps, literally true, but as I was informed the mode of barter is, that the Arabs offer about one-fourth of the value of the article, and the Ghawarneh dare not refuse the offer.
- ↑ Tristram's "Land of Israel," 2nd edition, pp. 195, 352 &c.
