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Nejd which they were to enter, and of which the wadi Djowf was a dependency, recently annexed. The valley is said to be sixty or seventy miles long, by about twelve broad, and to contain above 30,000 inhabitants. Of its productions Mr. Palgrave gives the following account:

'The gardens of the Djowf are much celebrated in this part of the East, and justly so. They are of a productiveness and variety superior to those of Djebel Shomer, or of Upper Nejed, and far beyond whatever the Hedjaz and its neighbourhood can offer. Here, for the first time in our southward course, we found the date-palm a main object of cultivation; and if its produce be inferior to that of the same tree in Nejed and Hasa, it is far, very far, above whatever Egypt, Africa, or the valley of the Tigris from Bagdad to Basra can show. However, the palm is by no means alone here. The apricot and the peach, the figtree and the vine, abound throughout these orchards, and their fruit surpasses in copiousness and flavour that supplied by the gardens of Damascus or the hills of Syria and Palestine. In the intervals between the trees, or in the fields beyond, corn, leguminous plants, gourds, melons, etc., etc., are widely cultivated. Here too, for the last time, the traveller bound for the interior sees the irrigation indispensable to all growth and tillage in this droughty climate kept up by running streams of clear water, whereas in the Nejed and its neighbourhood it has to be laboriously procured from wells and cisterns.'-Vol. i. p. 58.

His description of the inhabitants is not without interest, and is a favourable specimen of his manner of imparting information:

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These descendants of Ta'i, if such they really be, are very liberally provided with the physical endowments of which it has been acutely said that they are seldom despised save by those who do not themselves possess them. Tall, well-proportioned, of a tolerably fair complexion, set off by long curling locks of jet black hair, with features for the most part regular and intelligent, and a dignified carriage, they are eminently good specimens of what may be called the pure northern or Ismaelitish Arab type, and in all these respects yield the palm to the inhabitants of Djebel Shomer alone. Their large-developed forms and open countenance contrast strongly with the somewhat dwarfish stature and suspicious under-glance of the Bedouin. They are, besides, a very healthy people, and keep up their strength and activity even to an advanced age. It is no uncommon occurrence here to see an old man of seventy set out full-armed among a band of youths; though, by the way, such " green old age" is often to be met with also in the central provinces farther south, as I have had frequent opportunity of witnessing. The climate, too, is good and dry, and habits of out-door life contribute not a little to the maintenance of health and vigour.

'In manners, as in locality, the worthies of Djowf occupy a sort of half-way position between Bedouins and the inhabitants of the cultivated districts.'-Vol. i. p. 65.

The most distinctive good feature of the inhabitants of Djowf is their liberality. Nowhere else, even in Arabia, is the guest, so at least he be not murdered before admittance, better treated, or more cordially invited to become in every way one of themselves.'-Vol. i. pp. 66, 67.

In Arabia, generally, the governor, chief, or sovereign, is expected personally to hear complaints and administer justice, and our traveller's description of a scene witnessed by him on such an occasion, will give some idea of the manner in which business is conducted in these primitive courts. Hamood was the governor of the district on behalf of Telal Ibn Rasheed, prince of Djebel Shomer:

'One day my comrade and myself were on a visit of mere politeness at the castle, the customary ceremonies had been gone through, and business, at first interrupted by our entrance, had resumed its course. A Bedouin of the Ma'az tribe was pleading his cause before Hamood, and accusing some one of having forcibly taken away his camel. The governor was seated with an air of intense gravity in his corner, half leaning on a cushion, while the Bedouin, cross-legged on the ground before him, and within six feet of his person, flourished in his hand a large reaping-hook, identically that which is here used for cutting grass. Energetically gesticulating with this graceful implement, he thus challenged his judge's attention. "You, Hamood, do you hear?" (stretching out at the same time the hook towards the governor, so as almost to reach his body, as though he meant to rip him open); "he has taken from me my camel; have you called God to mind?" (again putting his weapon close to the unflinching magistrate); "the camel is my camel; do you hear?" (with another reminder from the reapinghook); "he is mine, by God's award and yours too; do you hear, child?" and so on, while Hamood sat without moving a muscle of face or limb, imperturbable and impassible, till some one of the counsellors quieted the plaintiff with, "Remember God, child; it is of no consequence, you shall not be wronged." Then the judge called on the witnesses, men of the Djowf, to say their say, and on their confirmation of the Bedouin's statement, gave orders to two of his satellites to search for and bring before him the accused party; while he added to the Ma'azee," All right, daddy, you shall have your own; put your confidence in God," and composedly motioned him back to his place.' -Vol. i. p. 80.

After having been ten days at Djowf, Mr. Palgrave thus sums up the result of his observations :

"Ten days of active intercourse and varied conversation had not gone by before we were masters of whatever information we more particularly desired at the Djowf. A rising civilisation, contending against preceding and surrounding barbarism, a simple organization just put in place of absolute chaos, a tincture of Mahometanism, nay, even of Wahhabee fanaticism, thin-laid here and there over Arab materialism

and indifference, a love of commerce and advancement, gaining ground, though slowly, over habits of spoil and rapine; much hospitality and little good faith, sufficient politeness and no morals, such was this province in the summer of 1862, and such we soon understood it to be. Meanwhile, the glimpse we had already caught of the natives of Djebel Shomer, along with all that we heard of their country and of its ruler, led us to believe that whatever reward awaited our laborious curiosity must needs lie there. For of inner Nejed and 'Oman we as yet knew no more than most in Syria do, that is, very little. So that, in conclusion, all our desire was to quit the Djowf, and advance to Ha'yel without loss of time.'-Vol. i. p. 81.

We have been desirous to give these extracts from the account of Djowf, partly because they contain the author's first impressions of the inhabitants of Central Arabia; but more especially because, on European authority, less had previously been known of Djowf than of any other of the districts which Mr. Palgrave visited.

From Djowf the course to Nejd lay through Djebel Shomer, and while on a visit to the governor, Hamood, the travellers had encountered some persons of prepossessing manners, who occupied confidential positions in the service of Telal Ibn Rasheed, and who encouraged them to proceed. Hamood, too, facilitated their progress, and they were shortly in a condition to set out. On the 18th July, the hottest season of the year, they commenced their journey across the Nefood or sand-desert with a party, which is thus described :—

Our Sherarat were all duly armed, and had put on their best suits of apparel, an equipment worthy of a scarecrow or an Irishman at a wake. Tattered red overalls; cloaks with more patches than original substance, or, worse yet, which opened large mouths to cry for patching, but had not got it; little broken tobacco pipes, and no trousers soever (by the way, all genuine Arabs are sans culottes); faces meagre with habitual hunger, and black with dirt and weather stains;-such were the high-born chiefs of 'Azzām, on their way to the king's levee. Along with them were two Bedouins of the Shomer tribe, a degree better in guise and person than the Sherarat; and lastly, three men of Djowf, who looked almost like gentlemen among such ragamuffins. As to my comrade and myself, I trust that the reader will charitably suppose us the exquisites of the party. So we rode on together.' Vol. i. p. 87.

After a toilsome journey, with an interval of a day's rest at the small but fertile valley of Djobba, they arrived at Ha'yel, the capital of Djebel Shomer, and alighted near the Palace' of Telal, to whose father, according to Mr. Palgrave's romantic history, Feysul, the reigning sovereign of the Wahabys, owed his crown.

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The young sovereign possessed, in fact, all that Arab ideas require to insure good government and lasting popularity. Affable towards the common people, reserved and haughty with the aristocracy, courageous and skilful in war, a lover of commerce and building in time of peace, liberal even to profusion, yet always careful to maintain and augment the state revenue, neither over strict nor yet scandalously lax in religion, secret in his designs, but never known to break a promise once given, or violate a plighted faith; severe in administration, yet averse to bloodshed, he offered the very type of what an Arab prince should be. I might add, that among all rulers or governors, European or Asiatic, with whose acquaintance I have ever chanced to be honoured, I know few equal in the true art of government to Telāl, son of 'Abd-Allah-cbn-Rasheed.'-Vol. i. p. 128.

We believe Telal to be superior to most of his countrymen. Dr. Wallin speaks favourably of him, and Mr. Layard describes him as a powerful and, for an Arab, an enlightened chief,' who had given security to caravans, and desired to promote commerce; but we confess our inability to accept all that Mr. Palgrave says of him as unexaggerated; perhaps it may be regarded as a tribute of gratitude for much courtesy and kind

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After a preliminary visit from the polished, the clever, the demurely smiling,' and captivating Abd-el-Mahsin, ‘the intimate friend and inseparable companion of the prince,' it was arranged that the travellers should have an audience of Telal, and Mr. Palgrave's exultation knows no bounds:

"How many of those I know would give half their having to be present at such a scene and in such a locality," thought I, while almost wondering at our own quiet and secure position amid the multitude; for, to say truth, how little of Arab rule or life has yet been witnessed by Europeans, how little faithfully described? Half romantic and always over-coloured scenes of wild Bedouins, painted up into a sort of chivalresque knight-errants and representatives of unthralled freedom; or, perhaps, the heavy and hollow formalities of some coast or frontier courtlet, more than half Ottomanized; apocryphal legends, like those of Lamartine, and the sentimental superficialities of his school,—such is almost all that we possess on these subjects, and from which we are invited to form our criterion and appreciation of Arabia and its people. But not in the Syrian desert, nor on the limits of the Hejaz, not in the streets of Mokha, nor in the markets of Meshid 'Alee, still less at Bagdad or Damascus, is the true idea of genuine Arab ways and manners to be sought or found.

'The researches of Pococke, the incomparable exactitude of Niebuhr, the varied information of Burckhardt, the minute accuracy of Wallin, the sailor-like daring of Wellsted, deserve indeed the highest praise as well as the fullest confidence. Nor is it in a spirit of idle rivalry, far less of depreciation, that while mentioning names of such justly earned celebrity, I beg permission to point out the limits within which cir

cumstances, those impassable boundary walls of human life and enterprise, confined their experience of Arabia. This was for the most part derived from the frontier provinces and the outer surface; of the interior, whether physical or moral, they have less to tell. Yet a description of the foot or of the hand, however trustworthy, does not always furnish a complete idea of the body or the head, still less of the anatomical structure within. "Ex pede Herculem," is an excellent adage, but not always applicable to living nations and to human nature. 'While I was occupied in these reflections, and my companion in his, of which I cannot pretend to give an account, but I suppose them to have been what a youth of Zahlah might be expected to make in similar circumstances, the audience went on; and the 'Azzam chieftains or ragamuffins presented their coarse Bedouin submission, much like runaway hounds crouching before their whipper-in, when brought back to the kennel and the lash. Telal accepted it, though without giving them to understand his own personal intentions respecting them and their clansmen, and detained them for several days without any decisive answer, thus affording them suitable leisure to experience the profusion of his hospitality, and to become yet more deeply impressed with the display of his power.'-Vol. i. pp. 136, 137.

Upon the pretension betrayed in this passage we shall not make any comment. It does not require any. But if Mr. Palgrave was already acquainted with the works of Pococke, Niebuhr, Burckhardt, Wallin, and Wellsted, and they entered, he tells us, into his reflections during his audience of Telal, how are we to account for his having written the following passage?

'Could we, however, when first starting, have foreknown the real nature of the countries before us, we might have very well dispensed with a good part of our mercantile provisions, designed mainly for Bedouin purchasers, and augmented on the other hand our medical supplies, more adapted to townsmen and villagers. But supposing, like most people, that Arabia was almost exclusively the territory of nomades, and that the fixed population must be proportionally small and unimportant, we deemed the former class of articles at least as available as the latter; a grievous mistake, and of which we soon became aware. For after once traversing this first stage of our journey, the rest of our way across the inner provinces, and up to the very shores of the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, lay, with very little exception, through countries where Bedouins stand for little or nothing, whereas, on the contrary, the settled inhabitants of the soil, with their towns, tillage, and governments, are everything. But all this we had yet to learn. Vol. i. pp. 6, 7.

It is impossible to conceive that any one who had read the works referred to, could have supposed Arabia, or Central Arabia, to be 'almost exclusively the territory of nomades.' Wallin had been in Djebel Shomer in 1848, and had enumerated

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