the memory of Hoossein, whose descendant | tral Arabia, but still separated by a limb of

he was.

That the history of the Wahabys should be written accurately, or at all, may be a matter of the greatest indifference to a vast majority of European readers, who cannot be expected to care much what was or what was not done by Abd-ul-Azeez, by Saoud, or by Abd-Allah; but there is another view of the matter, in which even careless readers may perhaps take some interest. We were not, nor were they, with Mr. Palgrave in Central Arabia,-by much the larger portion of his information must have been obtained, as his Wahaby history was, from the Arabs, and we have no other means of determining what confidence is to be put in his account of what we do not know, than by ascertaining how far we can confide in his account of what we do know from authentic sources. We have put him to this test we shall have occasion to do so again-and certainly the result is not satisfactory. We have not in any instance controverted Mr. Palgrave's statements on any other than written and published authorities, which were as accessible to him as to us; and he cannot reasonably expect that we should, after that examination, extend to his account of his journey a greater amount of confidence than we have already expressed our readiness to accord.

It is time, however, that we should prosecute the journey to Central Arabia, which we can make with the greater ease and comfort, now that we have cast away a great proportion of the lumber with which these

two volumes are burthened.

After crossing a desert, in which they encountered the dreaded Simoom, and after resting for a day with the Sherarat, the most miserable of Bedouins, at whose tents, however, they were hospitably entertained, the travellers arrived at the fertile valley and populous town of Djowf. With the exception of Dr. Wallin, we believe that Mr. Palgrave is the first European who has visited that valley. His account of the impression made upon him, as he emerged, after many days' journey, from the desert, by the first view of the houses, the wellwatered gardens and fresh foliage of Djowf, extending several miles, is lively and graphic. Here they were hospitably received by one of the notable men of the district, who had even come out some way to meet the travellers with a seasonable and acceptable supply of admirable dates and pure water, luxuries which, after the privations they had endured, were duly appreciated.

the desert from Djebel Shomer, the first integral portion of 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. rior to those of Djebel Shomer, or of Upper They are of a productiveness and variety supeNejed, 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, of the Tigris from Bagdad to Basra can show. above whatever Egypt, Africa, or the valley However, the palm is by no means alone here. The apricot and the peach, the fig tree 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, etc., are widely cultivated. Here, too, for the corn, leguminous plants, gourds, melons, etc., 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.

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

"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 Tall, well-proportioned, of a tolerably fair by those who do not themselves possess them. 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 alone. Their large-developed forms and open palm to the inhabitants of Djebel Shomer countenance contrast strongly with the somewhat dwarfish stature and suspicious underglance 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 At Djowf the travellers found themselves provinces farther south, as I have had frequent in what is described as the vestibule of Cen- | 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 :

"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 'Omān 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 Hamrood, encouraged them to proceed. 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 :

"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 reaping-hook); "he "Our Sherarat were all duly armed, and had is mine, by God's award and yours too; do you put on their best suits of apparel, an equipment hear, child?" and so on, while Hamood sat worthy of a scarecrow or an Irishman at a wake. without moving a muscle of face or limb, im- Tattered red overalls; cloaks with more patches perturbable and impassible, till some one of the than original substance, or, worse yet, which counsellors quieted the plaintiff with, "Re-opened large mouths to cry for patching, but member 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:

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 'Azzam, 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.

as the latter; a grievous mistake, and of which | and despotic Turk. Nor do these government we soon became aware. For after once travers

ing 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 the towns and principal villages, had described and commented on the settled population, and had spoken of the chief, Ibn Rasheed, and his government. From Niebuhr and Burckhardt he would have obtained a great amount of information regarding the towns and more considerable villages of Djebel Shomer, Kaseem, Aredh, and other districts of Central Arabia. Which, then, of the two accounts are we to accept? We have already stated our reasons for thinking ourselves bound, in justice to Mr. Palgrave, to assume that he could not, when he set out on his journey, have been acquainted with the works above referred to, or with those which were published on the European continent, subsequent to the conquest of the kingdom of Nejd (in 1818) by the Egyptians; but if Mr. Palgrave, when at Djebel Shomer, was already acquainted with the authors whom he names and characterizes, and whose works he could hardly have found at Djowf or Ha'yel, our assumption must be erroneous; and the inference would be such as it is unpleasant to contemplate. On the other hand, if we still adhere to our first opinion, and hold that he had not been acquainted with those works, then his elaborate account of the reflections that occupied him during his audience of Telal would be resolved into an elaborate fiction; and we could not tell how much more might be of the same character.

men ever dream of taking aught without purchase, or of compelling those they can lay hold of to gratuitous labour, Ottoman fashion; such proceedings, also, being repugnant to that independent high-mindedness which stamps the genuine Arab caste. The well-dressed chieftain and noble jostles on amid the plebeian crowd on terms of astounding familiarity, and elbows or is elbowed by the artisan and the porter; while the court officers themselves meet with that degree of respect alone which indicates deference rather than inferiority in those who pay it. A gay and busy scene; the morning air in the streets yet retains just sufficient coolness to render tolerable the bright rays of the sun, and everywhere is that atmosphere of peace, security, and thriving known to the visitors of inner Arabia, and almost or wholly unknown to the Syrian or Anatolian traveller. Should you listen to the hum of discourse around, you will but much business, repartee, and laughter. Donever hear a curse, an imprecation, or a quarrel, heym and I slowly pick out our way through the crowd amid many greetings on either hand, till we reach the open space of the palace court where the Sook falls into it; and thence we pass through the high gateway, and enter the main artery of the town."-Vol. i. p. 163..

This is an interesting picture of independence, self-respect, and general wellbeing, the value of which is greater or less as we rely with more or less confidence on its perfect fidelity. A slight difference in the colouring the change of a few words-would convert it into a very ordinary picture of what may be seen daily in the narrow streets and bazaars of many an Asiatic town. It is precisely one of those cases in which unreserved confidence in the absolute fidelity of the narrator, in his freedom from undue rhetorical ambition, or tendency to embellish, is indispensable to a just appreciation of the social condition which the description is intended to illustrate; and so it is, to a greater or smaller extent, with every narrative or anecdote intended to illustrate the manners, life, and social condition of people whom we have not seen, and between whom and us there is, for the occasion, no other interpreter than the individual narrator. No one thinks,-no one, we suppose, ever thought,-of questioning the fidelity of a narrative, an incident, or an anecdote told by Niebuhr or Burckhardt, by Wellsted or by Wallin. No one suspects them of embellishing; every one instinctively perceives, or thinks he perceives, that their main aim and object is not effect or display, but to what they have to describe. No visions of convey as accurate an idea as they can of the cocked hat or the cane intrude themand claim a certain amount of deference from the vulgar cits, though we see nothing here of selves upon us while we read what they rethe Agha and Basha style of the overbearing late. În fiction describing the life and

Our author's account of his life in Ha'yel is always well written, and much of it is curious. Let us take, for example, the following account of a walk along the streets with a mechanic of Kaseem, to visit his brother, who lay ill of fever

"Mixed with the city crowd, swordsmen and gaily-dressed negroes, for the negro is always a dandy when he can afford it, belonging mostly to the palace, are now going about their affairs,

manners of other countries, or of our own in bygone times, the pictures may be faithful though the scenes are imaginary, or, in dealing with real characters, the portraits may be likenesses although they are ideal; and so we may derive from fiction not only a more vivid impression, but a more just appreciation, of the society and the persons whom it describes. But as the story is avowedly fictitious, we are left free to form each his own opinion as to how far the artist has succeeded or failed in producing a truthful picture. When, however, we take up a narrative of real life and adventure, we are not free to regard merely the skill displayed in the execution; and if we are unable to accept, as positive and unvarnished truth, all that the writer chooses to tell us-especially all that is within his own knowledgewe cannot help feeling dissatisfied, both with

the book and the author.

Sir Harford Jones Brydges, in his Brief History of the Wahauby, previously referred to, quotes an account of an audience of Abd-ul-Azeez, the Wahaby sovereign, which, from the age assigned to him, must relate to some time about 1796. Sir Harford speaks of it in terms of high approbation, and says: "I can only heartily wish it may convey to the reader as lively an idea of the Court of Dereyha as it did to me:"-

silent. At last, 'Stranger,' said he, in a slow and deliberate manner, wonder not, if an old warrior, accustomed to treachery and deceit, soor's protestations. If the light of truth has should not feel immediate confidence in Manreally penetrated his heart, the Lord be thanked, especially by himself, who must be the greatest gainer, since the choicest blessings of heaven, both here and hereafter, never fail to reward sincere conversion; but I know the faith of the Turks, and I distrust the very Arab whose breath mingles with theirs. Mansoor's artful trial that I shall think myself secure of his conduct may have deceived, and it is only on sincerity. The decisive hour,' added he, starting from his seat, 'is perhaps not far off, when all who appear not for us shall be treated as if they had been against us. The spears already are pointing, and at a distance which no other eye can reach I already see the war dust rising.'

above quotation, because, during my long resi"I have been principally induced to give the dence at Bagdad, I was assured by more than one person, that whenever Abd-ool-Aziz spoke of the Turks, it was customary for him to work himself almost to frenzy, and that he then made use of nearly the last words mentioned above."

This quotation, of the merits of which few men could have been so well qualified to judge as Sir Harford, is avowedly fictitious: it is from the pages of a well-known work of fiction. The narrator is no other than Mr. Hope's worthless hero, Anastasius; but we accept it as an admirable ideal picture, in excellent keeping with what we know of the truth. Were it otherwise, we should have no right to complain. We are not called upon to believe that it is absolutely true, though we may have good reason to believe that it is very like the truth. But with regard to what Mr. Palgrave tells us,--his audience of Telal, for example,we are expected to put undoubting reliance in him, and to accept what he says as abso

"No sooner had my person and Mansoor's presents been made fit to offer themselves before Abd-ool-Aziz, than I requested an audience in all due form. This was immediately granted. It took place in the open air, at the gates of what I must needs call, more from the dignity of its tenant than its own, a palace; and the Schaich received me squatted on a rush mat. Notwithstanding his advanced age of seventyfive, he still displayed good features, and a handsome, though somewhat harsh and forbidding countenance, and through all the affected meanness of his dress shone a lofty and commanding air. I felt a sensation of awkward-lutely trustworthy in all its parts. In a narness at the richness of my own apparel so much exceeding that of the high personage whose favour I came to seck. On this subject, however, I might have spared myself any uneasiThe Schaich seemed to contemplate my glitter-if noticed by him at all-with perfect indifference; and when I presented to him the gifts of Mansoor, he cast upon them the careless survey of a man who considers such things as beneath his attention. The letter certainly puzzled him. He seemed to feel as if it ought not, and he saved himself by his supercilious glance the embarrassment of owning that he knew not what to make of it. When, at the conclusion of my harangue, I repeated to him the sentence, and showed him the signet imparted to me by his emissary at Bagdad, his brow unfurled, and his features relaxed into a more affable expression. Still he remained, for I had done, a few moments musing and

ness.

rative professing to be genuine and true,
there can be no admissible compromise with
fiction. If it is not the former, it becomes
the latter, whether the author intends it or
not. We have no desire or intention to at-
tribute to Mr. Palgrave any deliberate pur-
pose to misrepresent what he describes.
the contrary, we assume honesty of purpose.
But we think that he has yielded too much
to the temptations with which the very exu-
berance of his powers assailed him, and
that he has been far too negligent, and too
careless of what nearly concerned his own

credit.

From Djebel Shomer the travellers proceeded to Bereydah in Kaseem, the most productive and populous of the highland districts. The principal town is Aneyzeh,