COLONEL WARREN, 1883 ; 
 
 NOW 
 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR CHARLES WARREN, G.C.M.G., K.C.B. 
 
-HUNTING IN THE DESERT, 
 
 BEING A NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 PALMER SEARCH-EXPEDITION 
 
 (1882, 1883). 
 
 ALFRED E. HAYNES, 
 
 Captain, Royal Engineers. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY WALTER BESANT. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HORACE COX, 
 WINDSOR HOUSE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS, E.G. 
 
 1894, 
 
LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY HORACE COX. WINDSOR HOUSE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS, B.C. 
 
TO THE 
 
 P0ttore&le tire fel of 
 
 UNDER WHOSE DIRECTION 
 
 THE PALMER SEARCH- EXPEDITION 
 
 WAS LAUNCHED AND CARRIED TO 
 
 A CONCLUSION, 
 
 THESE PAGES 
 ARE DED-ICATED. 
 
 252981 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THIS book has been written in pursuance of a plan that 
 was formed ten years ago in the desert of Arabia. It was 
 then thought that an account of the detective and man- 
 hunting operations of the Palmer Search - Expedition 
 would interest the public if put before them with any 
 literary skill ; and the requisite literary skill we looked 
 for from the pen of Major-General Sir Charles Warren. 
 However, the pressure of public work since then has 
 forbidden his participating in the work to the desired 
 extent, and has resulted in its being relegated to my 
 inexperienced hands. 
 
 The interval that has elapsed since the events herein 
 related took place permits a dispassionate judgment being 
 formed upon them, as it relieves them from all consideration 
 of policy or party and brings them within the range of 
 history ; while Time,, the great healer of human sorrow, 
 has in the interval somewhat assuaged the pain that a 
 reiteration of the circumstances which led to the Expedition 
 might have caused ten years ago. 
 
 Sir Charles Warren has given me notes upon which 
 Chapters I., II., III., and IV., and parts of XII. are 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 based, and Appendices A, B, and C are from his pen. 
 With these important contributions my task has been 
 rendered a comparatively light one, and it has been 
 further lightened by the kind assistance of Mr. Walter 
 Besant, the author of Professor Palmer's Memoir, &c., 
 who pays a last tribute to his friend's memory in the 
 Introduction which he has written. 
 
 A. E. EL 
 CHATHAM, February, 1894. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 List of Illustrations and Maps xi 
 
 Introduction ... x iii 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Egyptian Question in the Summer of 1882. Palmer's 
 Mission in the Desert. Antecedents of Professor Palmer 
 and Captain Gill. Disappearance of Palmer's Party. 
 Despatch of Colonel Warren. Arrival in Egypt. Informa- 
 tion obtained at Suez Captain Foote's Inquiries. 
 Condition of Suez A Water-Famine Threatened. Colonel 
 Warren ordered to Tor 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Voyage in H.M.S. Cockatrice. Arrival at Tor. Information 
 received. Letter to Palmer. Difficulties of Divided 
 Authority. Departure of Osman Bey Rafat and the Greek 
 Consul. At Tor in the absence of the Cockatrice. 
 Arrival of Lieutenant Burton. News of Arabi's Collapse. 
 Coyness of Musa Nusier. Standing-Camp in the Desert. 
 Mr. West leaves for Suez. Waiting for Musa. Return to 
 Tor. Results of our Mission to Tor 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Arrival at Suez. New Proposals for Continuing the Search. 
 Journey to Cairo. Arrangements for Working the Desert. 
 Zagazig. Truth about the Alleged Looting by the Indian 
 Contingent at Zagazig. Return to Suez. Raid on Ayun 
 Musa and Capture of Selami, one of Palmer's Camel- 
 Drivers. Mission to Akabah. Preparations for Entry 
 into the Desert. Suez short of Water 49 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Departure for Akabah in H.M.S. Eclipse. Landing at 
 I'hahab. Arrival at Akabah. Attempt to Land. Critical 
 Position of Landing-Party. Enforced Hospitality. Con- 
 
viii Co n tents. 
 
 ference with the Governor and Mohammed Gad. The 
 Banquet. The Letter from the Governor of Nackl. 
 Tidings of Palmer's Murder. Mohammed Gad, Sheik of 
 the Alawin. Return to Suez 67 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Return to Suez. The Hiiiwatat Sheiks. Arrangements for 
 the Expedition into the Desert. Sualem Abu Farag. 
 Difficulties with the Egyptian Sheiks. Arrival of Musa 
 Nusier : Guarantees Safety of Colonel Warren and Party. 
 Aligat Witnesses. The Object of going into the Desert ... 90 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Departure from Suez. Ayun Musa. The Search-Expedition 
 starts. Wadi Sadr. Arrival at Site where Palmer's 
 Baggage was plundered. Ibn Mershed Escapes. Some 
 Captives. Camp at Tussot Sadr. Evidence of Sahimi. 
 Dispositions for the Morrow. Unreliable Character of our 
 Bedouin. Discovery of the Remains of Palmer and his 
 Companions. Start for Nackl. Journeying across the 
 Desert of the Tih. Mission of Sualem Abu Farag 102 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Arrival at Nackl. Submission of the Governor. The Com- 
 plicity of Ali Effendi in the Attack on Palmer. Depar- 
 ture from Nackl. The March across the Desert. Escape 
 of Metter Sofia. Disastrous March. I Fall 111 of Fever. 
 Arrival at Ismailia. Surrender of Metter Sofia. His 
 Evidence. Restitution of ,1000 of Government Money. 
 Our Entry into the Desert not in vain 125 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Government of the Bedouin. The Shedids. Palmer on his 
 Journey from Syria to Suez. Studied Obstruction of the 
 Shedids. The Fatal Mission. Palmer's Altitude towards 
 the Bedouin. Arrival of Salami Ibn Shedid. The Con- 
 tract. Colonel Warren moves to Nackl. Examination of 
 Prisoners there. Metter Sofia's part in Palmer's Death. 
 Sheik Misleh, Palmer's " Friend." Suleiman the Tiyahah. 
 Expedition into the Tiyahah Territory. A Bedoui Encamp- 
 ment. Ascent of Hill at Shweiki's Encampment. Captain 
 Sir Richard Burton 152 
 
Contents. ix 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Start from Nackl. Camel-riding. The Tih Plateau. The 
 Amalekites. Railway Communication between Egypt and 
 Syria. Mountains of the Peninsula. Serabit el Khadem. 
 Destruction of Trees. Bedan. Approach to Jebel Musa. 
 Convent of Mount Sinai. Musa Nusier's Camp. Wadi 
 Feiran. Aspect of the Peninsula. Geological Changes. 
 Strength of Desert Tribes 179 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 The Identification of Mount Sinai. Division of the Country of 
 Arabia Petraea and Neighbouring District. Connection 
 between Mount Sinai and the Wilderness. Division of the 
 Wilderness. Discrediting of the Siuaitic Mountains and the 
 Coast-Lands as Possible Sites of Mount Sinai. Considera- 
 tion of the Tib. Central Group of Mountains. Position of 
 Ancient Peoples. Tactical Details given in Book of Numbers. 
 Identification of Sites, Marches, &c. Indefinite Character 
 of the Holy Scripture*, on this Question 204 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 Reconnaissance of Wadi Sadr. Mr. and Miss Charrington 
 Visit the Scene of Murder. Building Commemorative Cairn. 
 Eeturn to Suez. Arrangements for the Trial. Arrival at 
 Cairo. Tanta. The Commission of Inquiry. Court- 
 Martial at Alexandria. Sentence of Court. Criticism of 
 Home-Press ... 217 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 Mission to El Ansh. Departure from Alexandria in H.M.S. 
 "Decoy." Landing at El Aiish. The Wadi, Town, and 
 Population of El Arish. Situation of Affairs when we 
 arrived. Case of Eacheed H-ddid. Government vestd in 
 Bekka Effendi. Inquiring into Cases of Bastinadoing, &c. 
 The Sowarki Sheiks Iniquities of Mustapha Mamnoon's 
 Government. His Order for our Detention. The Suspension 
 of the Governor. Endeavours to approach the Terebin 
 Sheiks .. 239 
 
Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 Departure from El Arish. Wadi El Arish. Gatic. The 
 Sand-hill Country. Arrival at El Kantara. Recall to 
 England. The Houses of Parliament and the Expedition. 
 The Critical Insanity of Irresponsible Politicians. Results 
 of Search-Expedition. Causes which Led to Palmer's 
 Murder. Selection of Palmer for the Mission to the Desert. 
 His Instructions and Action. Interment of Remains in St. 
 Paul's Cathedral 261 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Notes by Sir Charles Warren on his connection with the 
 
 Palmer Search-Expedition, &c. 281 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 Abbreviated Account of Professor Palmer's Mission, by Sir 
 
 Charles Warren 287 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 Extracts from some Notes on Arabia Petraea and the Country 
 
 lying between Egypt and Palestine, by Sir Charles Warren 293 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 A Glossarv of Arabic Words 304 
 
LIST OF 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR CHARLES WARREN, G.C.M.G. . Frontispiece 
 
 PROFESSOR E. H. PALMER 4 
 
 CAPTAIN W. J. GILL, R.E '. . 6 
 
 LIEUTENANT H. CHARRINGTON, R.N 8 
 
 H.M.S. " COCKATRICE " 20 
 
 DEL BORGO, INTERPRETER 25 
 
 FARRAK 26 
 
 CAMP NEAR TOR . . . . 40 
 
 THE ARABAH LOOKING NORTH FROM AKABAH .... 71 
 
 A HALT IN THE DESERT 107 
 
 TEL EL BISHER 112 
 
 CAVE AT SCENE OF MURDER. WHERE THE BEDOUIN HELD THEIR 
 
 FINAL CONSULTATION BEFORE KILLING THEIR CAPTIVES . 117 
 
 ALI EFFENDI, GOVERNOR OF NACKL 127 
 
 THE FORT OF NACKL 128 
 
 SALEM SHEYK, ONE OF THE MURDERERS 146 
 
 SHEIK ABU SITTEH . 164 
 
 ALI SHWAIR, ONE OF THE MURDERERS 166 
 
 THE PLAIN OF ER EAHAH FROM THE TOP OF THE NAKB 
 
 HAWY PASS, SHOWING RAS SUSAFEH IN THE DISTANCE . 191 
 
 THE CONVENT OF MOUNT SINAI. 194 
 
 FLINT-FLAKES FROM WADI KAHALIN 201 
 
 HAMID, ONE OF METTER'S SONS 220 
 
 THE SCENE OF THE MURDER IN WADI SADR . 221 
 
xii List of Illustrations and Maps. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 MEMORIAL CAIRN 222 
 
 MOSQUE AT TANTA 229 
 
 MERCEH EL RASHDEH, ONE OF THE MURDERERS .... 233 
 SALAMI IBN AID (METTER'S NEPHEW), WHO ESCAPED WITH 
 
 PALMER'S MONEY 235 
 
 THE SHORE NEAR EL ARJSH, WHERE WE LANDED .... 242 
 
 THE FORT AND TOWN OF EL ARISH 244 
 
 THE SEARCH-EXPEDITION AND SOME ASSISTANTS .... 267 
 
 MEMORIAL IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL 281 
 
 MAP OF ARABIA PETR^A 207 
 
 RECONNAISSANCE OF WADI SADR . 218 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THIS book should have been published ten years ago as a 
 sequel to my " Life and Achievements of Edward Henry 
 Palmer" (Murray, 1883). That it has been so long 
 delayed is due to the fact that the author has been engaged 
 on foreign and colonial service during this time, and has 
 not been able to put together his notes and sketches made 
 during the expedition of justice in which he was a 
 member. 
 
 Palmer's memory, save among his friends, of whom he 
 had a larger circle than falls to the lot of most, may 
 perhaps be less vivid than when the whole world talked of 
 the murdered scholar, and of the great service he rendered 
 to his country, and of the funeral in St. Paul's Cathedral, 
 where the poor remains all that had been left by the 
 jackals were reverently laid in the crypt in the presence 
 of a great company who mourned deeply and truly. The 
 tablet commemorating his death stands in the wall under 
 one of the windows in the crypt ; the portrait of him in 
 his Oriental robes, as the Syrian Effendi Abdullah, hangs 
 in the hall of his college ; his books continue to keep his 
 memory green. There wanted only this volume to show 
 how justice, swift, stern, not to be escaped, fell upon his 
 murderers. 
 
 Let me quote a passage from the preface of that book 
 to which I have referred above, before I remind the readers 
 
xiv Introduction. 
 
 of this book of the chief events in the life of Edward 
 Palmer. I there said 
 
 This is the history of a life which in many respects is unique. 
 Palmer was a scholar and student, most earnest and resolute, 
 yet always with the heart of a boy ; so great a linguist that he 
 stood alone, yet always modest, full of reliance in himself and 
 his powers, yet never vainglorious. Always at work, yet always 
 with time for leisure : the most sincere man in the world when 
 he had a purpose in view, yet the most delightful and the most 
 mirthful of companions. 
 
 These words are a summary of the man's character. 
 They touch the true note they explain the man. I do 
 not think, looking back after all these years, that I could 
 have put the case better. Such he was such the man 
 whom we loved. Edward Henry Palmer was born in 
 1840, and died in 1882. He was a Fellow of St. John's 
 College, Cambridge ; he was Lord Almoner's Professor 
 of Arabic in the University of Cambridge ; in the last 
 years of his life he was a brilliant leader writer to the 
 Standard; he has given the world the best translation 
 we have of the Koran ; he was a traveller in the Peninsula 
 of Sinai and the Desert of the Exodus ; he translated the 
 New Testament into Arabic, he wrote grammars of the 
 Arabic, Hindustani and Persian languages ; he wrote the 
 " Life of Haroun Alraschid," of which a new Edition 
 appeared only yesterday (Marcus Ward and Co.) ; he made 
 translations of poems from the Persian, the Arabic, the 
 Scandinavian, into other languages ; he published original 
 poems ; he wrote " The History of Jerusalem," now 
 in its third or fourth edition ; he wrote " The History 
 of the Jewish Nation," and many other works. In 
 addition to these, he wrote verses in the most delightful 
 vein of humour. Apart from his writings and the serious 
 work of his life, he was an adept in the art of legerde- 
 
Introduction. xv 
 
 main ; he could draw and paint admirably ; he was a 
 mesmerist ; he was a most wonderful raconteur ; he was 
 acquainted with nearly all the European as well as the 
 Oriental languages, and he was well known to all English 
 gipsies as one who knew as much as they knew themselves 
 of their language and their manners, insomuch that they 
 came to the conclusion that he was himself a gipsy, dis- 
 guised, for reasons connected with the higher and bolder 
 knavery, as a gentleman of England. 
 
 Let me show Palmer as a poet. Here is a poem 
 translated from the Scandinavian. I give it because it 
 seems to me so perfectly beautiful, sad, and touching : 
 
 Like birds of passage, after winter's days returning 
 
 To lake-land home and rest, 
 I come now unto thee, my foster-valley, yearning 
 
 For long-lost childhood's rest. 
 
 Full many a sea since then from thy dear strands has torn me, 
 
 And many a chilly year ; 
 Full many a joy since then those far-off lands have borne me, 
 
 And many a bitter tear. 
 
 Here am I back once more. Great Heaven ! there stands the 
 dwelling 
 
 Which erst my cradle bore, 
 The self-same sound, bay, grove and hilly range upswelling : 
 
 My world in days of yore. 
 
 All as before. Trees in the selfsame verdant dresses 
 
 With the same crowns are crowned ; 
 The tracts of heaven, and all the woodland's far recesses, 
 
 With well-known songs resound. 
 
 There with the crowd of flower-nymphs still the wave is 
 playing, 
 
 As erst, so light and sweet ; 
 And from dim wooded aits I hear the echoes straying 
 
 Glad youthful tones repeat. 
 
XVI 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 All as before. But my own self no more remaineth, 
 
 Glad valley ! as of old ; 
 My passion quenched long since, no flame my cheek retaineth, 
 
 My pulse now beateth cold. 
 
 I know not how to prize the charms that thou possessest, 
 
 Thy lavish gifts of yore ; 
 
 What thou through whispering brooks, or through thy flowers 
 expressest, 
 
 I understand no more. 
 
 Dead is mine ear to harp-strings which thy gods are ringing 
 
 From out thy streamlet clear, 
 No more the elfin hosts all frolicsome and singing 
 
 Upon the meads appear. 
 
 I went so rich, so rich from thee, my cottage lowly, 
 
 So full of hopes untold, 
 And with me feelings, nourished in thy shadows holy, 
 
 That promised days of gold. 
 
 The memory of thy wondrous spring- times went beside me, 
 
 And of thy peaceful ways, 
 And thy good spirits, borne within me, seemed to guide me 
 
 E'en from my earliest days. 
 
 And what have I brought back from yon world wide and 
 dreary ? 
 
 A snow-encumbered head, 
 A heart with sorrow sickened, and with falsehood weary, 
 
 And longing to be dead. 
 
 I crave no more, of all that once was in my keeping, 
 
 Dear mother ! but one thing : 
 Grant me a grave, where still thy fountain fair is weeping, 
 
 And where thy poplars spring ! 
 
 So shall I dream on, mother ! to thy calm breast owing 
 
 A faithful shelter then, 
 And live in every floweret, from mine ashes growing, 
 
 A guiltless life again. 
 
 And I should like to quote on Palmer's position as a 
 journalist, the words of Mr. Robert Wilson, now also 
 
Introduction. xvii 
 
 dead, who was at one time assistant editor of the 
 Standard : 
 
 I have been often asked what sort of subjects Palmer liked 
 to -write about. The answer is, he wrote with delight about 
 anything that was suggested to him, provided it had human 
 interest in it. Hence he discoursed best upon certain themes 
 such as gipsies, vagrants and vagabonds, Oriental life and 
 manners, folk-lore and popular antiquities. He was very fond 
 also of writing about crimes and disasters, and strange law cases 
 or famous trials, and his light and playful wit stood him in good 
 stead when he dealt with what are called social questions. He 
 had an idea that he was an authority on questions of Free Trade 
 and Commercial Tariffs, but I never discovered that he had any 
 profound knowledge of economic science ; and from his talk I 
 came to the conclusion that what he knew of the subject, accurate 
 as it was, went little beyond the speeches in Parliament, and 
 the ephemeral criticism of the day. Perhaps there is no better 
 illustration of his power of rapidly mastering a subject than the 
 suddenness with which he came to take a great interest in 
 Elementary Education, especially in connection with the politics 
 of the London School Board. I really think he was one of the 
 few men in London who could write well and safely on this 
 topic. Yet nearly all his knowledge of it he acquired, in the 
 first instance, by having a few conversations with an intelligent 
 member of the Board, from whom he obtained a vast pile of 
 formidable-looking documents, the contents of which his friends 
 used to regard with awe, as containing so he used with serio- 
 comic solemnity to aver the key to one of the most inscrutable 
 of mysteries. Palmer considered his career as a journalist in 
 London, short as it was, one of the pleasantest episodes of his 
 life. Those who were associated with him in that career pro- 
 fessionally can say that they reckoned his companionship one of 
 the brightest and happiest of their experiences. He was 
 The dearest friend to me, the kindest man, 
 The best-conditioned and unwearied spirit 
 In doing courtesies ; 
 
 and what he was to me he was to all who worked with him. 
 
 He was a worker of the most extraordinary vigour and 
 industry. Nothing seemed to tire him. He took upon 
 himself the heaviest burdens, he accepted responsibilities 
 
 c 
 
XV111 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 to an extent which would have been impossible for other 
 men ; at the very time when he went out to the East on 
 his last mission, he was writing leaders four or live a 
 week for the Standard ; reviews on Oriental subjects for 
 the Times ; articles for the Saturday Review, the Athenaeum, 
 and the Academy ; he was writing for the " Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica ;" he was editing, with me, the " Memoirs of 
 the Scenery of Western Palestine," a great work in eight 
 quarto volumes ; he was examining for the Civil Service 
 Commission ; he was lecturing at Cambridge. With all 
 this work he found time for an afternoon talk at the 
 Savile Club, for an hour of advice and help for a man in 
 trouble, for an expedition to see his friends the Lascars at 
 the Foreign Sailor's Home ; and all the time he was 
 fighting against a cruel asthma. 
 
 Here let me again copy from my " Life," the drawing 
 which I there essayed of his character, and the strange 
 weird charm of the man. 
 
 It was a charm of manner utterly unlike any that I have 
 seen in other men ; it is difficult to explain in what it lay ; yet 
 it was there, and it subdued all men, except those whom he did 
 not like : and these were few. It was caused chiefly by his 
 extraordinary sympathy ; it seemed as if, whoever approached 
 him, Palmer involuntarily put himself into that man's place and 
 assumed that man's attitude. It was not effort, or affectation, 
 or pretence, or hypocrisy, or acting. It was a natural, gracious, 
 and extraordinary sympathy. Women, who possess this strange 
 faculty generally to a much greater degree than men, are liable 
 to be led away by it into extravagances, hysterical passions, 
 blind obedience, absolute submission of the will. They are 
 carried into slavery by means of it. Palmer, on the other hand, 
 by means of his strangely sympathetic nature, influenced or 
 commanded those whom he knew. I am sure there is not one of 
 his friends who will not own, without any shame, that Palmer 
 couldj and very often did, influence him more than any other 
 man. We all, though we do not, perhaps, like to think so, lean 
 
Introduction. xix 
 
 greatly upon each, other, and are guided and influenced by the 
 opinions of our friends far more than we believe ; to use the 
 expression of the artisan when he wishes to describe a man who 
 is easily influenced by others, we are all, more or less, " cakes " : 
 that is, we may be moulded like dough. Palmer was the man 
 to whom everybody confided his affairs, even the most secret 
 and private affairs, and asked his counsel and advice. 
 
 Another cause of this strange charm was certainly his gentle 
 manner, his soft voice, his large and luminous eyes. Small as 
 he was in stature, he was never insignificant ; whenever he 
 entered a room one felt there was another man, of larger growth 
 than most, in it. And this, although he never in the least 
 degree asserted himself, anywhere or in any way, but always 
 retained the same quiet, unpretending manner, as if a back 
 place, somewhere in the pit, at the Play of the world would 
 perfectly content him, and others might occupy the stalls. And 
 then, again, there was a curious contrast, which the prejudices 
 of some unhappy persons may present to them as more or less 
 of an incongruity, between the wonderful learning of the man, 
 his unrivalled linguistic power, and the boyish playfulness which 
 he always retained, so that, without ever being a jack -pudding, 
 or a torn-fool, or a buffoon, or a practical joker, or a comic man, 
 or in any way losing his self-respect, he was always surrounded 
 with a pleasant atmosphere of cheerfulness, which he carried 
 about with him. Why should not a great scholar be also a man 
 of joyous nature ? 
 
 Again, one could never forget with him the intensely earnest 
 and serious side of his character. There never was any man 
 with a greater ardour for knowledge, a greater enthusiasm for 
 learning, a stronger resolution to achieve learning. I have 
 endeavoured to show this in the story of his early years, where 
 it has been seen how he taught himself Romany, Italian, and 
 French, with no other assistance than his own dogged per- 
 severance and determination ; and in the story of his early 
 manhood, when, with a kind of ferocity, he threw himself upon 
 three Oriental languages, and " tore the heart out of them ;" 
 and in his ill-paid work for an ungrateful University ; and in 
 his journalistic work; and even in those things in which he 
 made his amusement. And, as there has never been any greater 
 master of Persian, Arabic, and Urdu though there may have 
 been, and perhaps still are, greater scfiularx, as we commonly 
 
xx Introduction. 
 
 reckon scholarship that is, by grammar so there never has 
 been, since the time when the first alphabet was created by 
 Providence for the use of the first man who loved letters, any 
 more determined, resolute, and enthusiastic student. 
 
 Captain Haynes, in what follows, gives a brief account 
 of Palmer's mission. Perhaps the time has not come to 
 tell the whole truth concerning this expedition. Things 
 are known I do not speak of things connected with his 
 instructions, his powers, or the Government which are 
 not easy to prove, yet are very well known, to a few. It 
 is sufficient here to say that the real murderers of this 
 scholar and of the two gallant officers who fell with him 
 were not the wretched men who were rightly hanged for 
 being the tools, but others. 
 
 One of the last letters Palmer wrote was to myself. 
 In 1883, when I wrote his life, I had mislaid this letter. 
 I could find it nowhere in spite of long search. Too late, 
 it turned up in the place where I had put it for perfect 
 safety. I reproduce it here the last few lines in both 
 sheets were torn off by some accident when the letter 
 
 reached me. 
 
 Wady Magharah, 
 
 Desert of the Tih. 
 
 July 22, 1882. 
 
 My dear Besant, For personal discomfort I can recommend 
 travel in the desert in Midsummer, with the Arabs all in a state 
 of devildom, and Turkish and Egyptian soldiers to dodge. At 
 Jaffa and Gaza people thought me mad, and I had the greatest 
 difficulty in getting anyone to fetch my Arabs. I offered one 
 man three dollars a day and he would not go. However, here I 
 am, and thus far I have had a very successful journey, having 
 got hold of the big sheikhs, and got the promise of 50,000 men. 
 
 Arabi Pasha has got [a small part of the letter is 
 
 here torn off] am going to send 10,000 Tiyahah and Terebin 
 against them as soon as I get to Suez. The getting there, 
 though, is difficult, and I am at present rather like a rat in a 
 trap. I shall either have a gunboat sent for me to the Sinai 
 
Introduction. xxi 
 
 coast, or I shall have to get a couple of hundred men and fight 
 my way through the Egyptian guards. It is a queer sensation 
 to have one's throat in constant jeopardy, but I don't mind it 
 as I feel quite cool, and sure of success. 
 
 Explanation is quite out of the question, but if I stop till the 
 cool weather and I don't suppose I shall get back home till the 
 end of the campaign I may be able to run down to Akabah ; 
 the Bedouin will do anything for me. Why did you not make 
 " They were married," longer ? I .... [here comes the 
 torn part] off hand, and am now bookless. I expect a man in 
 from Suez to-morrow with letters and then I shall know my 
 plans better. I hope he won't get killed, because if the 
 Egyptians get hold of my letters things won't be nice for me. 
 
 Lord Northbrook said that he looked upon my task as the 
 most important one to the success of the campaign. And 
 Admiral Seymour, with whom I breakfasted the morning I left 
 (iced figs oh ! Lord !), congratulated me on my " pluck in 
 venturing into the desert at such a time." Excuse my vain- 
 glory I am the only European on Egyptian territory who is 
 not under the protection of the guns of the fleet. 
 
 The Aiyadi Arabs Arabi's lot have just sneaked some 
 camels, and my sheikh, with some pals, has gone off in war 
 costume to kill and slay. This is a casus belli, and will make 
 my ragamuffins doubly eager to do the little job I asked them, 
 and drive the intruders back home. It is all very romantic, but 
 a nuisance when you are in the middle of it, and the tent is so 
 shockingly hot at midday that is now and I pant like the 
 hart for cooling B. and S. in a thirsty land where no B. and S. is. 
 If ever I should get back again we will dine together immediately 
 and drink iced champagne. I should like to sit in a fishmonger's 
 shop beside the block of ice, and order .... [here the torn 
 piece] skins, hard goat and Arab bread are but sorry fare. 
 Do write to me and tell me all the news. I haven't heard from 
 a soul since I left, except a telegram from the Admiralty in 
 Alexandria. I am looking forward with some little excitement 
 to the advent of my wild postman to-morrow. 
 
 He has come back, and has brought me a "Homeward 
 Mail " ! It is a present from the P. and 0. agent ! My letters 
 are at the Egyptian post, and no one dares to go for them. 
 Hooray ! ! This is getting Mark Tapleyish. Let us be cheerful. 
 
 I have invented a plan for having all the comforts of an 
 
xxii Introduction. 
 
 Arabian summer journey at home. You get a huge cucumber 
 frame and walk about under it, while blast furnaces are lighted 
 around you. From a number of holes hot air and tine sand are 
 blown by means of compressed air into your face. After eight 
 hours you sit down to a piece of boiled boot, washed down with 
 warm ditch-water, and there you are cue for the band ! This 
 is bitter sarcasm but not exaggeration. 
 
 Suez, 1st August. 
 
 All right ! I dodged the sentries, but had to do it at night. 
 Have been travelling twenty-four hours and am rather beat. 
 Will write more next mail. This is just going out. Best 
 regards to .... and all sorts of good wishes to yourself, 
 Ever yours, B. H. PALMER. 
 
 This was the last letter I had from him. With these 
 few words of preface let us ask Captain Haynes to tell his 
 tale. 
 
 WALTEE BESANT. 
 
 HAMPSTEAD, 
 Feb., 1894. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN QUESTION IN THE SUMMER OF 1882. PALMER'S 
 MISSION IN THE DESERT. ANTECEDENTS OF PROFESSOR 
 PALMER AND CAPTAIN GILL. DISAPPEARANCE OF PALMER'S 
 PARTY. DESPATCH OF COLONEL WARREN. ARRIVAL IN 
 EGYPT. INFORMATION OBTAINED AT SUEZ. CAPTAIN FOOTE'S 
 INQUIRIES. CONDITION OF SUEZ. A WATER - FAMINE 
 THREATENED. COLONEL WARREN ORDERED TO TOR. 
 
 THE circumstances which led to the British occupation of 
 Egypt are still tolerably fresh in the minds of the public, 
 although a decade has passed away since we gave hostages 
 to fortune by venturing on armed interposition amongst 
 the dwellers on the Nile. Nevertheless, it is necessary, 
 for the elucidation of this narrative, which is but an 
 episode in the Egyptian Campaign of 1882, to refer, here 
 and there, to the events which led to and accompanied that 
 interposition ; but and this I regard in the light of a 
 solemn engagement no attempt will be made to follow 
 the military operations further than is absolutely necessary 
 to throw light upon the matter in hand. 
 
 In the early part of the year, when this narrative 
 commences, the interest of all Europe was centred on the 
 Suez Canal, as distinct from Egypt ; and the desire to 
 preserve its neutrality, and to prevent its falling under the 
 
2 Egyptian Question in 1882. [CHAP. i. 
 
 sway of an adversary, was an important factor in the 
 politics of every great Power. Owing to the disturbed and 
 impoverished state of Egypt at this period, our highway to 
 India was in peril. A Jihad, or " Holy War," was being 
 actively advocated in Syria, as well as in Egypt, and there 
 was reason to fear that the wild denizens of the desert 
 would assume the offensive, and seriously compromise the 
 situation by some exasperating action against European 
 ships passing through the Canal. Great Britain was 
 therefore bound to take some prompt action for the speedy 
 pacification of Egypt ; and, while it was necessary that she 
 should so regulate her conduct as to avoid entanglement in 
 a colossal struggle with other nations, it was further 
 essential to endeavour to prevent the pacification of Egypt 
 leading to a war of creeds Moslem against Christian. 
 
 Under such circumstances, the despatch of Professor 
 Palmer to the Desert of the Tih was a happy conception, 
 which, in effect, met with a success which, perhaps, cannot 
 be truly estimated, owing to the disastrous death of the 
 erudite Orientalist. In the course of these pages the 
 circumstances under which Palmer and his companions 
 lost their lives will be dealt with ; but, when all is said, 
 the public can never know to what extent his efforts for 
 his country contributed towards the successful results of 
 the campaign. It is easy to imagine circumstances under 
 which, if Palmer had not been through the desert, the 
 Bedouin of Arabia might have hampered our Expeditionary 
 Force and impeded its progress. 
 
 We learn from the various memoirs of Professor 
 Palmer and Captain Grill, E.E., that the latter only 
 arrived in London from Tripoli on June 16th, 1882, 
 and was at once employed by Lord Northbrook, then 
 First Lord of the Admiralty, in collecting information 
 
CHAP, i.] Despatch of Palmer. 3 
 
 as to the Bedoui tribes adjoining the Canal. With 
 this object in view he called upon Palmer on June 24th, 
 and henceforward the latter was closely occupied on the 
 matter. The questions arose as to whether the Bedouin 
 were likely to give trouble in the Canal, and whether 
 they could by any manner of means be detached from 
 Arabi Pasha's interest ; and when it was inquired who 
 would go out into the desert and report on its condition, 
 Professor Palmer consented to undertake the dangerous 
 and difficult attempt. He accordingly left London on a 
 secret mission on Friday, June 30th, via Brindisi, arriving 
 at Alexandria on July 6th. The writer of his memoir 
 states that great precautions were adopted to secure secrecy 
 as to the work he had in hand. It was given out that he 
 was going to the East for his health ; for a geographical 
 mission; it was believed he was going for the Times or 
 the Standard. Probably the general impression amongst 
 his acquaintances was, that he was going out as a corre- 
 spondent for the war that was impending in the East. 
 
 After waiting on the British Admiral, Sir Beauchamp 
 Seymour, at Alexandria, he proceeded by sea to Jaffa, 
 arriving there on July 9th ; and thence by land to Gaza, 
 on the confines of the desert. On July 15th he left 
 Gaza to visit the Bedouin of the Desert of the Tih : the 
 details of this perilous journey are graphically told in a 
 chapter of Mr. Walter Besant's memoir entitled " The 
 Great Eide of the Sheik Abdullah." He arrived at Suez, 
 which was still in the hands of the rebels, on August 1st, 
 and got safely on board of a British man-of-war. Next 
 day Suez was occupied by the British Forces, and Palmer 
 was appointed Chief Interpreter to Admiral Sir William 
 Hewett, V.C., Commanding the East Indian Squadron. 
 In the meantime Captain Gill had received orders to pro- 
 
 B 2 
 
Professor Palmer. [CHAP. i. 
 
 ceed to Egypt, for duty under the Admiral. He reached 
 Alexandria on July 27th, and Suez on August 5th. 
 
 It will probably occur as singular that Palmer's 
 Expedition, as well as the subsequent Search-Expedition 
 through the desert, should have been carried out under the 
 direction of the Admiralty. This, however, will readily 
 be understood when it is stated that until the middle of 
 August the affairs of the Canal were entirely in the hands 
 -of the Admiralty ; and, even after it was decided to 
 approach Cairo from Ismailia, the British General took 
 direction only of affairs west of the Canal, while those in 
 the Canal, and in the desert to the east, as a necessity and 
 convenience, remained in the hands of the Admiralty. 
 This association of our work with the navy conduced 
 considerably to rapidity of movement ; and the hearty 
 assistance which we received from all ranks of sailors with 
 whom we came in contact, led, in no small degree, to any 
 ultimate success obtained. 
 
 It may be necessary to give some slight account here 
 of the careers of these two men, Palmer and Grill, the loss 
 of whom was felt as a severe blow to both literature and 
 travel ten years ago. 
 
 Professor Edward Henry Palmer was the first Oriental 
 scholar of his day. His intellectual activity is evidenced 
 by upwards of a score of books, the work of a similar 
 number of years. The memoir of this remarkable man, 
 the work of his friend, Mr. Walter Besant, is well known ; 
 and the many-sided-ness of his character and life made it a 
 task of no small difficulty. I cannot do better than quote 
 Mr. Besant's own words : " Palmer was a scholar and 
 student most earnest and resolute, yet always with the 
 heart of a boy ; so great a linguist that he stood alone, yet 
 always modest ; full of reliance in himself and his powers, 
 
PROFESSOR E. H. PALMER. 
 
CHAP, i.] Captain Gill. 
 
 yet never vainglorious ; always at work, yet always with 
 time for leisure ; the most serious man in the world when 
 he had a purpose in view, yet the most delightful and the 
 most mirthful of companions. It was decreed by fate that 
 this great Oriental scholar was to become a friend of 
 gipsies, a conjurer and magician, an intrepid explorer of 
 un visited deserts, a writer of, leading articles, a translator 
 of the New Testament, a mesmerist, and, among his friends, 
 a raconteur of the first order. Finally, it was ordered for 
 him that he should end his days after an exploit un- 
 paralleled, and in a manner strange, wonderful, and tragic ; 
 and that he should find a resting-place with England's 
 heroes." 
 
 Captain William John Gill entered the Royal Engineers 
 in 186*4. Being a man of great energy and enterprise, 
 with both the taste for travel and the means of gratifying 
 it, he had gained considerable reputation as an explorer of 
 the unknown districts of Central Asia. An account of his 
 first voyage of exploration is given in the " Clouds in the 
 East," by Colonel V. Baker, with whom Gill travelled in 
 Persia in 1873. Three years later Gill started on his first 
 journey to China. His aspirations were directed to a 
 journey through North-West China to Kashgoria, and so 
 to Europe : but this proving impracticable from the 
 troubled aspect of affairs between England and Eussia in 
 1878, he turned southwards, and passed through Tibet to the 
 Irawadi River. The account of his journey was given to 
 the world in 1880, in " The River of Golden Sand ; " and 
 the merits of the explorer were recognised by both the 
 Geographical Societies of London and Paris with the 
 presentation of their gold medal. Between 1880 and his 
 embarkation for Egypt in 1882 Gill had not been idle. 
 Turkey, Afghanistan, and Tripoli were the scenes of his 
 
6 Palmer re-enters the Desert. [CHAP. i. 
 
 energetic devotion to his country's service ; and returning 
 from Tripoli via Constantinople, he was a few days later 
 despatched on his last journey, to join the staff of the 
 Expeditionary Force in Egypt. 
 
 On August 6th Grill and Palmer met together again, 
 and considered their arrangements for re-entering the 
 desert from Suez. There has been considerable discussion 
 in public print as to the primary object of their proceeding 
 to the desert, but three objects appear to have been 
 certainly in view, viz. : 
 
 (1) Buying camels ; 
 
 (2) Keeping the Bedouin available for transport and 
 control of camels ; 
 
 (3) Cutting the Syrian telegraph. 
 
 Grill and Palmer both state in their journals that their 
 instructions were, to go into the desert to cut the telegraph 
 wires, which, though they cross the Canal at El Kantara, 
 could not be cut there without infringing the neutrality of 
 Suez Canal. The party were also to be at Nackl on 
 August 12th to meet Sheik Misleh, Amir of the Tiyahah; 
 and it would appear from Gill's journal that after proceed- 
 ing some way into the desert, probably as far as Nack], 
 Palmer was to remain there for a conference of sheiks, 
 while Gill was to proceed north to cut the telegraph-wire. 
 At Palmer's request, a naval officer (Lieutenant Harold 
 Charrington, Flag-Lieutenant to Admiral Sir William 
 Hewett) joined the party, and they started from Ayun 
 Musa, a watering-place a few miles from Suez, on August 
 9th. They were accompanied by Gill's dragoman, Khalil 
 Atek (a Syrian Christian), Palmer's cook, Bokhor (a Jew), 
 and two Bedouin, Metter Abu Sofia, and his nephew, 
 Salami Ibn Aid, of the Lehewat tribe, besides camel-men. 
 
 At the time of their departure the desert was sealed to 
 
CAPTAIN W. J. GILL, E.E. 
 
CHAP, i] Warren Asked for. 
 
 Europeans, and when they left Ayun Musa the party 
 disappeared. On August 1 1th disquieting rumours reached 
 Suez that the party had met with some accident ; hut" as 
 such rumours frequently accompany such expeditions, no 
 credence was placed upon them. On August 23rd, no 
 news of the party being yet forthcoming, the Admiralty 
 telegraphed out : "If another officer is wanted to deal with 
 Bedouin, Colonel Warren, E.E., is disposable. Shall he he 
 sent out ? " To which the Admiral replied : " Should like 
 Warren sent." Two days afterwards a rumour concerning 
 the looting of Palmer's camp was telegraphed home ; hut 
 it was then stated by the Admiral, Sir William Hewett, 
 that he did not feel anxious for the safety of the party ; 
 and on the same day Admiral Hoskyns telegraphed the 
 safe arrival at Suez of Gill a piece of information which, 
 unfortunately, was incorrect, but which caused it for some 
 days to be generally supposed that Gill had returned from 
 the desert in safety, and that the remainder of the party 
 were safe with Metter Abu Sofia. 
 
 The circumstances which led to the selection of Colonel 
 Warren to head the Search -Expedition are set forth in 
 some rough notes which will be found in Appendix 
 A. A somewhat singular coincidence is therein set forth. 
 On the night of August ,10th, whilst Professor Palmer was 
 being waylaid and taken prisoner by the Bedouin in the 
 desert, Colonel Warren was busily engaged in his quarters 
 at Chatham, dictating to me a report embodying certain 
 proposals for dealings with the Bedouin ; and therein 
 set forth the prime necessity of guarding against treachery 
 and assassination. The Bedoui, though courteous and 
 hospitable, is strangely wanting in faithfulness where 
 white people and Christians are concerned ; but, although 
 he will not scruple to rob and murder those whom he finds 
 
We reach Egypt. [CHAP. i. 
 
 in his power, yet he is very chary of doing either if his 
 victims are capable of active, though maybe on the whole 
 ineffectual, resistance. Thus, to be well-armed, and to be 
 alert and able to use one's weapons with effect, goes far to 
 render one secure from ill-treatment by the Bedouin. As 
 this report was being written, Palmer, trusting all to his 
 Bedoui guide, having fallen into an ambush, had dis- 
 suaded his companions from all attempt at resistance- 
 resistance which might have at least resulted in the three 
 Englishmen exacting summary penalty for the treachery 
 shown them and, trusting to his powers of pleading and 
 argument to extricate them from their critical position, 
 was placing the party unreservedly in the power of the 
 hostile Bedouin. 
 
 On August 24th Colonel Warren received a telegram 
 from the Admiralty, saying his services might be required 
 at once at the seat of war. Arrangements were rapidly 
 completed, and, drawing one companion from Chatham, 
 another from Southampton, while a third was on his way 
 to join him from Ireland, he left London next evening by 
 the night-mail for Brindisi and the Suez Canal. 
 
 We arrived at Port Said on August 31st, and finding 
 that our steamer was to remain there some days to coal, 
 we landed, and put up at the Hotel des Bains. Here an 
 extensive business was going on between the war-corre- 
 spondents and natives, relative to the former proceeding to 
 the " front " by the banks of the Suez Canal, which was the 
 only road open ; it being very uncertain to what extent 
 these banks were exposed to marauders from among 
 Arabi's fanatical adherents. Scarcely had we got our 
 rooms at the hotel, and sat down to lunch, when, owing to 
 the good offices of Sir Eedvers Buller, we received a 
 message from Captain Wilson, of H.M.S. Jfecla, stating 
 
LIEUTENANT H. CHAERINGTON, E.N., 
 Flog- Lieutenant to Admiral Sir W. Heuett, V.C. 
 
CHAP, i.] Search- Expedition Constituted. 9 
 
 that lie would take us at once direct to Ismailia. We 
 promptly got our luggage on board, and, passing a large 
 number of steamers waiting in the Canal, arrived at 
 Ismailia in the evening of September 1st. Colonel Warren 
 waited on the Admiral, Sir Beauchamp Seymour, and was 
 forthwith placed in charge of an immediate mission to 
 ascertain the fate of Professor Palmer and his party, and 
 told that no expense would be spared for this object. 
 
 The following day we were engaged at Ismailia, and 
 received from the Chief-of-the-Staff proclamations, to be 
 issued amongst the Bedouin and Fellahin, as to the object 
 of the military occupation. The action of Shalufi had 
 just occurred, and stores were being hurried up from 
 Ismailia to the front towards Tel el Kebir. 
 
 On September 3rd we received orders to proceed to 
 Suez by the first boat going down the Canal, and finding 
 that a transport the Bancoora was just moving out, 
 we followed her in a launch, and succeeded in reaching 
 her in time to take our passage to Suez. Lake Timsah at 
 this time presented a very unusual appearance, being 
 crowded with vessels of all descriptions. There were 
 numerous men-of-war engaged in the service of the 
 maritime base of our army, and in the protection and 
 conduct of the Canal ; the transports which transferred the 
 army from Alexandria to their new base of operations at 
 Ismailia, were there, and, in addition, a fleet of white 
 vessels which had brought the Indian contingent from the 
 East. Altogether, the scene was of the busiest, and we 
 could not but experience regret at leaving it for doubtful, 
 and less hopeful, duties down the Red Sea. 
 
 On arrival at the Bitter Lakes in the evening we 
 found all traffic stopped, by the grounding of the Durham 
 Castle in the Canal, and we remained there all night. 
 
10 Hostile Bedouin. [CHAP. i. 
 
 Next day, there being no immediate prospect of moving 
 on, we left our baggage in the Bancoora, and landed at a 
 flare. Here we waited until the arrival of the little steam- 
 boat which carried the mails to and fro, and in which we 
 secured a deck-passage to Suez. The country in the 
 vicinity of the (/are did not invite a close inspection, and, 
 as we were then unaware of the proximity of the supposed 
 crossing of the Israelites, over what was, at the time of the 
 Exodus, the sea, we spent the time we had to wait there 
 in the shade afforded by the flare-keeper's garden. The 
 heat just now was excessive, and as we were in our heavy 
 English uniforms, having had no time to get a proper 
 outfit before leaving England, we felt it a good deal. 
 
 It was matter of hourly expectation that the steamers 
 passing through the Canal at this time would be attacked 
 by the Bedouin ; and no doubt the soldiers in the crowded 
 transports would have suffered from their fire, even if only 
 a few rifles had been ranged along the Canal : but at this 
 time nearly all the Bedoui tribes, except the Towara, were 
 gathered together at Mahada, the nearest water to Ismailia, 
 east of the Canal, and were there awaiting the expected 
 defeat of the British troops by Arabi Pasha, ready to 
 swoop down upon them and loot their belongings as soon 
 as the opportunity occurred. This gathering of Bedouin 
 was constantly asserted, by those who knew the country 
 well, as numbering 50,000 men, but the true number could 
 not have exceeded 10 per cent, of this, or 5000 men. It 
 is indeed open to considerable doubt whether it would be 
 possible, on account of the deficiency of water, to gather 
 together 5000 Bedouin anywhere in Arabia Petrsea, except, 
 perhaps, at Gratie, and not even there without making such 
 preparations for the development and service of the water- 
 supply as the Bedouin by themselves were very unlikely 
 
CHAP. L] Admiral Sir W. Hcivett, V.C. 11 
 
 to attempt. However, whatever the number might have 
 been, there was some little danger to the launches that 
 patrolled the Canal and carried the mails, since they were 
 completely dominated by the canal banks ; and this helped to 
 alleviate the otherwise tedious nature of the run down to Suez. 
 
 Soon after noon we were landed at the Suez h arbour - 
 works, ravenous with hunger, and found a small cafe, 
 where we obtained some sardines, grapes, and bread. We 
 had no notion where the troops or ships were, but by good 
 luck hailed a boat which proved to belong to the flag-ship, 
 and were taken on board. Finding that the Admiral was 
 now staying on shore, at the naval hospital, some miles 
 off, we made our way up there, and reported our arrival to 
 him on September 4th, just twenty-six days after Palmer's 
 party had left Suez on their ill-fated journey, and ten days 
 after our leaving London. 
 
 We were received by the Admiral in the most hospitable 
 manner, and were introduced by him to an Egyptian 
 officer, Osman Bey Rafat, A.D.C. to the Khedive, who 
 had been specially sent to Suez to assist in the search after 
 Palmer's party ; and Colonel Warren was informed that 
 Osman Bey and he were to act as colleagues in the matter. 
 It was then arranged that we should proceed to Tor, the 
 port of Sinai, in H.M.S. Cockatrice, which was under 
 orders to go there to take a present of grain and other food 
 for the monks of Sinai, the latter being reported to be 
 starving, owing to supplies being cut off by the war ; and 
 Colonel Warren was to try and obtain information about 
 Professor Palmer, and open up communication with the 
 Bedouin of the Sinaitic peninsula. 
 
 And now, before commencing our narrative in detail, it 
 seems necessary to make some preliminary observations in 
 order to explain the position of affairs. 
 
12 Position of Affairs. [CHAP. i. 
 
 The Jihcid was being proclaimed among the Moslems 
 in all directions. Hostile Bedouin occupied the desert 
 around Suez to the west of the Canal ; while communica- 
 tion with the desert to the east had almost entirely 
 ceased. The following letter from the Governor of Nackl 
 to the Governor of Akabah, written on September 9th, will, 
 from the extraordinary colour it throws over current events, 
 give some idea of the position of affairs to the east of the 
 Canal. " The English Christians attacked the Bedouin 
 near Ismailia " (probably refers to action of Shalufi), " when 
 they were much in need of water, and the Sweet-Water 
 Canal was blocked, so that none could go down to Suez 
 from Ismailia. Then at night the English attacked the 
 Bedouin, who ran away and informed Arabi Pasha ; so he 
 came from Kafr Dowar with plenty of troops and attacked 
 the enemy, and has taken all their guns and arms as gain 
 to the Moslems. Many prisoners ; Ismailia destroyed ; 
 and the Christians of that place are very excited and 
 afraid." 
 
 At the time of Palmer's departure for Ayun Musa on 
 August 9th, there were still some native Greek families 
 belonging to Suez living there; for the East India fleet 
 had but just arrived, the British troops had not entered the 
 Canal, and the Eastern Bedouin had not, in the vicinity of 
 Suez, shown the same hostility as had the Egyptian 
 Bedouin. Thus when, on August 13th, one of Palmer's 
 camel-men named Saad suddenly appeared, and stated that 
 the baggage of his party had been looted, no particular 
 alarm was felt, as the looting of the baggage of travellers 
 in the desert might occur during the most profound peace. 
 When, however, the acting-governor of Suez, Eeschid Bey, 
 acting under the instructions of Sir William Hewett, sent 
 a party out to bring Saad into Suez, the Arabs at Ayun 
 
CHAP. L] Captain Footcs Enquiries. IS 
 
 Musa would not permit it : then, for the first time, the 
 Greek families realised that there was something very wrong, 
 and retreated hastily into Suez, leaving their native gardeners 
 behind. In a few days the gardeners took refuge in Suez, 
 stating that the houses at Ayun Mi A isa had been broken 
 into and pillaged, and the gardens looted. Such a pro- 
 ceeding is of very rare occurence among the Bedouin, and 
 meant war ; and on our arrival at Suez all communication 
 with Ayun Musa was cut off, and any Bedouin living 
 there were known to be hostile to the British. 
 
 On August 21st, Sir William Hewett, hearing that 
 some news of Palmer's party might be obtained through 
 the Greek Archbishop at Tor, ordered Captain Foote of 
 H.M.S. Ruby to proceed there in the Indian Govern- 
 ment steamer Amberwitch, accompanied by the Greek Con- 
 sul for Suez, M. Metzakis, who was known to the Greek 
 Archbishop. Captain Foote returned to Suez on August 
 31st, and reported as follows : " It would appear from a 
 general summary of the information obtained that Mr. 
 Palmer, in company with Sheik Abu Sofia (Metter 
 Sofia) proceeded from Ayun Musa to the country of a 
 tribe called Quidetto,* and then on to the country of a 
 tribe called Karabinda,* the baggage following in the 
 rear. On the day after leaving Ayun Musa, about mid- 
 day, on reaching a sand-hill a large number of Bedouin 
 appeared and presented their guns. Sheik Sofia requested 
 Mr. Palmer to get down from the dromedary he was 
 riding and mount his, which was a better one, the sheik 
 mounting the dromedary of Mr. Palmer, which had the 
 money ; there is another version of this report, and that is, 
 that the sheik took Mr. Palmer on his dromedary, behind 
 
 * Probably these mean Haiwatat and Terebin. 
 
14 Information obtained at Suez. [CHAP. i. 
 
 him. No information could be obtained as to the fate of 
 the two officers, except that the son of Sheik Abu Motarka 
 (of the tribe through whose district they were passing) is 
 reported to have been wounded, but whether by one of the 
 two officers accompanying Mr. Palmer no accurate infor- 
 mation could be obtained, nor could it be ascertained what 
 had become of the officers. M. Metzakis has arranged 
 that information is to be obtained by Bedoui employes of 
 the Greek church, and I believe that in six days something 
 more definite will be forthcoming from Tor." 
 
 On September 1st, H.M.S. Cockatrice had arrived at 
 Suez with Osman Bey Eafat on board, directed by the 
 Khedive to assist in making inquiries. As he was a 
 Syrian from Hebron, he could claim some acquaintance 
 with the desert Bedouin, and it was expected that he would 
 be able to give valuable assistance. 
 
 Telegrams had also been sent to. Mr. Consul Moore of 
 Jerusalem, telling him of the disappearance of the party, 
 .and asking him to get news from Sheik Misleh of the 
 Tiyahah, whom Palmer had directed to meet him at Nackl. 
 A reply had been received from Mr. Moore to the effect 
 that Misleh had gone to Nackl, had waited there two days 
 beyond the appointed time, till August 14th, but that 
 Palmer had not appeared. 
 
 Thus all the information we were in possession of on 
 our arrival was that the baggage had been plundered ; 
 that Palmer had escaped with Metter Abu Sofia ; and 
 that Gill had probably left the party to cut the telegraph 
 wires, and had returned in safety. Robberies have so often 
 taken place in the desert, and murder of Europeans so 
 seldom, that there was no reason for supposing that any 
 foul play had occurred, and all the Arab stories went to 
 show that the party had escaped unhurt. 
 
CHAP. L] Condition of Suez. 15 
 
 It was commonly reported that the party on being 
 plundered had escaped towards Sinai, and some confusion 
 of names, with reference to the locality of the place of 
 attack, confirmed this report. The party were attacked in 
 Wadi Sadr, only about forty miles from Suez ; but so little 
 was known by the Suez people of their own neighbour- 
 hood, that this name was unknown to them, and it was 
 assumed as a fact that the attack took place in Wadi Sidri, 
 close to the Wadi Mukateb, in the Sinaitic peninsula. 
 This was a most unfortunate assumption, as it gave an 
 entirely different complexion to the whole transaction, and 
 threw the responsibility of the robbery on the Towara, in 
 whose territory Wadi Sidri is, whereas Wadi Sadr is in 
 Terebin and Haiwatat territory. On our arrival this trans- 
 ference of site was accepted by all as quite correct ; and it 
 was only after considerable research and investigation that 
 we ascertained the fact of this initial error in the supposed 
 circumstances of the case. 
 
 The state of Suez at this time was indescribable ; the 
 Arab population almost to a man sided with Arabi Pasha 
 against the English ; but yet they feared the Bedouin. The 
 most extraordinary ignorance existed about the state of 
 affairs at Ismailia ; and the air was filled with the shadows 
 of panics relative to the town being attacked and sacked 
 by hordes of Bedouin all perfectly absurd in the face of 
 the ample precautions taken by Sir William Hewett. The 
 Europeans were expecting every day to hear of the great 
 battle which was to wipe out the Egyptian Army ; while 
 the Moslems were expecting to hear of the British being 
 swept into Lake Timsah. Grave reports were being spread 
 about the state of our troops that they were incapable of 
 standing the heat ; that they were dying of fever and in a 
 state of mutiny ; that they could not possibly stand the 
 
16 Mr. Consul West. [CHAP. i. 
 
 prolonged strain all ridiculous nonsense, as there was 
 nothing that British troops had not vigorously passed 
 through, campaign after campaign, in former years. 
 
 The timely seizure of the Sweet-Water Canal hy Sir 
 Garnet Wolseley, and the repair of the cut made in it by 
 Arahi Pasha near Nifichi, had been effected ; but, never- 
 theless, the water in the Sweet- Water Canal was gradually 
 falling lower and lower, and a great alarm of impending 
 water-famine was paralysing the people at Suez. In 
 former days the town had been dependent for its water 
 upon the springs at Ayun Musa ; but that supply was now 
 insufficient for the wants of the modern town, and it was also 
 in the hands of the Bedouin. After the occupation of the 
 town by the Admiral, the happy idea had occurred of filling 
 one of the dry docks with fresh water ; this was carried out 
 most successfully by Captain Foote, thus giving Suez a chance 
 for a few days, should the Sweet-Water Canal run dry. 
 
 Colonel Warren received authority from the Admiral 
 to make the necessary arrangements for effecting an entry 
 into the desert at Tor, and our time for preparation being 
 very limited, we had to make great haste. We visited the 
 British Consul, Mr. West, who had had forty years' ex- 
 perience at Suez, and was looked up to as an authority by 
 all around. Prom his position he would necessarily have 
 the closest connection with our work, and, moreover, he 
 was to accompany us to Tor. The ready assistance he 
 gave us at all times greatly helped us in the conduct of 
 our inquiries, and much conduced to the success of the 
 expedition. Our baggage having arrived with the Bancoora, 
 and been deposited at the Docks, three miles away from 
 Suez, we appealed to Mr. West for assistance to get it 
 up to the Suez Hotel. This, in ordinary times, may be 
 a matter of great ease, but at that time, everything being 
 
CHAP, i.i Preparations for going to Tor. 17 
 
 topsy-turvy, it was no small matter to find means for 
 doing anything out of the ordinary course ; and it took 
 half the day to get camels and load them, and to bring 
 the luggage a distance of three miles. 
 
 Our time for preparation before leaving for Tor only 
 amounted to a few hours ; and we had not only to 
 supplement our deficient kit by curious garments which we 
 obtained in the native bazaar, but we had also to obtain 
 servants and an interpreter. Everyone worth his salt had 
 already been taken into Government service ; and, after 
 much trouble, the services of one Hassan were engaged, for 
 five shillings per diem, as servant. This man had acted as 
 a kind of tourists' guide in Suez, and knew a few words of a 
 great many languages ; he probably had never done a real 
 day's work in his life, and was neither ornamental nor useful. 
 We also engaged one, Del Borgo, as interpreter; he was 
 a very decent fellow in his own line, but talked very 
 imperfect English, and was not over bright. 
 
 We visited the Greek families which had come in from 
 Ayun Musa, getting very little further information from 
 them, except the impression that Metter Abu Sofia, 
 Palmer's guide, was implicated in the attack on him ; but 
 as they called him Metter Nassar it was supposed they 
 meant Musa Nusier of the Towara. The confusion was 
 still further increased by the fact that Palmer called Metter 
 Sofia by the name Umtunjar. We also made the acquain- 
 tance of a Persian merchant, named Ossad, who gave us 
 information which proved of importance subsequently. 
 He said that Musa Nusier, head-sheik of the Towara of 
 Sinai, had got frightened on receiving the letter from the 
 Governor of Suez relative to the disappearance of Professor 
 Palmer, and had left the vicinity of Tor, fearing that he 
 would be taken prisoner and punished. According to this 
 
18 Exceptional State of Desert. [CHAP. i. 
 
 man, the Bedouin had been instigated by Arabi Pasha's 
 party against the Christians, quite independent of the attack 
 on Professor Palmer; and subsequent evidence indicated 
 that Musa Nusier received a letter from the Governor of 
 El Arish, directing him to massacre the Christians ; but 
 he had refused to act on it. 
 
 Among other inquiries, we visited the prison and 
 interrogated two Arabs who had been captured at the 
 action of Shalufi. Colonel Warren wanted to give them 
 their liberty and let them take letters to the tribes in the 
 desert ; but, strange to say, they would not take their 
 liberty on such terms ; and said they would rather die at 
 once, for they would be sure to be killed by the Bedouin if 
 they went among them on such an errand. This showed 
 a very curious and unusual state of affairs in the desert. 
 They said they were from near El Arish, and belonged to 
 a Sheik Agag's tribe ; but we could not ascertain who they 
 really were, and the odd part of the matter was that Osman 
 Bey, who was brought up at Hebron, and ought to have 
 known something about the tribes towards Syria, could 
 not be certain to what tribe they belonged. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 VOYAGE IN H.M.S. " COCKATRICE." ARRIVAL AT TOR. INFORMA- 
 TION RECEIVED. LETTER TO PALMER. DIFFICULTIES OF 
 DIVIDED AUTHORITY. DEPARTURE OF OSMAN BEY RAFAT AND 
 THE GREEK CONSUL. AT TOR IN THE ABSENCE OF THE 
 " COCKATRICE." ARRIVAL OF LIEUTENANT BURTON. NEWS 
 OF ARABI'S COLLAPSE. COYNESS OF MUSA NUSIER. STANDING- 
 CAMP IN THE DESERT. MR. WEST LEAVES FOR SUEZ. WAITING 
 FOR MUSA. RETURN TO TOR. RESULTS OF OUR MISSION TO 
 TOR. 
 
 ON Wednesday, September 6th, H.M.S. Cockatrice was to 
 be ready to proceed to Tor in tbe afternoon ; but, our party 
 being unable to get together in time, her departure was 
 postponed until the evening. She was burdened with 
 about two tons of wheat and biscuits bought in the town, 
 with thirty sacks of wheat supplied by the commissariat, 
 and fifty sacks of beans shipped by the Governor 
 stores which were to be handed over to the Greek Arch- 
 bishop at Tor, for the use of the monks of the convent of 
 Mount Sinai. Before starting Captain Eoote came on 
 board and had a talk with Colonel Warren, putting him in 
 possession of all the information he had gathered on the 
 subject of the missing party. 
 
 We left Suez at 7.30 p.m., under Captain Grenfell's 
 charge, our party consisting of Colonel Warren, Mr. West 
 (English Consul), M. Metzakis (Greek Consul), Osman 
 Bey Kafat, myself, and Quartermaster-Sergeant Kennedy, 
 E.E. We also took Del Burgo, our interpreter, and our 
 lazy Arab servant, Hassan. 
 
 c 2 
 
20 H.M.8. "Cockatrice:' [CHAP. a 
 
 The Cockatrice is a little paddle-wheel gunboat, well 
 known on the Danube ; she had been brought over to 
 Egypt on account of her light draught and general handi- 
 ness. Our party was rather large for the limited accom- 
 modation of a ship-of-war of her tiny dimensions ; but 
 
 H.M.S. " COCKATRICE. 
 
 Captain Grenfell was equal to the occasion, gave us a 
 capital dinner, and fitted us all out with sleeping accom- 
 modation. A strong, but very warm breeze was blowing, 
 and we chatted away until deep into the night, our 
 medium for conversation being French. 
 
 Those who were fond of observing Nature were up 
 before sunrise next morning, anxious to see the coast of 
 Sinai. At first we could only see leaden-coloured clouds, 
 with the white -flecked bubbling sea around ; but as 
 morning broke a most glorious view opened upon us. The 
 rosy clouds gradually diminished and disappeared, and the 
 red, castellated mountains of the peninsula, cut and 
 crannied by innumerable fissures, stood boldly out in the 
 clear azure sky ; while all around us, and reaching appa- 
 rently to the foot of the mountains, stretched a seething 
 mass of waters, intensely blue, and broken up by lines of 
 white sea-horses, racing along under the freshening breeze. 
 
CHAP, ii] Arrival at Tor. 21 
 
 The pleasant gurgling sounds made by the paddle-wheels 
 on the water, and the spray sprinkled amid the heated air, 
 suggested a coolness and enjoyment to our senses after the 
 oppressive heat of a September night in the Red Sea. 
 
 About noon we neared the shore sufficiently to see that 
 there was a flat plain stretching far inland between the 
 coast and the foot of the mountains, and soon grove after 
 grove of palm-trees appeared in view. At the edge of the 
 water the little town of Tor was seen, a few well-built 
 stone houses standing out in spotless white and dazzling 
 brightness against yellow plains and deep, green palm- 
 groves. Three flags floated lazily over the town the 
 Egyptian, the Custom House, and the Sanitary. 
 
 The harbour of Tor is guarded by a coral-reef, through 
 the entrance of which we carefully picked our way to an 
 anchorage. Our appearance evidently put the whole 
 population into commotion ; and it was clear that many a 
 one deemed his presence undesirable, for we saw camels 
 and donkeys moving hastily away. These, it turned out, 
 belonged to Bedouin, who had come in from the desert 
 to bully the inhabitants, and levy black-mail of dates from 
 the luxuriant groves around. Since Captain Foote had left 
 in the Amberwitch they had been threatening to sack the 
 town, and had led the inhabitants an anxious time, until 
 our unexpected arrival ; for, though the Towara as a tribe 
 are mild compared to other Bedouin, they can be truculent 
 among townsfolk, and there was a strong war-party among 
 them, whose passions were fanned by emissaries of Arabi, 
 sent by the Haiwatat sheiks at Cairo. 
 
 It was amusing to find, however, that amid all the 
 bustle and disturbance the quarantine official came off as 
 usual to demand our bill of health, as though all the details 
 of Egyptian routine were still in full operation. Needless 
 
22 Reception at Tor. [CHAP. n. 
 
 to remark that all formalities were quietly attended to, and 
 we got leave from the official to land, though it is 
 doubtful whether the quarantine regulations would have 
 been allowed to interfere with our intentions in that 
 respect. 
 
 All Tor was now on the beach, eager to know our 
 errand. The townspeople were glad to see us, looking 
 upon us as deliverers, and yet somewhat afraid to assist us 
 openly, for fear of our sudden departure leaving them again 
 to the merciless Bedoui freebooters. As we approached 
 in the steam-launch the people collected in groups near the 
 landing-place ; then some, rushing into the water, carried 
 us triumphantly to land on their shoulders. 
 
 The town of Tor consists of a few well-built mansions 
 and a collection of mud huts, sheltering a population of 
 two hundred to three hundred persons ; this was, at the 
 time of our visit, augmented by some fifty fugitives from 
 Suez. The garrison consisted of a Governor, of the rank of 
 bonlak-bashi (sergeant-major), and four soldiers. These 
 received us with becoming dignity, and escorted us to the 
 convent establishment, where the Greek Archbishop was 
 staying. The convent building at Tor is merely a depot 
 for stores, the real convent being at Mount Sinai. It is a 
 two-storeyed dwelling, with a flat roof, and a wooden 
 balcony to the upper floor. There is a large court -yard in 
 rear, with small dwellings for the inferior monks ; the whole 
 entourage being eminently defensible, even with the few 
 men we could put into it. 
 
 We were conducted into the reception room, a large 
 and barely -furnished room, where we were received by the 
 Archbishop, white headed, humble, and venerable. He 
 was clothed in white from head to foot, with black 
 adjuncts, and the usual head-dress. He had a picture on 
 
CHAP, ii.] The Greek Archbishop. 23 
 
 the wall of a former Patriarch of Jerusalem, an old friend 
 of Colonel Warren's, and this put us on good terms at once. 
 Very pleased was he to hear of the seasonable present sent 
 to him by Sir William Hewett, and he commented upon 
 the goodness of the British nation, and foretold all success. 
 
 The convent of Sinai is in the habit of giving bakshish 
 to the Bedouin in the shape of bread and other food, and 
 now that all supplies were cut off the Bedouin were 
 getting clamorous ; and finding they could frighten and 
 alarm the monks by bluster, they had used their power 
 with much effect, and had greatly reduced the convent 
 stores. The monks, at the time of our arrival, were in a 
 state of despondency, brooding over the two evils that 
 appeared to stare them in the face on the one hand, 
 starvation, and on the other, the sacking of the convent 
 and massacre of its inhabitants. Under ordinary circum- 
 stances they would have felt that their lives would be 
 spared, for the Towara Bedouin know full well the annual 
 value to them of the convent in their midst. But there 
 was a mysterious influence abroad, the effect of which 
 could not be truly estimated. There were strangers in the 
 Towara camp who had stigmatised the head-sheik, Musa 
 Nusier, as a traitor to the Moslem faith, and advocated a 
 Jihad and its concomitant, the massacre of all Christians. 
 
 On hearing that we intended stopping a short time at 
 Tor, the Archbishop at once offered all the rooms in the 
 house, except his own, an offer we were very glad to accept 
 for we were anxious to get intimate with the people at 
 once. We were put into possession of our rooms, including 
 a kitchen, with an old monk as cook attached to it a most 
 worthy old gentleman, and a really good cook. Captain 
 Grenfell brought us food from on board ship. 
 
 The monks had little news to offer us, but a feeling 
 
24 Report of Palmer's Safety. [CHAP. n. 
 
 prevailed that the party we were in search of had been 
 attacked and made prisoners, and were still alive. Our 
 first effort was to get into communication with the 
 Bedouin, from whom alone we could get reliable informa- 
 tion, and for this purpose we went to see Ali Effendi, the 
 Governor of Tor. He was a man with little mind or 
 enterprise, and had no knowledge of anything beyond the 
 most limited idea of his duty. He entered into long 
 accounts of the dangers which he, as a loyalist, had 
 run from the Bedouin, after the departure of the 
 Amberwitch ; but, he said, he was quite at our disposal, 
 pointing out very truly, however, that as a government 
 official he was not a persona grata to the Bedouin, and 
 suggesting that any overtures should be made through the 
 principal Christian merchants, MM. Kostandi and Hannin. 
 The information we obtained was to the following 
 effect. On the evening of August 1 1th, Palmer's party 
 was molested by twelve men of the Haiwatat tribe, and 
 subsequently fell into an ambuscade, when one of the 
 party fired his revolver and wounded a Bedoui. Subse- 
 quently the party, consisting of Palmer, Charrington and 
 Gill, surrendered. Metter Sofia, their guide, escaped 
 with the money that Palmer had taken with him to buy 
 camels. The party was carried captive into Syria, and 
 the Bedouin threatened that they would give them over to 
 Arabi's party if they were not ransomed. Metter offered 
 10 each as a ransom, and increased it to 30, but ceased 
 further bargaining, doubting the good faith of the captors-. 
 There was a further report that the Bedouin had stripped 
 the party of the clothes they had on, and left them no 
 protection against the sun. 
 
 The Greek Consul made a good deal of mystery over 
 the evidence of the Greeks, and there was no little diffi- 
 
CHAP II.] 
 
 Communication with Sheik Sala. 
 
 25 
 
 culty in getting it properly sifted. The account, too, was 
 so much in keeping with those of former years, relating to 
 other travellers who had been robbed and left to find 
 their way back in a state of nudity, that it was quite 
 probable that the story might be altogether a surmise and 
 nothing more ; and at Colonel Warren's request M. 
 Metzakis wrote a letter to the convent of Mount Sinai, 
 asking if the stories told could be supported by any 
 independent witnesses from among the Bedouin. MM. 
 Kostandi and Hannin impressed upon us the fact that the 
 Bedouin were angry at the attempt Captain Foote had 
 made to communicate with them ; and after he had left 
 they had in consequence come down and threatened to sack 
 the town. At their suggestion 
 Colonel Warren arranged to send 
 a letter to a Bedoui petty sheik, 
 Sala by name, who was said to be 
 about four miles off. The letter 
 was duly despatched, and early 
 next morning the bearer returned 
 with a message from Sala to the 
 effect that he could not read, and 
 wished some one to go out and 
 read the letter to him, stipulating, 
 however, that it must not be a 
 European of importance, because 
 
 if he met such a European he would be treated as a 
 spy by his brother Bedouin. Accordingly, Del Burgo 
 went, and saw Sheik Sala and some Bedouin near the 
 date-palms to the south of Tor ; he gave him 2 to take 
 a letter to Musa Nusier, and bring back an answer in four 
 days, after which these Bedouin disappeared for good, and 
 we received no reply. 
 
 DEL BUKGO, INTERPRETER. 
 
26 
 
 Letter to Palmer. 
 
 [CHAP. II. 
 
 During the day a Greek priest informed Mr. West 
 confidentially that there was a man near Tor called 
 Rascheidi, half-Bedoui, half-Fellah, who had formerly 
 been a servant of Palmer's, and who was keeping several 
 camels left hy him in 1870. This man was reported to 
 have heard that Palmer was prisoner in a wadi called 
 Sidri, and from his affection towards his old master he 
 had gone off in order to assist him ; but he had turned 
 
 back on hearing either that Palmer 
 was dead, or that it was not Palmer 
 that was a prisoner. A friend of 
 Eascheidi, called Farrak, was in- 
 troduced to Mr. West (who was 
 thoroughly convinced that Palmer 
 and his party were alive), and 
 Farrak expressed his willingness 
 to take a letter to Palmer if Ras- 
 cheidi would go with him. This 
 was all a very confidential and 
 mysterious affair, conducted at 
 Farrak's request by Mr. West, 
 and there was no opportunity for 
 
 cross-examination ; but eventually Colonel Warren was 
 allowed to see Farrak, and a letter was written to Palmer 
 and entrusted to him. The letter ran as follows : 
 
 Tor, Sept. 9th, 1882. 
 
 Saturday. 
 MY DEAR PALMER, 
 
 I am here with English Cousul (Mr. West), looking out for you ; send 
 word by the bearer, Aid Rascheidi, your old servant, how we can best assist 
 you in getting back. 
 
 We hear you are in Wadi Sidri, but have not quite learnt the exact place. 
 We have succeeded in sending a letter to Abu Nusier, chief of Towara, whom 
 I have asked to take me to Nackl in search of you, and expect him in four 
 days ; in meantime other means may present themselves to us. Let me know 
 the best plan to secure your safety and that of your party, and money will be 
 
 FAKEAK. 
 
CHAP, ii.] Despatch of Farrak. 27 
 
 forthcoming. Keep up your spirits ! wo will act as quickly as we can con- 
 sistent with securing your safety. We only learnt to-day of your location in 
 safety. 
 
 I enclose paper and pencil for reply. The Admiral is making all efforts 
 for your recovery. 
 
 Your old friend, 
 
 CHARLES WARREN. 
 
 N.B. Communication with the Bedouin is at present closed to Europeans 
 at all points, but we have opened it up from here for the present. I will 
 telegraph home news of yoiir safety as soon as I get your reply. 
 
 The Canal is occupied by the British, and our troops are half-way to 
 Cairo, with success in all engagements, but Arabi's party at El Arish is 
 strong with the Bedouin. 
 
 If you cannot send a written reply send a token that you are well, one for 
 each, a piece of cloth or string with three knots in it (one for each), or some 
 hair from your head or beard with three knots in it ; otherwise we cannot tell 
 that the messenger has seen you and we may lose time. 
 
 Grave discussion arose as to whether Farrak should he 
 left the discretion of attempting to rescue Palmer and 
 party without first obtaining their consent ; and Colonel 
 Warren had a difficult task in pressing and obtaining 
 concurrence in his view, that this might cause their 
 murder, and that it must on no account be attempted 
 without Palmer's consent. 
 
 With the letter was sent a pencil, paper, and a bottle 
 of zinc ointment for wounds and sores. At last 10 was 
 paid in advance to Farrak, and he left about 8 P.M. to 
 sleep at the palm-trees, outside the town, and start on his 
 errand early in the morning. 
 
 It is to be noted that there were two curious errors in 
 this matter, due most probably to a want of systematic 
 cross-examination. In the first place, Rascheidi never had 
 been Palmer's servant, and knew nothing about him. 
 He had been the servant of Mr. Wilfred Blunt, and the 
 camels in his charge belonged to Mr. Blunt. In the 
 second place, we were still under the impression that 
 the capture of the party took place in Wadi Sidri, which 
 
28 Divided Authority. [CHAP. n. 
 
 is not far from Tor, in the Sinaitic peninsula, instead of 
 in Wadi Sadr, forty miles from Suez. We were, 
 therefore, under the impression that the attack had taken 
 place in Miisa Nusier's territory, in which case it seemed 
 almost certain that no great violence would have occurred ; 
 for the Towara were not openly at war with us, whereas 
 the Haiwatat, of Wadi Sadr, were a portion of the tribes 
 fighting for Arabi. 
 
 This incident brought home to us very forcibly the 
 difficult position we were in owing to our want of co- 
 hesion. There was first the Greek Consul, who obtained 
 information from the Greeks, and took his own view of 
 the situation ; then there was Osman Bey Kafat, in full 
 uniform of a Colonel in the Egyptian Army, A.D.C. to 
 the Khedive, who, as Colonel Warren's colleague, naturally 
 wished to be consulted in every step taken ; and there 
 was Mr. West, British Consul, who, from his position, 
 entered into separate confidential communications with 
 the Arabs. It took all one day to arrange matters with 
 Farrak ; and it was quite evident that with no one 
 empowered to give a casting vote, or to control opera- 
 tions, we were but courting failure. 
 
 On September 10th, the Archimandrite, or Treasurer of 
 the Convent, arrived from Mount Sinai. His information 
 did not differ substantially from the other, except that he 
 thought that Palmer and his companions were dead ; but 
 the reason he gave was that the Bedouin had seen vultures 
 hovering over the place where the attack was made, and 
 as this would have been the case if a camel had been 
 killed, or had died there, it did not seem to be of much 
 weight. He had, however, one very important piece of 
 news, viz., that Miisa Nusier had received a letter from 
 Arabi, urging an indiscriminate massacre of Christians ; 
 
CHAP. iL] Departure of " Cockatrice." 29 
 
 but Musa, who wished to be friendly to the monks, had 
 buried the letter in the sand, so that no one should see it.. 
 This might be purely an allegory, but it was important as 
 showing a determination on Musa Nusier's part to 
 preserve an attitude of neutrality during the war. 
 
 It was now evident that we should not be able to 
 accomplish anything with so large a company ; and as 
 Osman Bey Raffit conjectured that the party were not in 
 the desert at all, but had been carried as prisoners to Cairo, 
 Colonel Warren proposed that he and the Greek Consul 
 should undertake that part of the inquiry, while we went 
 inland to the place of the attack. Having secured their 
 assent, Captain Grenfell was asked when he could get 
 ready for sea, and replied he would be off at six o'clock in 
 the evening. We were accordingly soon busy with 
 despatches to the Admiral, giving an account of what had 
 transpired, and proposing to move inland under the care 
 of Musa Nusier, as soon as he should send us the necessary 
 provisions for the journey ; the party to consist of Colonel 
 Warren, Lieutenant Burton, E..E. (whom we expected to 
 join us on the return of the Cockatrice), myself, Quarter- 
 master-Serjeant Kennedy, and Del Burgo. It was proposed 
 to go from Tor overland to Wadi Ghurundel on the sea 
 coast, and to open up communication there with Captain 
 Grenfell in the Cockatrice, there being an anchorage in 
 that vicinity. With our departure from Tor on our expedi- 
 tion, it was arranged that Mr. West should return to Suez, 
 where his presence was of great importance. 
 
 As there was some danger that the Bedouin might 
 attack Tor during the absence of the Cockatrice, especially 
 for the sake of the grain still stowed away in the convent 
 yard, Captain Grenfell left us a corporal and three marines 
 to assist in the defence. We were thus enabled to keep 
 
30 Popular Conception of Arabi. [CHAP. n. 
 
 two sentries on each night, a marine downstairs, and 
 Colonel Warren, myself, or Kennedy on the roof. Our 
 first night after the departure of the Cockatrice did not 
 pass without an alarm, for some friendly Bedouin arrived 
 to transport part of the grain to Mount Sinai ; and 
 coming silently through the darkness, we had little 
 warning of their proximity till we were attracted by the 
 grunts and groans of the camels in the act of kneeling on 
 the pavement below the balcony, and they nearly met with 
 a warm reception. 
 
 During our isolation there were frequent alarms of an 
 impending attack by the Bedouin, and we had to look to 
 our defences. With eight rifles and plenty of ammunition, 
 we felt quite prepared to stand a siege ; and the little 
 arrangements we made for defence did not injure the 
 house, and made us feel practically safe from being rushed. 
 
 Being now by ourselves we could get more accurate 
 information from the inhabitants, who had been in horrible 
 fright of the Bey in full uniform ; as for ourselves, we were 
 in the fullest of desert costume, having put away our 
 uniform on landing. As far as we could ascertain, the 
 orders from Arabi that reached the Bedouin came from the 
 fanatical governor of El Arish by way of Nackl ; and they 
 were couched in such a form that they seemed to be the 
 orders of a prophet rather than those of a military com- 
 mander. It was the same old story that has repeated 
 itself again and again in the history of Islam, and has 
 been the cause of outbreak after outbreak of ill-requited 
 faith and fanaticism. The Bedouin firmly believed Arabi 
 to be the prophet Isa (Jesus) foretold in the Koran, and 
 who is to come and raise the Moslems to their proper place 
 as the dominant power of the world. Arabi was credited 
 with the power of working miracles, and was supposed to 
 
CHAP. iL] The Archimandrite. 31 
 
 possess two familiar spirits, or angels, resting- one on each 
 shoulder ; one told him of what was going on in the 
 present, and the other foretold the future. He was sup- 
 posed already to have vanquished the British in every 
 contest, and was only staying his hand before entirely 
 destroying them. 
 
 Colonel Warren had a long interview with the Archi- 
 mandrite, who said Musa Nusier had given his word 
 that the Christians should not be molested so long as the 
 Bedouin had enough food to eat ; but should they become 
 hungry, he might not be able to prevent them attacking 
 Tor in search of food, their powers of bartering being cut 
 off, as they were afraid to enter Suez. To meet this, 
 Colonel Warren proposed to establish a depot at Tor where 
 the Bedouin might exchange their produce for corn, and 
 to this the merchants quite agreed ; but the Archiman- 
 drite said it was impossible, and, of course, it would have 
 greatly reduced the patronage of the Greek convent, which 
 practically monopolises this trade. 
 
 The Archimandrite also told us that when the Am- 
 ber -witch first came in with Captain Foote, a rumour 
 was spread about that the English were about to land 
 five hundred men to attack the Bedouin, who thereupon 
 proceeded to fortify two mountain passes leading into the in- 
 terior ; since then they had calmed down, but they were still 
 uncertain what to do in consequence of the stringent orders 
 they received from Arabi Pasha. This information was 
 interesting in connection with a letter written by the 
 Governor of Nackl to the Governor of Akabah, and which 
 we subsequently obtained on visiting the latter place. The 
 letter mentioned the same number, five hundred men, as 
 having landed at Tor ; and the correspondence of these 
 two items of information gives some adequate idea of the 
 
32 Rumours of Attack. [CHAP. n. 
 
 accuracy with which such rumours are handed about from 
 one to another in the desert. 
 
 Our life at Tor was not of a very enjoyable kind. The 
 days were so hot that we could not take any outdoor 
 exercise except in the morning and evening, when the sun 
 was close to the horizon. We got up every day at dawn 
 to get a bath in the sea before sunrise. However, a shark 
 showing himself close to shore one morning, we had to 
 bathe afterwards inside the rocks in about eighteen inches 
 of water. During the day we interviewed various people, 
 and wrote diaries or reports ; and in the evening we got 
 out again for a short time, and, there being a pleasant sea- 
 breeze, we were able to get up an appetite for the dinner 
 which the excellent old monk cooked for us, and to which 
 we were enabled to do full justice. 
 
 The townspeople were in a chronic state of alarm lest 
 the Bedouin should carry out their threats and attack the 
 town, and during the absence of the Cockatrice there was 
 always someone to warn us of impending attack. On the 
 evening of September 12th, the Archimandrite was the 
 alarmist, and came to us with a very grave countenance. 
 He stated that he had been over to the date-palms, and 
 had heard that an attack might be made by the Bedouin 
 that night. Also that another message had been received 
 from Arabi ordering the immediate massacre of all 
 Christians, and that the tribes had assembled in Wadi 
 Feiran to consider their course of action, Musa Nusier 
 being still unwilling to comply. During the night we kept 
 a sharp look out, but were not molested. The night was 
 unusually hot, and I well remember my four hours on 
 sentry-go on the roof ; on my beat lay the prostrate form of 
 the venerable Archbishop, fast asleep, and it was necessary 
 to step over him at every turn. Colonel Warren had 
 
CHAP, ii.] Burton Joins Us. 33 
 
 arranged that, at the first signal of attack, all the in- 
 habitants should assemble in our yard, with any weapons 
 they could collect, and we would defend them as best we 
 could with our rifles. Our arrangements, however, were 
 never put to the test. 
 
 Early in the morning a letter was received from the 
 monks at Mount Sinai stating that news had arrived from 
 Musa Nusier, to the effect that the Governor of Nackl had 
 sent word that there was no occasion to inquire any further 
 about Professor Palmer and his party, as he (the Governor) 
 had killed them with his own hand. To us this message 
 appeared an answer to our inquiries, which had been 
 concocted by Musa Nusier, to clear the Bedouin of 
 responsibility in the matter, and throw all blame else- 
 where. But we learnt afterwards that the Governor of 
 Nackl, although he did not actually kill Palmer and his 
 companions with his own hand, was fanatic enough, and 
 confident in Arabi to such an extent as, to lay claim to 
 having done so. 
 
 That morning the Cockatrice returned from Suez, 
 bringing Lieutenant Burton, R.E., provisions for our 
 journey inland, and letters from the Admiral approving 
 what had been done. Some Press telegrams were also 
 received (from Bombay to Suez), stating that Arabi had 
 been declared by the Sultan a rebel ; that he was buying 
 swift dromedaries to escape across the Libyan desert ; and 
 that 6000 Turkish troops had landed at Port Said. 
 
 This news was not of a very authentic character, as we 
 now know, and was opposed by the apparent inaction of 
 our army before Tel el Kebir. We could hear of no 
 important change in the position of the troops since we 
 passed through Ismailia. The army at Alexandria, and 
 that at Ismailia, were both still confronted by entrench- 
 
 D 
 
34 News from the ''Front." [CHAP.II. 
 
 ments bristling with rifles and cannon ; and while the 
 enemy could sit quietly on the defensive, conscious that 
 they must be attacked before we could score a move in the 
 game, our men exposed to the excessive heat of the 
 Egyptian autumn felt the shadow of sickness working 
 amongst them, whilst they lacked the stimulative power of 
 rapid forward movement. The advent of the Turkish 
 troops we could only view with suspicion certainly they 
 would weaken rather than strengthen the Expeditionary 
 Forces ; and, although come presumably as our friends, 
 their arrival would revive the failing courage of the true 
 believers in their struggle against the Christians. One 
 retrograde step by our forces, we knew, would largely 
 augment the rebels' power, and convert all the Bedouin of 
 the desert into our active opponents ; and for ourselves we 
 felt that now our efforts must be redoubled to obtain access 
 to that information which a slight delay might remove 
 from us far into futurity. From the news Burton brought 
 us it seemed clear that there were still great hopes of 
 Palmer being alive. Eaoulf Pasha, the Governor of Suez, 
 had told him that a Bedoui had come in from the desert, 
 and stated that Palmer and his party were still alive, and 
 near Marbook. Our latest communication from Mount 
 Sinai also tended to confirm the supposition that the party 
 were alive. 
 
 On receipt of this news we visited MM. Kostandi 
 and Hannin to acquaint them of its purport, and asked what 
 would be the effect of the news upon the Bedouin ; their 
 reply, " God only knows," was not helpful. On asking 
 them what would happen when we went inland, and the 
 Cockatrice left, they said that the Bedouin would be sure 
 to come and sack the place, and that the inhabitants would 
 not attempt to fight, but would try to get away, either by 
 
CHAP. ii. j The Suit an and Arabi. 35 
 
 boats or by camels. To reassure them Colonel Warren 
 proposed to take one hunded Towara Bedouin into pay as 
 a guard to Tor, paying them every day with the food we 
 had brought for the convent, and giving a bond to the 
 convent that the money to repay them would be forth- 
 coming. This they seemed delighted at. 
 
 As there were no tidings of Sheik Sala, who had taken 
 the letter to Musa Nusier, Colonel Warren settled to write 
 again to Musa, telling him of the news from Suez, and 
 warning him to keep peace in the peninsula. He also 
 requested him to supply, as a guard for Tor, one hundred 
 Bedouin, who would be paid by the British Government. 
 Having agreed with Mr. West as to the precise terms of 
 the letter, the question arose how we were to send it. 
 This was settled by the entry of Ali Effendi, the Governor, 
 who proposed to go and see Musa Nusier himself, and 
 bring him in by persuasion. Colonel Warren agreed to 
 act as Governor of Tor during his absence, and the garrison, 
 four zaptieUs Osman, Ali, Yusuf and another sturdy 
 fellows, thoroughly able to deal with the whole population 
 of Tor, and impress them with the might of the govern- 
 ment, were summoned and duly handed over. Ali Effendi 
 said that the Arabs would never believe that the Sultan 
 had gone against Arabi. Everybody knew that the Sultan 
 had conferred the Grand Cordon of the Mejidie on Arabi ; 
 and it was believed that he had also given him a sword 
 with which to slay the Christians. In fact, the Arabs all 
 looked upon Arabi as the Sultan's mouth-piece, and con- 
 sidered that his orders came direct from Stamboul. The 
 Governor showed great trepidation as the time came for 
 him to start ; but eventually he was packed off to the 
 palm-groves outside Tor, whence he was to start early next 
 morning for Musa Nusier. 
 
 i) 
 
36 Collapse of Rebellion. [CHAP n. 
 
 The duties of Colonel Warren as acting-governor of 
 Tor were not very irksome, but resulted in one thing, 
 that the zaptielis were a good deal more alert after the 
 departure of the Effendi, and they certainly learnt to pay 
 proper salaams to British officers when they met them. 
 
 On September 16th, Farrak returned with the mysterious 
 Eascheidi and Ooud, another Bedoui messenger of ours. 
 Eascheidi asked to see Mr. West privately, and said 
 that as he was Mr. Blunt's servant, he could not go with 
 Farrak to find -Palmer unless he were guaranteed that 
 Mr. Blunt would not require him. He proposed to go 
 back to his tents to avoid suspicions, and then start in 
 eight or ten days' time, as though he were about to trade 
 in Syria. Colonel Warren came to an arrangement with 
 Eascheidi, and he left with the letter for Palmer. 
 
 During the day the steamship Drayon arrived from 
 Suez. Captain Hulton was in command, and he at once 
 came ashore with despatches from the Admiral, to the 
 effect that Arabi had surrendered and Cairo was in our 
 hands (September 13th and 14th). In accordance with 
 the wishes of the Admiral, Colonel Warren assembled the 
 people together in a court-yard, and, as Governor of Tor, 
 read out the proclamation of peace, and called for three 
 cheers for the Khedive. The proclamation caused some 
 stir, but the people had been too long under Eastern 
 methods of government to credit a word about Arabi 's 
 surrender ; their faith in him was too strong. A copy of 
 the proclamation was sent off after Ali Effendi to Wadi 
 
 Feiran ; and he was told to order Musa Nusier to send 
 
 * 
 
 twelve camels in at once, to take us inland. Another copy 
 was sent by Ooud to the Governor of Nackl, and Colonel 
 Warren also wrote directing the latter to send his 
 submission at once to the Governor of Suez. However, 
 
CHAP, no Celebrating the Victory. 37 
 
 it afterwards transpired that Ooud was too wide awake 
 to allow himself near the Governor of Nackl on. such an 
 errand, and he was providentially robbed on the way. 
 
 That night we had a great feast at the convent in 
 honour of the great triumph of our army ; Captain 
 Orenfell brought up choice supplies from the ship, and 
 invited several of the old monks to join our party and test 
 his champagne. They pronounced it excellent, but still 
 not as good as araki, the fire-water of the country. No 
 doubt the monks had had some jolly times before in ,the 
 same rooms, and they were not at all loth to be merry. 
 One old fellow, Neoficus, the butcher, was a great friend of 
 ours, and prided himself upon his strength. During the 
 evening he challenged any of us to a trial of strength, and, 
 Captain Grenfell acting as our champion, the combatants 
 seated themselves opposite each other at a corner of the 
 table, and resting their right elbows on the table and 
 clasping hands each tried to press down his opponent's 
 hand till the back of it touched the table. The champions 
 were very equally matched, both being powerfully built 
 men, and after extraordinary efforts on both sides the 
 contest was declared to be drawn. 
 
 Colonel Warren having decided to start on our inland 
 journey, we were busy next day arranging for transport. 
 We found there were no camels at all to be hired, and were 
 reduced to donkeys. It was a matter of nice calculation 
 how many donkeys we should require to get from Tor 
 across the plain to the first water at Wadi Feiran ; but do 
 what we could it was quite evident that the supply of 
 donkeys available could not carry our tents and boxes, so 
 Colonel Warren settled to go and camp about four miles 
 outside Tor, at some gardens belonging to the townspeople ; 
 and, as we could not go to the Bedouin, try and entice the 
 
3S Camp at tJic Palm-grove. [CHAP. n. 
 
 Bedouin to come to us. All the donkeys in the place 
 were paraded, but only thirty could be mustered ; these 
 were ordered to be ready for the following morning, and 
 we packed up our stores ready for starting. 
 
 At sunrise, on September 18th, we sent off six donkeys 
 loaded with our stores for the gardens, following with the 
 second cavalcade later in the morning. Arrived at the 
 site of our encampment, we pitched our tents and arranged 
 our belongings. The heat was very excessive, and . the 
 mosquitoes punished us severely ; we were very glad, 
 therefore, when the sun set, and made existence a little 
 more tolerable. We found, however, that all manner of 
 insects swarmed in our tent, for we had been foolish 
 enough to light our lanterns inside, and the glimmer 
 brought them on us in myriads. 
 
 Mr. West having returned to the Cockatrice with the 
 marines, our fighting strength was now reduced to four, 
 besides Del Burgo, our interpreter. Hassan, our cook and 
 servant, had been left behind at Tor, as he was nearly mad 
 with fright ; and on the morning before our departure 
 had come up with tears in his eyes and begged to be 
 allowed to remain where he was, for he knew we should 
 all be killed if we persisted in going. To supply his place 
 we took an Arab named Sala, who had cooked for some 
 tourists, and had learnt cleanliness to the extent of washing 
 his hands before kneading the flour for bread. For an 
 Arab, Sala was a marvel of a cook, being able to make 
 soup, a stew, boil a tin of preserved vegetables, and even 
 turn it out, besides boasting of many accomplishments 
 which he had no opportunity with us of exhibiting. We 
 all helped him in his work, and under the superintendence 
 of Colonel Warren, who was quite the clef, we all soon 
 bid fair to become experts. Each day while we stayed 
 
OJIAI-. ir.-j Objects in leaving Tor. 39 
 
 here Captain Grenfell, Mr. West, and some other officers 
 of the Cockatrice rode over from Tor to see us, and we 
 endeavoured to lay before them a repast of which they 
 could partake. The menu generally ran to omelette and 
 preserved vegetables ; meat was not good in such hot 
 weather, and the one sheep we killed was so tough that we 
 were obliged to dry it in the sun and make biltong of it, 
 as is done in South Africa. In this way we obtained a 
 supply which lasted a considerable time, the more so as a 
 taste for this form of food is acquired only after prolonged 
 short diet. Our drink was oatmeal and water, commonly 
 called " hogs' wash," a very inoffensive drink for hot 
 weather ; it was kept in a large wooden half-barrel, and 
 was much patronised. 
 
 During the day we had to keep a constant look-out to 
 prevent the possibility of the camp being rushed by the 
 Bedouin, and at night one of the four kept guard with his 
 rifle ready throughout the darkness. It may be asked why 
 we had left our comfortable quarters at the convent, and 
 come out to camp in the desert. It was to reassure the 
 Bedouin ; to show them that we did not meditate treachery, 
 and had confidence in them. The reason hitherto assigned 
 for the non-appearance of Musa Nusier and his men, after 
 our repeated overtures to them, was that they were afraid 
 afraid that we were only waiting under the guns of our 
 ship, armed to the teeth, to take them prisoners, and throw 
 them into chains to answer for the sins of others. Their 
 reasoning in this respect was far from being unnatural, for 
 we have met many Englishmen, ignorant indeed of the tribal 
 system, who expressed their opinion that it did not matter 
 what Bedouin were hanged so long as an example was 
 made ; whereas it is essential, for the punishment of such 
 people to be of any use, that the right persons are 
 
40 Return of All Effcndl. [CHAP. n. 
 
 punished. In our case, however, we had not thought at 
 that time of punishment, we were merely working for the 
 liberation of Palmer's party, and we thought that by thus 
 going alone into the desert, and placing ourselves in their 
 power, we would disarm the Bedouin of their fears. We 
 hoped thus to influence them by showing our confidence in 
 
 H 4 
 
 (trim-. ^.._ * 
 
 
 CAMP NEAR TOR. 
 
 them generally as a tribe ; but we were always on the 
 alert in case of an attack by some enthusiastic Moslem 
 who might try to rush our camp. 
 
 In the afternoon of September 19th, Ali Effendi arrived 
 on his camel from Wadi Feiran. He stated that he had read 
 Colonel Warren's letter to Musa Nusier in the presence of 
 five sheiks and fifteen Bedouin ; and that they said they 
 would have nothing to do with Arabi. Sheik Musa 
 evidently feared to compromise himself, and covertly 
 threatened and evidently frightened Ali, by proposing to 
 carry him off to the Governor of Nackl. He asked what 
 business Ali had to leave his command at such a time to 
 come to see him. Eventually he agreed to come back to 
 Tor with Ali ; but just as this was settled our messenger 
 reached Ali with a copy of the letter from the Governor of 
 
CHAP, ii.] Miisa Nmier still Cot/. 41 
 
 Suez, concerning the taking of Cairo and the surrender of 
 Arabi. Ali read these letters out to the sheiks, who, he 
 said, expressed themselves pleased at the news ; but we 
 were well aware that both Ali and the Bedouin would 
 have been truly grieved if they had believed it, and they 
 evidently looked upon it as a hoax. Ali stated he had 
 told Musa it must be true, because although the document 
 was only a copy, it had the right consecutive official 
 number on it ; but Ali showed us by his inquiries that he 
 himself was not satisfied until he saw the original. Musa 
 took advantage of the order for twelve camels to say it 
 would take him five days, at which Ali expostulated, as 
 there were at least fifty camels in Wadi Feiran, but 
 Musa said they belonged to others. The long-and-short- 
 of-the-matter was, the sheik was going to wait till he 
 heard himself from Suez as to the truth of Arabi's 
 surrender, before he showed any leaning to the side of 
 the British. 
 
 Having given his report, Ali was sent in to Tor to get 
 all the camels and donkeys he could muster, Colonel 
 Warren having again decided to make a start for Wadi 
 Feiran to see Sheik Musa himself. Early next morn- 
 ing Ali Effendi arrived with some donkeys to take us 
 inland, but only one camel. Mr. West and Captain 
 Grenfell came and urged Colonel Warren not to go 
 without camels, and, the Archimandrite adding an em- 
 phatic warning against our entering the desert at such 
 a time without safe-conduct or proper means of trans- 
 port, we were obliged to give it up, and wait for Musa 
 where we were. 
 
 On September 21st, the Tenasserim troopship arrived 
 with despatches and telegrams, but little fresh news. 
 Mr. West, tired of waiting, and doubtful whether Musa 
 
42 Cemetery near our Camp. [CHAP. n. 
 
 Nusier would come in at all, left for Suez the same day in 
 the Tenasserim. There was, however, little reason for us 
 to give up our object without letting Musa Nusier have 
 every chance. The only reason we could conceive that 
 could induce Sheik Musa not to come in, after he had 
 ascertained that Arabi had really surrendered, was that 
 Palmer had been murdered, and that Musa was implicated, 
 and this there was no reason for suspecting. Colonel 
 Warren determined, therefore, to wait two or three .days 
 longer, the 22nd being the day on which Musa should 
 come, according to his last message. 
 
 Near our camp was an extensive burial-place. There 
 were tombs of both Christians and Moslems, the former 
 arranged with feet to the east, the latter with feet to the 
 north. At the head of each tomb, on the right-hand side 
 of the body, was a little chamber containing a tot of water, 
 and a little shell for oil, with a wick. These little lamps 
 are lighted by the relatives on Thursday night by the 
 Moslems, and on Saturday, or Sunday, by the Christians. 
 At the time of a funeral a sheep is killed at the head of 
 the grave, and a feast made there. We were rather startled 
 one evening by seeing lights in the graveyard, and a great 
 deal of talking and singing going on till about 10 p.m. 
 We found that some of the townspeople had come out to 
 visit the graves, and were making merry round the 7/W/\ 
 the tomb of the patron sheik. 
 
 The evenings out here, even with the heat and 
 mosquitoes, were very delightful, made more so, perhaps, 
 by contrast after the very great heat of the day. During 
 the day there would generally be little or no movement in 
 the air ; but about sunset a hot wind would set in, and 
 continue blowing two or three hours. This broke the 
 change from the stifling heat of the day, which cracked up 
 
CHAT-, no Vagaries of the Jerboa. 43 
 
 every wooden article with its dryness, to the cool which 
 sets in in these rarified atmospheres after a heavy dew. 
 Now we would cook and eat our evening meal ; and as long- 
 as the warm breeze lasted we sat about on the ground 
 outside the tent, smoking and talking, and did not attempt 
 to go to sleep until it had ceased. 
 
 One night we were each in turn, when on guard, much 
 exercised by a very small animal, so rapid in its movement 
 that in the darkness we could not quite distinguish what it 
 was. It seemed like a huge ant or spider, about two inches 
 in height and about four inches long. We made many 
 attempts to strike it with our sticks, but it was always too 
 quick for us, and when we struck at it, it would rapidly 
 change its position, generally circling round as fast as the 
 eye could follow in the moonlight, and nearinj? one from 
 behind. It was like a nightmare. Time after time we 
 repeated the attack with always the same result, to find 
 the object of our onslaught vanish just as we were reaching 
 it, and reappear gazing at us from behind. As no guns 
 were allowed to be fired we could not shoot it, so never 
 ascertained for certain what it was ; but I believe it must 
 have been a jerboa. Anyhow, whatever it was, it proved 
 a regular nuisance to us that night. 
 
 The jackals also were continually trying to get our 
 food, and the sentry had to have a pile of stones and tent- 
 pegs handy to throw at them when they approached our 
 larder. At times we would leave a piece of meat during 
 the night to simmer over the embers in a three-legged pot ; 
 and although we always took care to weight the lid well 
 with large stones, notwithstanding this precaution the 
 jackals would sometimes possess themselves of the contents, 
 by upsetting the pot and making off with the spoil before 
 we could interfere. 
 
44 Astronomical Lore. 
 
 [CHAP. II. 
 
 Colonel Warren always kept the morning watch, that 
 being the time when an attack was most probable, and 
 was surprised one morning to see what appeared to be the 
 sun rising over the hills before its time ; he woke up 
 everyone to see the phenomenon. It turned out to be the 
 comet which had so alarmed Arabi's host before the battle 
 of Tel el Kebir. It was the first time we had seen it, as 
 being very near to the sun it had not had time, before that 
 morning, to rise over the Sinaitic mountains before day- 
 light came and rendered it invisible. It presented a most 
 brilliant spectacle. The meteors also that we saw on this 
 occasion were very numerous and beautiful. 
 
 The Arabs are very wise on the subject of stars, and 
 are never tired of talking about them. At this time they 
 were much concerned about the star Smaiyeh, which is the 
 star on the Turkish flag, within the crescent. When the 
 moon approaches this star, the Bedouin say it is very 
 unlucky to set out on a journey. They have this as a 
 command from the prophet Moses, who once disregarded 
 the position of the star, and was mounting his camel to 
 start off on a journey ; but when the camel got off its 
 knees the sword of Moses fell out of its scabbard, and 
 cutting the muscle of the camel's leg, incapacitated it. 
 Upon which the seer said : " Henceforth let no man 
 disregard the star Smaiyeh." The star was at this time 
 very near to the moon, and the Bedouin would point to it 
 and shake their heads ominously when reference was made 
 to our projected journey. They are very tenacious of their 
 belief in their legends, and the above-mentioned position 
 of Smaiyeh was quite sufficient in their minds to account 
 for Miisa Nusier's failure to come to us at Tor. 
 
 The view of the Sinaitic mountains that we got from our 
 camp was very grand. Mount Serbal was the striking 
 
We abandon our Camp. * 45 
 
 feature of the picture, standing out conspicuously in solemn 
 grandeur, amongst a confused mass of purple granite walls. 
 If the sunrise had its attractions, vividly showing up the 
 hard jagged outlines of these mountains, the colours on 
 them were more beautiful as the rays of the evening sun 
 set them all a-glowing in a soft pink, set out in mauve 
 shade and deep blue shadows ; and as the sun set and its rays- 
 left the tops of the peaky mountains, the whole would sink 
 into shade and the sky suddenly become golden pink by 
 the contrast. 
 
 We waited impatiently for Musa Nusier until September 
 24th, on which day Colonel Warren decided to strike 
 camp and embark on board the Cockatrice for Suez. We 
 accordingly sent for donkeys to convey our baggage, and 
 broke up our, camp in the evening. Arrived in Tor, our 
 things were taken aboard ship : we paid off the cook Sala, 
 and said good-bye to the Greek Archbishop, who, after 
 shaking hands, retired to the balcony of the convent 
 to smoke his hubble-bubble and watch our departure. 
 There were still arrangements to be made respecting 
 our various messengers despatched over the desert 
 arrangements which Colonel Warren entrusted to the monk 
 butcher, Neoficus, who was also commissioned to send any 
 message to Suez that might arrive, and in any case to send 
 in a man after a week, whether there was any news or not. 
 And now nothing remained but to pay for the donkeys, 
 and for this the drivers were very anxious as they saw us 
 on the point of departure. Ali Effendi did the part of the 
 unjust steward to perfection, and doubled their accounts all 
 round. However, the sum paid after all was not very 
 large, and shortly after dusk we embarked on the Cocka- 
 trice, not at all sorry that we had left the miserable town 
 of Tor behind us. 
 
46 Success in Failure. [CHAP. n. 
 
 Our expedition to Tor had not been a success, for we 
 had failed to open up communication with the Bedouin. 
 What it would have been if we had stayed two days longer 
 we do not know, for Musa actually arrived with the 
 camels, and found we had gone. However, it has often 
 been said that success, if dissected, may appear to be 
 derived from small failures, being arrived at by con- 
 tinually pegging away in one direction, in spite of all 
 obstacles; and it is probable that we owed our success 
 in great measure to our failure at Tor to meet Musa, for 
 had we met him, with the impression still on us that the 
 party were alive, we might have gone off after a phantom 
 into Syria, and have lost the thread of the history of the 
 attack and murder. 
 
 Although the sudden termination of the war had 
 
 o 
 
 altered all conditions in Egypt, it would be a long time 
 before it could affect the desert to any great extent. It 
 takes some time to stir up among Bedouin the fervid feel- 
 ing which exists among other Moslems as to their religion, 
 but once stirred up it cannot again be put on one side by 
 decree. Palmer, in his report of August 1st, had stated, 
 " Arabi Pasha's emissaries have set the Bedouin thinking. 
 They have, for instance, to a great extent kept the fast of 
 Kamadan, which is the first indication I have ever seen of 
 them paying any attention to religious duties " ; and no 
 doubt the Bedouin were, at that time, possessed by a 
 feeling towards Christians which had been foreign to their 
 nature for many years. It would now, the war being ended, 
 be more easy to open up communication from Suez 
 through the tribes in Egypt ; but the desert itself would 
 perhaps be more unsafe than before. Our plan had been 
 to get from the Towara among the Tiyahah, who occupied 
 the Till, and who were supposed to be friendly to the 
 
CHAP, ii.] Alternative Plans. 47 
 
 British. Syria might have been a better base had it not 
 been that the intrigues of the Syrian officials were likely to 
 frustrate all success; and the Syrian Moslems in towns 
 bordering on the desert were bitterly hostile to Europeans, 
 and would thwart every effort at entering from that direction. 
 There were two other bases possible, Akabah and El Arish. 
 The former was under the influence of the Alawin, who 
 had the name of being very treacherous, and who are 
 really independent both of Egypt and Turkey. El Arish 
 would have been a good base, but the Governor was 
 reported to be a fanatic. Little was known about the place ; 
 there was no harbour, but a very dangerous coast : besides, 
 the Sowarki, the Bedouin in the neighbourhood, were 
 constantly at war with the Terebin, and the desert was 
 now very unsettled. With these considerations in view, 
 Colonel Warren decided that the best course was to try to 
 effect an entry into the desert from Suez ; by means of 
 the Egyptian Bedouin we should be able to open up 
 communication with the Bedouin east of the Canal, and 
 thus avoid the necessity of either taking troops or going 
 into the desert without escort. 
 
 Our visit to Tor had had the effect of making the monks 
 of Sinai our firm friends. They were impressed with the 
 idea that Sir William Hewett's present of grain had saved 
 them from starvation, and that our method of dealing with 
 the natives had saved their lives. It also appeared that 
 we had laid the basis of a firm friendship with Musa 
 Nusier, as soon as he should realise that Arabi had sur- 
 rendered, and there was no longer cause to fear the 
 Egyptian National party. Although Musa's actions had 
 shown vacillation, it is doubtful whether he had not acted 
 perfectly properly for the well-being of his tribe. No 
 Bedoui could have foreseen that the British troops would 
 
48 Musa Nuswr^s Attitude. [CHAP. n. 
 
 be successful, in fact they all thought otherwise ; and 
 from that point of view Musa had acted in a friendly 
 spirit, and with considerable firmness, in not siding with 
 the Haiwatat, and attempting to massacre the monks of 
 Sinai. While we were at Tor, some Haiwatat were at 
 Wadi Feiran, daily urging that the town and convent 
 should be attacked ; but Musa stood firm, and said that if 
 they stirred a foot to make his people follow the steps of 
 those who had attacked Palmer and sacked Ayun Musa, 
 he would bring down those among his tribe who would 
 obey him and stop them. We subsequently ascertained also 
 that, while we were in camp at the gardens near Tor, Musa 
 Nusier had Bedouin out surrounding us, as he asserted, to 
 protect us, but certainly to watch us. Thus, whether we 
 are to credit Musa with our not being attacked while out 
 in this curious position, or attribute it to the fact that we 
 were always on the alert, and could not have been captured 
 without bloodshed, is uncertain. 
 
 Among other difficulties, Mr. West believed, and the 
 facts upheld the view, that Captain Grenfell had brought 
 to Suez, and we had taken to Tor, an official who was 
 acting directly for Arabi, and who had been instrumental 
 in keeping the Bedouin from us by stating that it was 
 intended to make them prisoners. This man left us by 
 the Cockatrice on September 8th. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT SUEZ. NEW PROPOSALS FOR CONTINUING THE SEARCH. 
 JOURNEY TO CAIRO. ARRANGEMENTS FOR WORKING THE 
 DESERT. ZAGAZIG. TRUTH ABOUT THE ALLEGED LOOTING BY 
 THE INDIAN CONTINGENT AT ZAGAZIG. RETURN TO SUEZ. 
 RAID ON AYUN MUSA AND CAPTURE OF SELAMI, ONE OF 
 PALMER'S CAMEL-DRIVERS. MISSION TO AKABAH. PREPARA- 
 TIONS FOR ENTRY INTO THE DESERT. SUEZ SHORT OF WATER. 
 
 WE returned to Suez from Tor on the evening of Septem- 
 ber 25th, just a month having elapsed since we left 
 England, and, finding that Sir William Hewett was at 
 Cairo, we telegraphed to him for instructions. The 
 weather was still exceedingly hot, and the change back 
 again from desert costumes into our thick home uniforms 
 was most uncomfortable. 
 
 Great changes had taken place since we left Suez. 
 Then all movement was towards the front, and success lay 
 in the balance ; now Arabi's army had succumbed, the tide 
 had turned, and the East Indian Squadron and transports 
 were only awaiting the termination of the Grand Review 
 at Cairo to leave for the East with the Indian troops. 
 The Bedouin, however, had not given in, except where 
 located near the large towns. The desert near Suez, to 
 east and west, was still sealed ; and Mr. West had not 
 been able to make any advance whatever in acquiring 
 information concerning the missing party. The Bedouin 
 between Suez and Cairo were known still to be in a very 
 
 E 
 
50 Egyptians all Arabists. [CHAP. in. 
 
 excited state, anxiously waiting for any opportunity of 
 plunder. 
 
 We took up our abode at the Suez Hotel, and after 
 seeing Mr. West, paid a visit to Eaoulf Pasha, the 
 Governor of Suez. He was a fine old man of Turkish 
 descent, and had formerly been an Admiral. He was a 
 perfect governor according to Eastern ideas, being quick 
 and masterful, courteous where courtesy was not thrown 
 away, and showed none of the contaminating effects 
 of an unassimilated European civilisation. With him 
 was a very able deputy, Eeschid Bey, a native Egyptian, 
 who had been in government service for twenty years, and, 
 having risen by his own ability to his present position, 
 was well up in the etiquette and duties of his office. 
 Eeschid Bey had remained at Suez throughout the cam- 
 paign ; not so much from his liking the position, but, as 
 wicked rumour had it, on account of his missing the last train 
 which took his colleagues and the garrison to Cairo, when 
 Suez was occupied by the British troops. He was thus a 
 very interesting and unique specimen of an Egyptian who 
 had not adhered to Arabi Pasha. We could discover, 
 however, no difference between him and other Egyptians. 
 All were entirely one with Arabi ; because Arabi was a 
 native Egyptian, whilst the Turkish rulers were regarded 
 as aliens and foreigners. We in England are too much 
 accustomed to lump these Easterns all together, without 
 recognising that they consist of the most diverse entities. 
 To the Egyptians and Syrians, the Turks are only in a 
 degree less barbarous and alien than the Christian nations 
 of Europe. 
 
 Colonel Wan-en's first move towards recovering the 
 missing party was to propose that a new Governor and 
 thirty Egyptian soldiers should be at once despatched to 
 
CHAP, in.] Nackl stops the Way. 51 
 
 Nackl, to displace the existing hostile garrison there as an 
 ordinary relief. This Governor Raoulf said was an excellent 
 idea, only there were not thirty Egyptian soldiers faithful 
 to the Khedive to be had ; and moreover, as Nackl was in 
 the hands of rebels who still clung to Arabi, it would 
 have to be captured by force. It was then proposed to go 
 and capture it with thirty Indian soldiers ; but Raoulf said 
 this would not be sufficient, as the Governor of Nackl had 
 already sent a defiant letter to Osman Bey Rafat, when 
 ordered by the latter to come to Suez, saying that he took 
 his orders from the Governor of El Arish in which he was 
 technically correct, for Nackl being a fort on the Had], or 
 pilgrims' route, it was under the Eosmania department at 
 Cairo, and not under the Governor of Suez in any way. 
 
 At this time there were at Suez, doing nothing, the 
 Aden Horse, a military corps, about one hundred strong 
 and accustomed to desert work. It was proposed that we 
 should go to Nackl with them to displace the Governor ; 
 and Colonel Griffiths, Commanding H.M. Troops at Suez, 
 was consulted on the matter. As the desert about Suez is 
 very destitute of water very different in this respect to 
 the desert about Aden it would be necessary as an 
 ordinary precaution to take with us sufficient water to do 
 the return journey to Suez, should we fail to capture 
 Nackl. Calculation showed that we should require two 
 hundred and fifty camels for this purpose, and as camels 
 travel but slowly, the horses would also be obliged to 
 travel slowly, and would thus, as horses, be useless. So 
 the idea of employing the Aden Horse had to be 
 abandoned. 
 
 While in this difficulty, M. Metzakis, who was 
 impressed with the idea that Palmer's party had been 
 carried off '.to the north-east, suggested that we should go 
 
 E 2 
 
52 Detective Work at Suez. [CHAP. in. 
 
 to Akabah in a gun-boat, and press the Bedouin from there. 
 It was a difficult question to know how to break ground ; 
 we wanted to find some vulnerable point, where, by 
 pressure on the Arabs, we might get some information, 
 but to base our operations on Akabah might result in a 
 like failure as we had just experienced at Tor, such isolated 
 places being ill-adapted for organising active operations 
 from, without being certain of the co-operation of the 
 neighbouring Bedouin. In the necessity of obtaining 
 information of the missing men, the question arose whether 
 we should be within the law in arresting any Bedoui in 
 disguise who might come by stealth into Suez ; and 
 finding this would not meet with opposition from the 
 Egyptian authorities, provided that we took reasonable 
 precautions to avoid arresting the wrong persons, we cast 
 about to ascertain what Bedouin might be coming into 
 Suez surreptitiously. It would be out of place to describe 
 the secret service Colonel Warren organised in this matter, 
 but success very soon resulted from his operations. 
 
 The Egyptian authorities, who took no interest in the 
 rescue of Palmer's party, gave us no assistance : but, 
 nevertheless, our inquiries soon led to the discovery of a 
 method by which we could hope to get into the desert. 
 We found out that amongst the various Bedoui tribes 
 each one in the desert was connected by marriage with one 
 in Egypt ; pressure might thus be brought to bear on the 
 tribes in the Arabian desert through the tribes in Egypt. 
 Indeed, we discovered that this was the secret of the power 
 of the great Bedoui sheik (the Shedid) at Cairo; and that 
 he, in his turn, was kept by force at Cairo, that thus the 
 ruler in Egypt might have control over the Bedouin of the 
 desert. This was an important discovery, and gave us the 
 key which was to open the desert to us ; and though the 
 
CHAP, in.] Breaking Ground. 53 
 
 Egyptian authorities of the Khedive would strenuously 
 deny that they had any power over the Bedouin, this was 
 merely their way of repudiating their responsibilities of 
 government, where nothing was to be got by a show of 
 activity, and we were not deceived thereby. In particular, 
 we ascertained that the Towara of the Sinaitic peninsula 
 had a connection with the Nofiat Bedouin near Zagazig ; 
 and if certain sheiks were arrested we could put pressure 
 upon Miisa Nusier and bring him to reason. It was also 
 ascertained that there was a Bedoui near Zagazig named 
 Marbruk, who had taken messages during the war from 
 Arabi Pasha into the desert of Arabia Petrsea by swimming 
 the Canal near Serapeum. 
 
 Mr. West had received no news from the desert, though 
 it was eleven days since we had despatched Bascheidi from 
 Tor to take the letter to Palmer ; but through our spies we 
 learnt that a few days since a son of Metter Sofia and 
 several Bedouin had come down to Ayun Musa to find out 
 what the English were doing. We also learnt an impor- 
 tant fact concerning Metter Sofia himself : that he had 
 some years ago broken off from his tribe, the Lehewat, 
 and was a man of no great influence ; and that the 
 Haiwatat, and not the Lehewat, was the important tribe of 
 Bedouin about Suez. We also gained important informa- 
 tion about the way to Nackl, and of the position of the 
 only water, Marbook, on that road ; making it clear that 
 horses could not get to Nackl without camels to carry their 
 water, and it would be of no advantage to employ the 
 former animals in any desert travelling we had to do. 
 
 It took Colonel Warren many hours ferreting out these 
 and such-like items of information, and he had hardly 
 decided that the right course would be to go to Zagazig to 
 secure and interview some Bedouin there, when, while out 
 
54 Summoned to Cairo. [CHAP. in. 
 
 for an evening stroll, seeing an English locomotive being 
 shunted on the railway, we ascertained that it had brought 
 some trucks down from Ismailia for telegraph stores, and 
 was going back that same night, Major Sir A. Mackworth, 
 E.E., being in charge. About the same time we received 
 a telegram from Sir William Hewett, directing Colonel 
 Warren to proceed at once to Cairo to see Sir Garnet 
 Wolseley ; so we hastily got our baggage together and 
 arranged for our departure with Sir A. Mackworth. Burton 
 was left at Suez in charge, to go back to Tor if necessary 
 to obtain the camels for our proposed journey into the 
 desert, and to watch Ayun Musa ; and accompanied by 
 myself, and a tag-rag and bob-tail of Arabs, Colonel Warren 
 started for Cairo. 
 
 When all the machinery of life is out of gear it is 
 difficult to say what impediments may turn up to prevent 
 progress. Although we were ready, waiting, at 8 p.m., we 
 did not make a start until 1.30 a.m. We jogged and jolted 
 along the uneven line until sunrise, when we arrived at the 
 point on the Sweet-Water Canal where the breach had been 
 made by Arabi's men during the campaign ; here three 
 hundred Fellahin were busily employed repairing the banks, 
 so that Suez might not want for water. A little further 
 on we passed the Aden Horse on their way to Cairo to take 
 part in the review. Their horses and camels were in most 
 splendid condition, both men and animals being turned 
 out as if they were fresh from their barracks at Aden. 
 
 We arrived at Ismailia about 7.30 a.m., and after 
 paying a visit to Sir Owen Lanyon, the Commandant, 
 started again for Cairo in another train. It was here a 
 curious sight to watch the difference in the appearance of 
 the regiments dressed in karkee and those in red cloth. 
 As some one remarked, in karkee the privates all looked 
 
CHAP, mo Selim Mosalli. 55 
 
 like officers, while in the dirty red all the officers looked like 
 privates. Probably, however, the red cloth is the most 
 healthy garment in a climate where the nights are chilly. 
 
 On our way past Zagazig we saw on the platform Selim 
 Mosalli, who had been an interpreter to the Admiral at 
 Suez ; and finding he was now out of employ Colonel 
 Warren engaged him as our interpreter. We did not leave 
 Zagazig till 4 p.m., and proceeded very slowly towards 
 Cairo, coming to a dead stop at a distance of about fifteen 
 miles ; and from here was pointed out to us in the distance 
 the railway station of Cairo in flames. The telegraph-wire 
 being cut we would get no information, and the wildest 
 rumours were afloat, our impression being that the Arabs 
 had risen and were looting Cairo. Our train pushed on to 
 a station about eight miles from Cairo, and then pulled up 
 for the night ; we had no food or water, and none was to 
 be bought ; and, to crown all, Colonel Warren had a touch 
 of fever, which the want of water very much aggravated. 
 After a tedious night spent in the train a lovely morning 
 broke upon us ; by day-light we pushed on to within a 
 mile of Cairo, which was as near as we could go, for the 
 up -line in front of us was blocked with carriages and 
 locomotives, which could neither enter the burning station 
 to be discharged, nor be shunted on to the down-line. We 
 walked into Cairo with our baggage, arriving in a famished 
 and miserable state. 
 
 Sir William Hewett was at the Abdeen Palace, down 
 with fever, and he referred us to Sir Garnet Wolseley and 
 Sir Edward Malet, as he himself expected to return to 
 India immediately after the review. Colonel Warren had 
 an interview with Sir Garnet, at which it was decided that 
 we were to continue our search under the Admiralty and 
 the Foreign Office, doing everything, as much as possible, 
 
56 Arrangements ivith Government. [CHAP. m. 
 
 through, the Egyptian Government. During the day Colonel 
 Warren, in company with Colonel Sir Charles Wilson, who 
 was employed under the Foreign Office, called upon Sir E. 
 Malet, the Consul-General, and made four proposals for 
 the furtherance of the work. These proposals were as 
 follows : 
 
 (1) The immediate nomination of a new Governor for 
 
 El Arish ; 
 
 (2) A new Governor for Nackl ; 
 
 (3) A new Governor at Akabah ; 
 
 (4) That Salami Shedid, the head-sheik of the 
 
 Egyptian Bedouin, should be placed at his 
 (Colonel Warren's) disposal. 
 
 These points arranged for, Colonel Wan-en undertook to 
 manage all the minor details with regard to our entry into 
 the desert after the missing party. 
 
 Next day, September 30th, having a great number 
 of small points on which to consult the Minister, Eiaz 
 Pasha, Colonel Warren went to see him during the 
 morning. An order was obtained on the Mudir of Zagazig 
 to deliver up to us the Bedouin we required ; another 
 order was also obtained directing Salami Shedid to place 
 his brother at our disposal, but we could not obtain the 
 services of the Shedid himself, as he was required at Cairo 
 to keep the Bedouin in order. Colonel Warren also waited 
 on Sir Beauchamp Seymour, who arranged that we should 
 have a credit of five thousand pounds, and desired that 
 our reports should in future be sent through Captain 
 Stephenson, B.N., Senior Naval Officer at Suez. 
 
 In .the afternoon Salami Shedid visited us, bringing 
 with him an Arab whom he introduced as his brother, 
 and to whom he gave instructions to obey Colonel 
 Warren's directions. This brother seemed to have a touch 
 
CHAP, in.] Salami Shed id. 57 
 
 of the Fellah about him, so Colonel Warren at once taxed 
 Shedid with duplicity, stating his belief that the man was 
 not his brother. After many lies Salami admitted that 
 the man was not his brother, but merely a sheik of 
 cameleers who had just been released from prison. He 
 was not in the least abashed, but highly amused, at being 
 found out in a lie ; however, he promised faithfully to 
 bring his real brother over during the afternoon, a promise 
 he did not keep, for we saw nothing more of him, and 
 Colonel Warren had to draw the attention of Sir C. Wilson 
 to the fact that Shedid showed no inclination or desire to 
 assist us. 
 
 The soi-disant brother proved to be one Selami, who 
 had been employed by Palmer at Suez to buy camels 
 during the war. He had been captured by Arabi's soldiers 
 and severely beaten ; in fact, his feet were then a mass of 
 wounds and bruises, and he could scarcely walk. Selami's 
 story was recorded at the Consulate, and then he was 
 taken into our service as a temporary measure. 
 
 In the afternoon the review of the British Army of 
 Occupation took place, a sight which struck the Egyptians 
 with astonishment. The troops all looked in fine condition 
 and made a grand display ; but it was the Indian troops 
 that the Arabs most admired and feared, as they all knew 
 that in the hour of victory they could not be made to stay 
 their hand as can British soldiers. 
 
 We started about noon on October 1st for Zagazig, 
 "where we arrived about 3 p.m. We went at once to see 
 the Mudir, to deliver our letters and state our business. 
 On arrival at the Muderia we found the Mudir sur- 
 rounded by about fifty of the townspeople. On hearing 
 of our errand he took us on one side, and was very civil. 
 Colonel Warren telling him that he wished him to send 
 
58 Zagaziy [CHAP.III. 
 
 to the village of Metradim and arrest some Bedouin with 
 their relatives, the Mudir at once sent a chowish and two 
 zap tie/is with a letter to the head man, and expressed his 
 belief that they would return with the men required in the 
 morning. 
 
 One of our first objects at Zagazig was to find 
 Mr. Pickard, a telegraph-engineer, who had been engaged 
 in cutting the telegraph-wire in the desert after Captain 
 Gill disappeared. We soon found him, and arranged that 
 he should dine with us. He gave us his account of how 
 he cut the telegraph-wires from Gaza, but could offer 110 
 definite suggestion as to what had become of Palmer's 
 party. Like most of the Europeans in Egypt, he knew 
 nothing about the Bedouin, their manners or customs, 
 and could give us no real assistance. He informed Colonel 
 Warren, however, that he could arrest a Bedoui near 
 Gaza, who said he had assisted in killing two " accursed " 
 Franks : and he said he had evidence that the Governor 
 of El Arish had sent Sowarki Bedouin after Palmer to 
 bring him in dead or alive, when on his journey from 
 Gaza to Suez. 
 
 Zagazig is a large town of about forty thousand in- 
 habitants, mostly fanatical Moslems. At the time we 
 visited it it boasted of but one little inn. There were 
 very few Europeans there, and those mostly English and 
 French ; the former having to do with the telegraph and 
 the latter with the railway department. These all met 
 together at the inn in the evening after dinner, and there 
 often resulted some lively conversation, for many of the 
 French had stuck to their places during the war and had 
 been of great service to Arabi, while most of the English 
 had refused to assist in the fight against their own country. 
 The evening we were there, there was a good deal of 
 
CHAP, in.] Looting of our Troops. 59 
 
 drinking going on, and one man called another a traitor 
 for helping Arabi's troops during the war. A fight 
 appeared to he imminent, hut at the critical moment a big 
 Scotchman intervened and averted a disaster. 
 
 While at Cairo we had heard grave accounts of the 
 behaviour of the Indian Contingent when they reached 
 Zagazig, after the battle of Tel el Kebir; and rumours had 
 been afloat that disgraceful atrocities had been committed. 
 We had now an opportunity of learning what actually took 
 place, and it was very gratifying to find that these stories 
 were utterly untrue. Several houses had been occupied by 
 the troops, but no wholesale destruction had taken place' 
 and any damage done had been generally due to the care- 
 lessness of servants. For example, in the house of Mr. 
 X., where some officers had been quartered, and which was 
 supposed to have been the scene of the greatest disorder, 
 the only damage done was the melting the bottom out of 
 a silver teapot, which had been put on the fire to warm 
 some water in, and the using of a few handkerchiefs and 
 napkins as dish-cloths. 
 
 We went over another house, the owner of which had 
 just returned. There was a profusion of knick-knacks 
 about, which showed that no rioting or looting could have 
 taken place ; and the owner produced some excellent 
 liqueurs out of his cupboard, which we much enjoyed. 
 
 The Consul at Zagazig declared that there had been no 
 looting done there ; and he was very full of admiration for 
 the manner in which our troops had behaved on entering 
 the town flushed with victory. It was easy to see, how- 
 ever, that there was considerable reason for getting up the 
 rumour at Cairo respecting the looting of Zagazig : the 
 troops concerned were returning to India at once, and 
 there would thus be an opportunity for raising the question 
 
60 The "mild" Fellah. ECHAP.IIL 
 
 of compensation. We subsequently heard that large sums 
 had been paid to the owners of houses for losses which, to 
 judge from our inquiries, never occurred. Perhaps the 
 strongest proof that our troops did no damage in Zagazig was 
 the fact that the people had evidently no experience of the 
 disabilities of war, but seemed to be under the impression 
 that the British Army was a myth, and that Arabi was all 
 right and enjoying himself at Cairo. There had been 
 many cases of rude usage on the part of the Moslems to 
 the native Christians, which had been severely punished 
 by the Mudir ; but the Christians were still very scared, 
 and were even grateful to us for walking about the town 
 in uniform, as object lessons of the existence of a British 
 army. 
 
 Much has been said about the temper of the Fellahin 
 during the war. Some people think that they were 
 apathetic, and not inclined either to one side or another ; 
 and that the chiefs alone were responsible for the Arabist 
 rebellion ; this, however, was not the opinion of those 
 who knew the country best. The people certainly were 
 apathetic so long as they were kept under ; but the Arabist 
 rebellion was essentially a national movement, deriving its 
 spirit from racial and fanatical prejudices. Sir Eichard 
 Burton recounts how the main centres of fanaticism, 
 " Damanhur, Kafr Zayyat and Tantah, all made them- 
 selves infamous during the rebellion. The ' mild ' Fellah 
 and his milder wife tied the limbs of murdered Franks to 
 dogs' tails, poured petroleum upon the poor brutes, and set 
 them on fire. These horrors have sunk a great gulf 
 between native and stranger, which will not be bridged 
 over during this generation." It was the general opinion 
 of those who knew the country best that, putting aside 
 isolated cases of personal friendship, and far-sighted cases 
 
CHAP, in.] . Return to Suez. 61 
 
 of self-interest, the lower orders, if they once got the 
 upper hand, would necessarily, in times of excitement, 
 murder every Christian they could come across. 
 
 While in the bazaar at Zagazig we obtained a seal for 
 use among the Arabs, with Colonel Warren's name in 
 Arabic engraved upon it. Before it could be handed over 
 by the engraver it was necessary to insert and sign a 
 certificate, in a book kept for the purpose, that Warren 
 
 
 
 Bey was the owner's real name, and this certificate was 
 duly attested by the interpreter. The object of this pre- 
 caution was that, in case the seal should be lost, there 
 might be a record of it, so that it might be cried down. 
 It was very interesting to find such care taken about these 
 signet rings, which have been in use since the earliest 
 times ; and in the East, where writing is in the hands of 
 the scribes, they are of the greatest use. 
 
 Early next morning, after our arrival at Zagazig, we 
 went to the Muderia, and ascertained that the men we had 
 demanded, three sheiks and four Bedouin, had all been 
 brought in. Our train of followers was now swelling fast ; 
 and with the original Arabs, Selami, his four wives and 
 children, and the Zagazig Bedouin with their guard, a 
 railway truck was filled. We left Zagazig at 3 p.m., 
 arriving in the evening at Ismailia, where we had to stop 
 the night. On our way past Tel el Kebir we heard that 
 the Bedouin were busy at work exhuming and stripping 
 the bodies of the dead, both British and Egyptian. A 
 Bedoui will strip his own dead father if he has a chance. 
 
 We had suffered torment from the sand-flies and heat 
 at Zagazig, and at Ismailia we endured tortures from the 
 swarms of bugs. Here the troops were evacuating with 
 all speed, and the once busy " base " had already a deserted 
 appearance. We arrived at Suez in the evening of 
 
62 Spies at Ayun Musa. [CHAP. m. 
 
 October 3rd, and found Burton down with a touch of 
 fever at the hotel. He had some interesting information to 
 give of the progress of affairs since our departure for Cairo. 
 
 On September 29th, the messenger sent to Nackl by 
 Raoulf Pasha had returned, reporting that when he had 
 arrived within ten hours' journey of Nackl he had been 
 taken prisoner by fifty to sixty men of the Haiwatat and 
 Terebin tribes. After being kept prisoner three days at 
 Jebel Hassan, near Wadi Sadr, he was released, and 
 returned direct to Suez. He gave information that there 
 were four Bedouin, of the tribes that captured Palmer's 
 party, now acting as spies at Ayun Musa ; and said that 
 he had heard these men quarrelling, and in anger one had 
 threatened to shoot another " as he had the Englishmen." 
 Lieutenant Burton, knowing Colonel Warren's anxiety to 
 capture some of the inculpated Bedouin, consulted with 
 the Consul, and with his concurrence went to Raoulf 
 Pasha and suggested several methods of securing these 
 men ; all of which methods the Pasha judged im- 
 practicable. Burton then went to Colonel Griffiths, 
 Commandant of Suez, and obtained from him the assistance 
 of an English officer and twelve Indian sowars. He made 
 all his arrangements for surrounding Ayun Musa and 
 capturing the men there, but at the last moment the 
 movements were countermanded. 
 
 A messenger from Tor had arrived on October 1st, 
 bringing a letter from Musa Nusier. in which he gave his 
 submission to the Khedive. He had evidently sent some- 
 where for corroboration of the information we had given 
 him, and had then proceeded to Tor with the twelve camels 
 requisitioned by us, arriving four days after the appointed 
 time. A letter was now despatched to Musa Nusier, 
 desiring him to bring his camels at once to Suez. 
 
CHAP, in.] Nocturnal Raid. 63 
 
 During our absence at Cairo, Quartermaster-Sergeant 
 Kennedy, R.E., had embarked for England ; for, the war being 
 now over, the object for which his services had been procured 
 had ceased to be. He had proved himself most useful in 
 charge of stores, and in assisting generally while at Tor. 
 
 Sard, the brother of the Salami Shedid, arrived at Suez 
 during the night of October 4th, with an uncle of his, 
 Hadj Mohammed. Sard was a morose, incapable young 
 man, but, owing to his near relationship to Salami, he took 
 precedence of Hadj Mohammed, a much abler person, of 
 considerable presence and some authority. Soon after our 
 return to Suez Colonel Warren brought onr Bedouin before 
 Baoulf Pasha. His Excellency could offer no suggestion 
 as to the next move, but showed his anxiety to assist by 
 roundly rating our retinue, and calling them all " pigs." 
 This did not seem to get us any more forward, and 
 Colonel Warren proposed that Shedid's kin should show 
 their mettle at once, by going out to Ayun Musa and 
 catching the four spies that were there. It was particularly 
 important to capture a Bedoui named Ali Shwair, who had 
 been hearfed boasting that he had killed an Englishman, and 
 would kill anyone else who endeavoured to capture him. 
 So it was arranged that our Bedouin should go by boat to 
 Ayun Musa that night, to make the necessary raid. 
 
 During the day we arrested in the town one of M. Costa's 
 gardeners from Ayun Musa; his evidence relative to what took 
 place there during the war proved afterwards very useful. 
 
 The efforts of our Bedouin at Ayun Musa during the 
 night were only partially successful ; they allowed Ali 
 Shwair and two Haiwatat to escape, but they brought in 
 nine prisoners, two of whom were gardeners employed 
 there. One of the prisoners, Selami, proved to be a camel- 
 driver who had started with Palmer, and from him we 
 
64 Luportaii I ('(/iif/irc. [CHAP. m. 
 
 obtained the first direct account of what had happened 
 upon Palmer's ill-fated expedition. Cross-examination 
 elicited a number of important details connected with the 
 composition of Palmer's party ; and Selami informed us 
 that Palmer had separated himself from his bag-gage on 
 the second day after leaving Suez, going on ahead with 
 his guide, companions, and the interpreter. On the 
 morning of the following day, August 12th, the baggage 
 party was attacked by a large party of men, the camel- 
 drivers making little resistance. Selami professed to know 
 nothing of what had occurred to Palmer and his com- 
 panions subsequent to their departure, but he was able to 
 give us the name of two of the principal Bedouin who had 
 attacked and looted Palmer's baggage, these being Salem 
 Sheyk and Salem Subheh, both of the Haiwatat tribe. 
 He also stated that there were men of the Lehewat, 
 Dubur, and Terebin tribes amongst the marauders. 
 Selami finally cleared up all uncertainty concerning 
 the position of Wadi Sadr, which had now clearly 
 nothing to do with Wadi Sidri ; but he left us still in 
 doubt as to the fate of Palmer and his companions, thus 
 it was all important not to relax our endeavours to open 
 up communication with the desert tribes. 
 
 It being desirable to prevent the missing men being 
 carried off into the interior of Arabia, where it might be 
 impossible to rescue them, it was decided to visit Akabah 
 at once, to inform the Governor and people there of the 
 collapse of Arabi, and to take measures to close that way 
 of escape from our search parties. This done, Colonel 
 Warren decided to enter the desert from Suez, to follow up 
 the steps of the missing party, and thoroughly to pacific-ate 
 the desert. The desert, however, was still, to all intents 
 and purposes, closed ; and as the authorities were very 
 
CHAP, in.] Requisitioning Bedouin. 65 
 
 cautious as to permitting us to enter the desert at all, and 
 as it was manifestly undesirable to risk another such 
 disaster as had befallen Palmer and his companions, 
 Colonel Warren decided to form the expedition of a 
 powerful body of Egyptian Bedouin, and, making them 
 responsible for finding the persons in the attack, send 
 them into the desert to pursue their investigations alone. 
 It is doubtful, however, whether he ever meant this 
 expedition to go without him, though it was very fortunate 
 that he took up that line in his communication with the 
 sheiks ; for otherwise, closely connected as they were with 
 the Bedouin of the desert, all trace of the party might 
 have been removed before we arrived at the spot where 
 the murder was committed. 
 
 On October Oth, Colonel Warren again took the sheiks 
 he had brought from Cairo and Zagazig before the Governor 
 of Suez, and in his presence asked them how they would 
 propose to arrange for an expedition into the desert to 
 investigate into the murder of the Englishmen, and arrest 
 the guilty parties. They said they would require two 
 hundred Bedouin for such an expedition ; one hundred and 
 fifty for their own protection, and fifty besides for ours. 
 They were informed that they need not trouble themselves 
 on our account, but were to provide simply for their own 
 purposes. Thereupon Raoulf Pasha despatched a telegram 
 to Riaz Pasha, requesting him to send twenty Bedouin 
 from each of certain tribes in the Kalyub and Dukolia 
 districts, amounting in all to one hundred and sixty, and 
 urging that they should be at Suez before the elapse of 
 eight or nine days at the latest. 
 
 Next morning there was no water in the Sweet-Water 
 Canal, which supplies Suez from the Nile by way of 
 Ismailia; and it was probable that in a day or two the 
 
 F 
 
G6 Inspection of Canal. 
 
 town would be without water, excepting that stored in the 
 docks. As this state of things might endanger the health 
 of the place, and interfere with our operations, Colonel 
 Warren, before leaving for Akabah, decided to find out the 
 reason for the canal being empty, it having been ascertained 
 that water was passing freely along the canal by Ismailia. 
 So offering his services to make an inspection of the canal, 
 he started off with an escort of Native cavalry one morning to 
 ride up the bank of the Sweet-Water Canal. The country 
 about the canal was in the hands of the Bedouin, who were 
 still in a turbulent condition, and it was thought that 
 they might have cut the bank of the canal some miles 
 from Suez. After proceeding some fifteen miles it was 
 found that the water was coming down slowly, the banks 
 being in good order ; but owing to the water having been 
 cut off for so long a period it was absorbed very quickly as 
 it advanced, and would require probably three or four days 
 more to reach Suez. The bottom of the canal was covered 
 with a thick growth of grass and reeds, and the slope of 
 the canal from Ismailia being only one in forty thousand, 
 the water passes very slowly along it. 
 
 Colonel Warren returned to Suez the same day, ready 
 to start in H.M.S. Eclipse for Akabah the same evening : 
 the Admiral, however, had meanwhile postponed our 
 departure until the following day, so as to give time for 
 preparation. The time allowed to us for the expedition 
 to Akabah was limited to five days, in order that the 
 Eclipse might get back to sail after the East Indian 
 Squadron, which was to start at once for the Indian Ocean. 
 We therefore bade a regretful farewell to Admiral Sir 
 William Hewett, who had throughout our proceedings 
 taken the greatest interest in every detail, and given us 
 every assistance in his power. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 DEPARTURE FOR AKABAH IN H.M.S. " ECLIPSE." LANDING AT 
 DHAHAB. ARRIVAL AT AKABAH. ATTEMPT TO LAND. CRITICAL 
 POSITION or LANDING-PARTY. ENFORCED HOSPITALITY. CON- 
 FERENCE WITH THE GOVERNOR AND MOHAMMED GAD. THE 
 BANQUET. THE LETTER FROM THE GOVERNOR OF NACKL. 
 TIDINGS OF PALMER'S MURDER. MOHAMMED GAD, SHEIK OF 
 THE ALAWIN. RETURN TO SUEZ. 
 
 SUNDAY seems always to have been our day for action 
 in Egypt. At dawn on the morning of October 8th, we 
 were busy writing off letters for home and for Cairo ; and 
 at 6 a.m. were waiting near the dusty railway for the 
 trolly which had been ordered to carry us and our luggage 
 down to the docks. The trolly did not arrive, however, 
 and seeing a long freight-train full of hay and stores being 
 shunted near us, we got all our baggage and Bedouin on to 
 it ; and, after considerable uncertainty as to where we 
 should be carried, we triumphantly entered the docks on 
 top of the hay at about 8.30 a.m. Our passage over the 
 three miles down to the docks was a very amusing one ; 
 the train moved slowly, and the Arabs thronged the line 
 on either side, jumping on to the trucks wherever they 
 could get a footing, and then down again when they had 
 gone as far as they required ; others were hanging on, or 
 running by the side, chaffing us at our snug seat on the 
 hay, squeezing on to the steps and buffers, and climbing 
 
 F 2 
 
68 Embark on H.M.S. "Eclipse" [OHAP.IV. 
 
 into the trucks. Some attempted to join us aloft on the 
 hay, but this was not to be allowed, and they were speedily 
 repulsed, and retired discomfited to the sides of the 
 truck. 
 
 Arrived at the docks, we unloaded the trucks of our 
 baggage and walked off with our possessions ; there 
 seemed to be no one in charge of the stores and merchan- 
 dise on the train, and had we walked off with anything 
 not our own it would have been all one to the officials ; 
 they seemed quite indifferent as to the care of the property 
 they carried. It was always a mystery to me how things 
 ever did reach their destination in the East. 
 
 A steam-launch was waiting for us which soon trans- 
 ferred our motley assembly, and curious assortment of 
 luggage and edibles, to H.M.S. Eclipse. The sailors were 
 highly amused at the appearance of our company, and 
 especially at the strange food they had brought to eat ; for 
 as there would be difficulty in feeding the Bedouin on 
 ship's rations, they had been directed to cater for them- 
 selves, and accordingly brought with them quantities of 
 vegetables and water-melons, Bedoui bread, pots of rancid 
 butter, &c., with a variety of queer pots and pans for 
 cooking, which quite took the fancy of the cooks of the 
 cuddy. Our party consisted of Colonel Warren, myself, 
 Mosalli, Ossad, Hadj Mohammed Shedid, three minor 
 sheiks of the Nofiat tribe, and Hassan Effendi, the newly 
 appointed Governor of Nackl. It was difficult to know 
 how to arrange for the accommodation of so strange an 
 assembly on board a man-of-war ; but Captain Garforth 
 was equal to the occasion, and soon rigged up awnings 
 between the guns on deck, where all the Moslems, including 
 the stately Governor of Nackl, fraternised ; the sailors 
 making pets of the more lively of them as though they 
 
CHAP, iv.] Naval Hospitality, 69 
 
 had been a superior race of monkeys. We were heartily 
 relieved to find that Hassan Effendi, a Captain of 
 Egyptian Artillery, could so happily chum with the 
 Bedouin, as it was difficult to know how else to locate 
 him. 
 
 We quickly weighed anchor and passed out of the 
 harbour, saluting the flag- ship as we went. Outside in the 
 anchorage was a magnificent spectacle. The white ships 
 of the East Indian Squadron were then getting ready to 
 leave the Bed Sea for Indian waters ; and in addition was a 
 large fleet of transports, also painted white, waiting 
 to take the Indian Contingent home again. All the 
 sailors rejoiced at their near departure, and the chance 
 it would bring of once more landing on terra frma ; for a 
 large number of them had not set foot on land, except on 
 duty, for several months. Our voyage down the Gulf of 
 Suez was decidedly warm ; but the hospitality of the ship's 
 officers knew no bounds, and, some supported by " cock- 
 tails," others by water-melons, and others relying solely 
 on the all-invigorating cigarette, we merrily passed the 
 time away. 
 
 Tor was sighted during the first night out, and early 
 next morning we successfully eluded the sunken reefs and 
 rocks near the toe of the peninsula, steaming into the Gulf 
 of Akabah without accident. We proceeded, however, 
 with great caution, with men constantly in the chains, for 
 no English steamer had ever been in these waters before, 
 and the only man-of-war that had ever been there was 
 a surveying ship, nigh forty years before. A Khedivial 
 steamer had been here a few years before, but had not 
 added anything to the knowledge of the sea. 
 
 At about 3 p.m. we sighted a ring of palm-trees on the 
 barren coast of the peninsula, which we knew to be Dhahab, 
 
70 Dhahab. 
 
 [CHAP. IV. 
 
 where was supposed to be a good anchorage and a fishing 
 village. Here we anchored for the night, as it was not 
 safe to feel our way onwards in the dark. On a low, 
 sandy beach, behind which rose the mountains of the 
 peninsula, lay the village of Dhahab, consisting of a few 
 mud huts only capable of holding about a dozen families. 
 There was little life visible, and what there was was 
 struggling with all haste inland up the mountain side ; 
 while some rebellious camels, which had refused to move 
 on, were straying about the plain. As the people might 
 still believe themselves to be at war, and might, according 
 to their custom, be lying in ambush, we proceeded with 
 some caution to land, escorted by six blue -jackets and 
 accompanied by our Bedouin. We had some amusement 
 in catching a camel ; and sent Marbruk, one of the 
 Bedouin we had brought from Zagazig, up the rising 
 ground inland to see if there were any people about. The 
 heat was intense, and we lay under bushes waiting for 
 Marbruk's return, and watching the beautiful effects of 
 the sun setting behind the granite mountains. Marbruk 
 stayed away some hours, and when he returned spun us a 
 long yarn as to his adventures. He had caught up two 
 men who were carrying dates away, who had told him 
 that the tribe of M'said had struck their encampment, 
 situated in the valley on the other side of the hills, on 
 hearing of the approach of our ship, and had driven their 
 flocks and herds inland. He had accompanied the men to 
 a beautiful wadi, where there was a palm-grove, a stream, 
 and green pastures. There were some women there with 
 some sheep, but they would not come down to sell them, 
 so Marbruk had to return alone. He declared that they 
 knew where Palmer was concealed, but would not say. 
 They had heard that Musa Nusier and his tribe were 
 
CHAP, iv.] We sight Akabah. 71 
 
 flying in the direction of Syria. In fact, it was a 
 genuine case of thought-reading ; Marbruk told us 
 exactly what he thought we knew, or wanted to know, 
 and no more. 
 
 We left Dhahab at 6 a.m. on the 10th, and proceeded 
 up the gulf, watching with interest the barren coasts on 
 either hand. We sighted Akabah about noon, up to which 
 time we had not seen a sign of humanity on either shore. 
 Near Akabah the gulf ends, and gives place to Wadi 
 Arabah, but of this there was yet no sign ; the mountains, 
 converging slightly from their path on either side of the 
 gulf, continue their course to the north without inter- 
 mission, and between them lie the sands of the Arabah, 
 
 THE AKABAH LOOKING NORTH FBOM AKABAH. 
 
 dotted with scrub and marked along the shore -line by a 
 fringe of bushes and palm-trees. As we neared the 
 head of the gulf about 1 p.m. we could see the palm- 
 groves of Akabah on the eastern shore, a happy relief to 
 the eye after the continuous red mountains, and blue sky 
 and sea. We could see the green flag of Arabi waving 
 above the castle-walls ; but as we approched nearer and 
 passed the fort it was quietly hauled down, and no flag 
 was to be seen. The officials were evidently not anxious 
 to be too defiant, at the same time they did not hoist the 
 Egyptian (Turkish) flag. We could see through our 
 
72 Castle of AkabaJi. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 glasses that a general exodus of all the flocks was taking 
 place, and many people were hurrying away up the moun- 
 tain side, while armed men were coming in and assembling 
 near the castle. 
 
 The castle of Akabah is a strongly built caravansarai 
 in the form of a fort. It is about 100 feet square and has 
 towers and battlements and a field-gun or two, one of 
 which was mounted on a commanding tower. It is of the 
 class of buildings constructed in the 16th century by 
 Suleiman the Magnificent, for the protection of pilgrims on 
 the Hadj route, and in Europe would be considered a fine 
 structure. It has numerous and rather dilapidated chambers 
 and stables for the accommodation of the pilgrims ; these 
 chambers all open into the court-yard, there being but one 
 entrance to the fort. Akabah is the third station of the 
 Hadj route after leaving Cairo, the first being a point on 
 the Sweet- Water Canal near Suez, and the second the fort 
 of Nackl. These stations are generally distant from one 
 another three days camel- journey, or about 100 miles, that 
 being the greatest distance a loaded camel can go with- 
 out drinking. Even to reach these stations the camel's 
 endurance is often tried to the utmost ; and that many 
 succumb to the privations is attested by the mute witness 
 of their bones which lie bleaching on the desert track. No 
 desert Bedouin are admitted into these forts, which are 
 defended by Egyptian or Turkish Governors and Mo- 
 garabite Irregulars sturdy Moslems from the Tunisian 
 provinces and Morocco, who do not fear the Bedouin of 
 Arabia. 
 
 The town lies principally to the north of the fort, and 
 is a series of mud-built houses of the usual type, accom- 
 modating about 1000 persons. In front of these houses, 
 fringing the sea-coast, are gardens of date-palms, surrounded 
 
CHAP, iv.] Tie Ancient Elaili. 73 
 
 by stone walls about six feet in height on the outside, and 
 with thorny faggots built into a hard mud coping. These 
 walls are broken up into sections by transverse walls, and 
 the ground being filled up somewhat on the inside, the 
 whole present a formidable series of stockades about 
 twenty yards from the water-line, and extending up the 
 coast for nearly a mile, as far as the head of the gulf. 
 Behind these are again other walls on a higher level, until 
 the town is reached ; and beyond this again are hills of 
 sand to the east, rising towards the mountain chain which 
 borders the gulf on the eastern side. 
 
 In front of the fort was anchored a solitary dhow, by 
 which the garrison traded with Koseir, on the western 
 shore of the Bed Sea, and with Suez. Sailing communica- 
 tion with Suez is almost impracticable for a large portion 
 of the year, for a dhow which may come down the Gulf of 
 Suez in a few hours, will take weeks to get back again up 
 to Akabah, and vice versa. It was interesting to see this 
 dhow, the sole representative of the fleets of Ezion-geber 
 which traded with Ophir. Where the site of Ezion-geber 
 may be is still somewhat uncertain, but it cannot be far 
 from the head of the gulf ; and there is a general consensus 
 of opinion that the ancient town of Elath is marked by 
 Akabah. Elath is mentioned by Greek and Eoman 
 writers up to the seventh century, when it was taken by 
 the Moslems. It was taken and retaken by the Christians 
 during the Crusades, and, after that, was not visited by 
 Europeans until as late as 1822, when Euppell succeeded 
 in examining the site. Since then there have been many 
 visitors, amongst the last of whom were Professor Hull 
 and Colonel Kitchener, E.E., the present Sirdar of the 
 Egyptian Army. 
 
 As we steamed past the town we saw the inhabitants 
 
74 Excitement of the Akabese. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 hurrying to and fro in great excitement. As we afterwards 
 discovered, they were in momentary expectation of an 
 attack, heing quite unaware that Arabi had fallen and 
 that peace had been proclaimed. They had heard, on the 
 other hand, numerous Arab fabrications, which declared 
 that our fleet had been captured and sunk, that we had 
 been worsted in every encounter, that our army was 
 destroyed and our soldiers in irons ; in consequence of 
 which, and owing to their intense ignorance, they were 
 entirely under the impression that they were fully a match 
 for us, that their old 12 -pounder was equal to all our 
 guns, and that under no circumstances would we be able to 
 reduce their fort to submission if we attacked it. All 
 they were afraid of was that their houses and their goods 
 might be destroyed, and these latter they commenced 
 placing in security. They were Arabists to a man, and 
 had received orders to be prepared for an attack from a 
 ship of war, to oppose any landing to the utmost, and to 
 take all prisoners they could, but not to fire until they 
 were fired upon. It will be seen by their subsequent 
 behaviour that they rigidly attempted to carry out their 
 instructions. As we passed the castle numerous parties of 
 armed men were to be seen running along the shore and 
 gardens following us, and stopping opposite to us when 
 the Eclipse anchored, about three-quarters of a mile 
 above the fort. They were, for the most part, concealed 
 from us on deck, but could be plainly seen from the 
 " tops." 
 
 It was now evident that we must be prepared for a 
 hostile reception, for which we were somewhat curiously 
 situated ; for we were at peace with them, and had a 
 strong additional incentive to risk much rather than 
 engage in an encounter, for Professor Palmer and his 
 
CHAP, iv.] Landing -party. 75 
 
 party might be in their hands might even be prisoners 
 in the castle ; they on the other hand were, as far as they 
 knew, still at war with us, and any information we might 
 give them as to the declaration of peace would only be 
 looked upon as a ruse. Colonel Warren hoped to bring 
 them to reason without bloodshed by gradually persuading 
 them of the facts regarding the war, but it would evidently 
 be a delicate affair, and Captain Grarforth got all ready to 
 help us in case of need. 
 
 We put off to the shore in two cutters. In the first 
 were Colonel Warren, Lieutenant Henderson, B.N., myself, 
 Mosalli, our Bedouin, the new Governor of Nackl, and 
 twelve armed blue-jackets. In the second cutter were 
 twenty armed marines. As we rowed to the shore the 
 natives showed so hostile an attitude, that it was evidently 
 useless to attempt to land immediately under our guns, as 
 we would wish to have done ; so we rowed parallel to the 
 shore towards the fort in hopes of an opportunity arising 
 to open up negotiations. The natives followed us up behind 
 the walls, always presenting a front when we paused, to 
 oppose a landing, and swarming behind the walls and trees, 
 and whatever cover was available. 
 
 Just in front of the fort was a gap in the gardens, 
 leaving a vacant space of fore-shore, each side of which 
 the walls ran back, forming flanks from which a cross-fire 
 could be poured on the ground in front. Just before we 
 arrived opposite this place we put in straight for the shore, 
 but as we came up to beach our boat, we saw hundreds 
 of muskets levelled at us over the walls, and it was evident 
 that to persist in landing would be to risk the lives of 
 every man in the boats. Colonel Warren therefore directed 
 the cutter to put back, and when we were about fifty yards 
 from the shore we commenced a parley with the natives, 
 
76 Hostility of Arabs. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 e/ */ 
 
 calling for the Governor, whom we saw on the beach, and 
 hoisting a white flag. In the meantime, seeing the very 
 hostile attitude of the Arabs, and wishing to avoid being 
 caught in a trap if we again attempted to beach our boat, 
 Colonel Warren desired Lieutenant Henderson to position 
 the second cutter, with the marines, behind the large dhow, 
 which was anchored in front of the fort at about eighty 
 yards from the shore ; so that they might be able to open 
 fire upon the shore from under cover, should we be fired 
 upon while landing. 
 
 The Governor of Akabah seeing a comrade, the new 
 Governor of Nackl, with us in Egyptian uniform, and our 
 company of Bedouin, who were shouting themselves hoarse, 
 began to think we might be relating facts, and came down 
 to the water's edge, filled with curiosity to know who our 
 Moslem party were, and how they came on our side. We 
 told him to drive back the Arabs who crowded behind 
 him ; but this he did not succeed in doing, though he raved 
 at them, pulled their hair, and threw large stones at them. 
 They only dodged his missiles, however, swore at him in 
 return, and came back full of determination to protect their 
 hearths and homes. 
 
 In the midst of the excitement a plucky Mogarabite 
 zaptieh swam off to our boat, while at the same time the 
 Governor put off in a small skiff to get nearer to us, in 
 order to satisfy his curiosity. The zaptieh was soon 
 convinced that our story was not all sham, and shouted 
 out his conversion to the shore. The Governor getting 
 the more curious, we conversed rapidly with him until our 
 boats drifted together, and before he knew what he was 
 about he was locked with us, and our first object was 
 gained ; for we felt it was unlikely that the Arabs would 
 open fire upon us whilst their Governor was with us and 
 
CHAP, iv.] We Effect a Landing. 77 
 
 in our power. At first there was a cry that we were 
 taking the Governor prisoner, and more excitement; but 
 this calmed down, as he was to be seen from the shore 
 hugging and kissing the Moslems in our boat. He was 
 meanwhile taking in the news, and when he realised the 
 truth he expressed his great delight at Arabi's capture, 
 suddenly became a staunch Khedivist, and shouted to the 
 people that we must be allowed to land. We now 
 approached the beach again, and a few of the people on 
 the shore hoisted white pieces of rag, and came down 
 towards us into the water ; but the majority kept behind 
 the walls, in defiance of our landing. Colonel Warren, 
 however, now saw his opportunity, for the natives on the 
 beach near us gave us increased security against being 
 fired upon ; so we rapidly beached our boat, keeping on 
 one side of the dhow, so that the marines might have full 
 scope for their fire should occasion require it. The Arabs 
 refused to allow more than three white men to land, so 
 Colonel Warren, Lieutenant Henderson, and myself went 
 ashore upon the shoulders of our swarthy antagonists, 
 and at once mixed with the crowd, together with our 
 interpreter and our Bedouin. 
 
 The excitement of the people now reached its zenith ; 
 some wanted to shoot us on the spot, while others 
 shouted to make prisoners of us and carry us off to the 
 castle. The only man who seemed to have any authority 
 or to possess any common-sense, was a Bedoui sheik who 
 suddenly appeared on the scene. He stated that he was 
 Mohammed Gad of the Alawin, and at once took a 
 prominent part in the proceedings, allaying the excitement 
 by drawing his sword and belabouring all he met with the 
 flat of it. We exerted ourselves to spread the news of 
 the peace ; but the majority of the people would not 
 
78 Warren Demands Coffee. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 believe it, and kept behind the walls with their muskets 
 levelled on us. The Governor and his officials exercised 
 their ingenuity in devising reasons why we should go up 
 to the fort ; but we were quite as loth to be made 
 prisoners as they, at this stage, were anxious to get us 
 into their power, and Colonel Warren politely and flatly 
 declined the invitation. Matters were at a deadlock, when 
 Colonel Warren told the Governor to send for coffee at 
 once, being anxious that the ceremony of drinking coffee 
 and eating salt might be performed as soon as practicable, 
 as that would tend to subdue the feeling against us. 
 
 We were just thinking that we had succeeded in 
 reducing the crowd to somewhat of a calm, when the Master- 
 Gunner of the fort, a sturdy old soldier, rushed down the 
 beach in a most excited state, and declared that we should 
 not stir until he had proof of the peace we talked of. 
 Colonel Warren produced the Khedive's bosta (proclaiming 
 the peace) and a letter from the Governor of Suez to the 
 Governor of Akabah ; also some Arabic newspapers con- 
 taining announcements of Arabi's collapse. They were 
 handed over to the Governor, who read them out loud ; 
 still the majority refused to believe the news, insisting that 
 the papers were fabricated for the occasion. It was of no 
 avail to jeer at the idea of newspapers being printed off for 
 the sake of Akabah. Akabah was to them the metropolis 
 of the world, and its importance was not to be made light 
 of. Colonel Warren still clamoured for coffee, which the 
 Governor objected to bring down to the beach ; but at last 
 he gave way, though with a bad grace, getting up some- 
 what of an altercation in doing so, so that our Bedouin, 
 who were in a very tremulous state, got very frightened. 
 One of them, in his anxiety, fortunately supplied a 
 diversion by suddenly plumping down on all fours to pray 
 
CHAP. iv.] The Khedives Proclamation. 79 
 
 for the Moslem paraphrase of the leading rule in whist is 
 " when you are in doubt go through the prayer formulae." 
 Faraj forgot that he had journeyed somewhat to the east 
 since leaving his home, and considerably shocked the 
 Akabese by his ignorance of the position of his Kibleh, 
 turning himself nearly away from the Kaaba. The 
 attention of all was at once turned to his mistake, and 
 a little timely chaff by Colonel Warren raised a laugh, and 
 went far to allay the excitement. 
 
 The Khedive's proclamation was now read aloud by 
 our interpreter, and when it was ended the Governor was 
 ordered to send the people away, which he and his 
 zaptiehs essayed to do, throwing stones at them and 
 striking them with the flats of their swords. The people 
 submitted to this with their wonted good humour ; but it 
 effected little, for they always returned to their places 
 directly the attacks upon them were relinquished. We 
 now moved under the shade of some palm-trees, close to 
 the walls, desiring to get something innocuous behind us ; 
 but on looking over the wall we found the interiors still 
 lined with armed men, crouching behind them. After a 
 good deal of talking we succeeded in getting these away, 
 and also a clear line down to our boat, but this we could 
 only effect by a compromise by sending the second cutter 
 with the marines back to the ship. 
 
 Before coffee was brought down the Governor made a 
 final attempt to persuade us to go up to the fort ; but 
 Colonel Warren judged that matters had not sufficiently 
 ripened for us to do this with impunity. Cushions were 
 brought down, and we all endeavoured to be as amiable 
 and pleasant to each other as possible. Colonel Warren 
 expressed the desire to buy some sheep, and offered 
 passages to Suez to anyone who wished to go. Sheep were 
 
80 Bargaining for Sheep. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 brought miserable animals, but it was politic to go through, 
 all the forms of a bargain ; so we haggled away, and the 
 time passed by, eventually the animals being purchased for 
 sixteen shillings apiece. Of course, this was merely a 
 matter of diplomacy for there was plenty of food on board, 
 and Captain Grarforth did not want any more live stock ; 
 but, in Colonel Warren's opinion, nothing could so impress 
 upon the people the fact of peace being restored as such 
 a purchase after due and ceremonious bargaining. 
 
 Towards sunset the weaker sex suddenly raised a 
 diversion against us ; the women began to wail and lament, 
 declaring that if we were allowed to remain on shore they 
 would all be murdered, and they rushed about exciting 
 their spouses to attack us. We therefore made rapid 
 preparations for departure before darkness should come on, 
 leaving our Bedouin on shore for the night to talk over 
 matters with the natives, and get all the information they 
 could. Especially were they to discover whether Professor 
 Palmer was a prisoner in the fort, as we half suspected he 
 was ; or whether he had been carried off, and in what 
 direction. Before leaving we accepted an invitation from 
 the Governor to -dine in the fort with him next day ; then 
 putting off, we arrived on board the Eclipse at nightfall. 
 
 At 6.30 a.m. next morning we left for the shore, in the 
 same order as yesterday, except that the second cutter 
 with the marines kept well out from the landing-place. 
 We hoped that the excitement would have now pretty well 
 subsided ; but we found that the mob of armed men still 
 followed us, lining the walls and concentrating their 
 muskets upon us when we came in to the landing-place. 
 This was awkward, as in case one had gone off by accident 
 an encounter might have been precipitated, so we shouted 
 our expostulations to the Governor. He replied that he 
 
CHAP, iv.] Henewed Disturbance. 81 
 
 really could not control the people, but that if we sent 
 away the second cutter the excitement might subside. 
 Colonel Warren decided to risk the consequences for the 
 sake of getting news of Palmer, and sent the marines back 
 to the ship. We then beached our boat and landed but 
 there was still great excitement, and the natives, still 
 persisting in covering us with their muskets, refused to go 
 away. The Governor was on the shore to receive us, so 
 Colonel Warren insisted that he could not leave the beach 
 until their muskets were taken off us : eventually we 
 compromised matters again by sending our cutter some 
 distance from the shore, while we landed, in addition to 
 those of yesterday, two ships officers and two armed 
 blue-jackets, so that we were seven Europeans in all. 
 
 We now walked up to the fort, Mohammed Gad and 
 the Governor doing their best to keep the crowd at a safe 
 distance from us ; but the people soon hemmed us in on 
 all sides and tried to hustle us, until, when we got within 
 the great archway of the fort, the massive iron -cased gates 
 were closed and bolted, and the excited Arabs left outside 
 to beat at the gates and shout themselves hoarse. It was 
 not an agreeable position to be in, locked up in a fort 
 among a hostile soldiery, with an excited swarm of 
 barbarians without ; but we made the best of things, and 
 settled ourselves on the cushions which had been spread in 
 the gateway, waiting till coffee should be served. But 
 speech was impossible, for the disturbances outside 
 increased, and the Governor, Mohammed Gad, and the 
 zaptiehs were continually running outside beating the people 
 off with their sticks. Outside we could hear the women 
 wailing and hounding the men on, and at last Colonel 
 Wan-en considered it time to do a little shouting himself. 
 So he commenced to harangue the Governor in a loud 
 
 G 
 
82 The Banquet. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 voice, pointing out that if we met with any evil not one 
 stone would be left upon another in the castle or houses ; 
 that though the people might not suffer, the Governor and 
 his zaptiehs could not possibly ever be employed again ; 
 that they would be outcasts among the Bedouin, who 
 hated them ; that Mohammed Gad would cease to be 
 sheik over his tribe, and that his tribe would lose the 
 care and lucrative custody of the Hadj pilgrims. These 
 threats were direct home-thrusts to all those in the castle j 
 and they made a final dash outside, beat the excited crowd 
 indiscriminately all round, locked the gates of the fort, and 
 begged us to come into an inner room in the court out of 
 the noise, where we could talk. We found there were 
 some very good chambers built round the court-yard ; and 
 into one of these we were conducted. A large piece of 
 matting was brought in and laid on the floor ; and on this 
 we sat in a circle, with the Governor, Hassan Effendi, 
 Mohammed Shedid, and Mohammed Gad. A large dish, 
 about three feet in diameter, was now deposited in the 
 centre of the matting, piled up with talaf (rice boiled 
 in gieli) with pieces of meat interspersed. Before com- 
 mencing our repast a ewer and basin were brought to us for 
 washing our hands ; and now each one of us, towel over 
 knees, approached within arm's length and dipped our 
 hands into the dish. Our host tore up the meat for us 
 with his fingers, and put tit-bits in front of each. The 
 proper method of feeding is for each to mould the rice into 
 a cake with the hand, and then jerk it into the open 
 mouth ; but most of us were novices, and could only eat in 
 a very slovenly fashion. The meat on these occasions is 
 always very nicely cooked, and appetising ; it is boiled and 
 spiced, and probably cooked over a very slow fire. We 
 hoped that while we were eating some conversation would 
 
CHAP, iv.] Brow-beating the Governor. 83 
 
 ensue ; for our Bedouin had ascertained absolutely nothing 
 during the night, and we had not advanced one step 
 towards learning anything of the missing party. Hassan 
 Effendi had, however, ascertained during the previous night 
 that the Governor was in possession of an important letter, 
 though whether he could he induced to produce it was 
 uncertain. There was still the possibility that Professor 
 Palmer's party might be prisoners in the castle where 
 we were ; nay, might be even within hearing of our words, 
 and we kept keenly on the watch to see if there were any 
 signs of our countrymen's presence. 
 
 When we had eaten sufficiently we gave place to others, 
 and while they were feeding, Colonel Warren turned on our 
 host and demanded the reason why he had refused to give 
 him any information about Professor Palmer's party ; 
 insisting that it was quite certain that he knew all about 
 them, and telling him that he would suffer severely if he 
 did not assist us. Colonel Warren had a theory that the 
 best time for brow-beating an Arab host is just after he has 
 fed you ; when he thinks you ought to be satisfied with 
 what you have eaten, and when he is himself a little gorged 
 and unable to resist your importunities. On this occasion 
 the onslaught was successful ; our host was taken aback by 
 the sudden attack upon him, and began to assert his readi- 
 ness to assist in anything in accordance with the orders of 
 the Governor of Suez. He was at last induced to admit 
 that he had received a letter from Nackl, whereupon Colonel 
 Warren insisted that this was only a further proof that he 
 was an accessory to the imprisonment of Professor Palmer : 
 eventually, to prove his innocence, he produced, with much 
 mystery, the letter written to him by the Governor of 
 Nackl a letter which proved to be of the greatest import- 
 ance, though, alas ! it completely destroyed our hopes that 
 
 G 2 
 
84 Startling Evidence. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 we should ever see our missing countrymen alive. This 
 letter contained most interesting details concerning the 
 party we were in search of, and was the more to he valued 
 as it was clearly written without any conception that it 
 would ever fall into the hands of the English. At first a 
 suspicion arose that it might have been fabricated in the 
 night ; but everything pointed to its genuine character, and 
 moreover it had on it the Governor of Nackl's seal and the 
 official number. 
 
 It must be conceded that it is a very temperate letter, 
 if we take the people's view that they were right to defend 
 their own against the Christians who were attacking them. 
 The people of Akabah were told they were not to fire first, 
 and that they were not to kill if they could help it, but 
 only to take prisoners. But in any case they were to fight 
 in defending their own. A more reasonable and proper 
 instruction could not have been given, had the Governor of 
 Nackl been a European officer instead of a pronounced 
 Arabist. Again, this letter, though it implicated the 
 Shedids, as accessories after the act, shows them in a very 
 favourable light as not wishing to kill. Evidently they 
 had said to the Bedouin " You were wrong to kill the 
 party, you should have sent them as prisoners to us at 
 Cairo." All this was brought to a focus afterwards ; at 
 present, the one startling piece of news confronted us. 
 The missing men were dead ! Yet though there seemed 
 little ground for further hope, there was still a chance 
 that the Governor of Nackl might be mistaken, that 
 he had been misinformed, and that they might still be 
 alive ; and the palpably exaggerated tone of the letter, 
 which turned Captain Foote's landing at Tor into the 
 disembarkation of 500 soldiers, gave colour to the hope 
 that it was so. Accordingly, Colonel Warren, though 
 
CHAP. TV.] Letter from Nackl. 85 
 
 feeling the almost certainty of their deaths, determined 
 that the off-chance of their survival must not be neglected, 
 and he must still act exactly as though they were still alive. 
 For might not some of them have escaped, even if others 
 were killed ? Might they not have saved Sheik Abdullah 
 (Palmer) as an old friend, while sacrificing the rest ? 
 
 The following is the translation of the letter written 
 on 27th of Showal (September 9th), and delivered at 
 Akabah a few days afterwards. 
 
 We let you know that on the llth day of Showal we appointed a 
 Bedoui to carry the mail. He soon reached Ismailia, where he learnt that 
 the English Christians had attacked the Bedouin who were near Ismailia, 
 when they were much in need of water, the Sweet- Water Canal being- blocked 
 so that no water could go from Ismailia to Suez. Then at night the English 
 attacked the Bedouin, who ran away and informed Arabi Pasha about it. 
 So he came from Kafr Dowar with many troops, and attacked the enemy. 
 He captured all their guns and arms, made many prisoners, and destroyed 
 Ismailia. The Christians of that place and about Suez are much excited 
 and afraid. This is all we have learnt from the two soldiers who were 
 ordered to go through and could not. So they came back on the night of 
 the 25th Showal. 
 
 But as regards the three Christians who were going to the fort of Nackl, 
 accompanied by Metter Sofia, one of the Sofia tribe, they were killed by 
 the sou of Abu Mershed, one of the sheiks of the tribes that live at Wadi 
 Sadr, and they never arrived here. 
 
 We received news from the Sheik of Tor that a man-of-war came down 
 to Tor with 500 soldiers, and he could not come to Nackl as the Christians 
 now are found in a very bad state. 
 
 My only object in writing to you is to desire you to be careful about the 
 fort (Akabah), and to inform the Bedouin that they should not be far away 
 from the fort, but always be ready for the enemy and not to be afraid. I 
 hope God will permit that you are not found wanting. If any men-of-war 
 come in your direction, do not fire on them ; but if men go on shore, take 
 hold of them by hand, and if they fire, fire at them in return. Let me know 
 what is going on in your place. Don't be afraid. Don't wonder because 
 the Moslems are victorious by the grace of God. 
 
 When Abu Shedid learnt that the Christians whom I spoke of were 
 killed, he informed his Bedouin in writing that if they see any Christians, 
 they should get hold of them and send them to him in Cairo. 
 
 Till now we have not received any instructions from Cairo. Btit as 
 regards the four camels .... 
 
 (Here follows some business matters, which do not 
 concern this narrative.) 
 
86 Prospective Arrangements. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 There was considerable discussion before our host 
 would allow this letter to be copied ; but eventually he 
 handed it over to us, and accepted a certified copy in its 
 stead. We tried to get some information as to who Abu 
 Mershed might be, and as to the locality of Wadi Sadr, 
 &c., but could learn little, for no one admitted knowing 
 anything about the country. 
 
 At mid-day we took the Governor and five of his 
 zaptiehs to see the Eclipse. They inspected the ship with 
 great wonder, and especially admired the guns for use in 
 the tops. In the afternoon, when we went on shore again, 
 we found that the townspeople and Bedouin had much 
 quieted down. Sketches were made of the fort and town, 
 and we examined the method of collecting water. The 
 drainage from the hills percolates through the sandy soil, 
 and runs on to the beach just above the level of the sea, so 
 that by digging down a few feet abundant fresh water can 
 be obtained ; but if the hole is made too deep; the water is 
 quite salt. 
 
 Having 1 now gained all the information we were likely 
 to obtain at Akabah, Colonel Warren commenced to 
 arrange for the future, so that the Governor of Akabah 
 and neighbouring sheiks might assist our operations in the 
 desert. The Governor said that his jurisdiction did not 
 extend far beyond the fort, and declared that he could not 
 trust a single man at Akabah, not even to take a letter to 
 Nackl, they had all so thrown in their lot with Arabi. 
 
 We now turned to Mohammed Gad, a fine, grizzly- 
 haired Bedoui of commanding aspect. The sheik said 
 little, but when he did speak he spoke as one in authority. 
 He wore on his head a rich silk kef y eh, and sported in his 
 girdle a gorgeously embossed pair of tabtntja* (horse 
 pistols). He evidently considered himself immeasurably 
 
CHAP, iv.] Mohammed Gad. 87 
 
 superior to the Governor of Akabah, and, indeed, the 
 contrast in the appearance of the two men would well 
 justify the assumption ; for the rugged appearance of the 
 old sheik looked to great advantage beside the French 
 polish of the little Egyptian soldier kefiyeli against fez, 
 the flowing robes of the Bedoui against the blue-cloth 
 uniform of the soldier, sabre and pistol against sword, 
 sandals against those modern abominations of the 
 Continent, patent-leather " jemimas." 
 
 Mohammed Gad was chief sheik of the Alawin, a 
 branch of the Haiwatat. He had a bad name for cruelty 
 and lawlessness a name which his tribe shared with him. 
 We, however, can only speak of him with affection and 
 respect ; he was such a delightful contrast to the half- 
 civilised Arab, so much more English in his ideas. He 
 proved himself most useful to us, for he was shrewd enough 
 to see that we were not to be trifled with, and there is 
 little doubt that his influence among the Bedouin and the 
 people of Akabah at the time of our visit went far to avert 
 bloodshed during our negotiations. He seemed quite 
 certain that the Governor of Nackl's letter could be relied 
 upon, though he asserted that he himself had not other- 
 wise heard of the murder, which he characterised as a 
 " shame " and a breach of faith. It was pointed out to 
 him that it was a case by which the Bedouin had forfeited 
 their claim to have their word respected : whereat he 
 retorted that they could not all be held answerable for the 
 bad faith of a few ; that there were good and bad in all 
 races, and all the Bedouin were not like Metter Sofia. 
 He blamed Metter Sofia for Palmer's untoward end, and 
 it is curious that in all parts of the desert this same view 
 prevailed. The Bedouin most logically looked upon the 
 man who betrayed the party as more guilty than those 
 
88 Departure from Akabali. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 who actually committed tlie murder. Mohammed Gad 
 most solemnly declared that he would not allow any of the 
 culprits to pass through his country ; and offered to find 
 out all about the circumstances of the murder and send us 
 word over land. 
 
 Before we left the Governor asked for a testimonial as 
 to how he alone had upheld the Khedive's authority at 
 Akabah during the war. Colonel Warren did not see his 
 way to going thus far, but promised that he would let it be 
 known with what readiness the Governor had sacrificed his 
 colleague of Nackl, by giving up his letter in order to clear 
 himself. It was now getting late in the evening, and the 
 Akabese again began, under cover of the approaching 
 darkness, to get disagreeable wanting to know what we 
 were waiting for, and crowding roughly round our party. 
 As we had now completed our arrangements we went down 
 to the boat, where we found three or four Arabs who asked 
 if we would take them to Suez, from whence they had fled 
 at the beginning of the war. We had no room in our 
 boat, but promised to send ashore for them in the morning. 
 After this we took leave of our friends of Akabah, and 
 went on board the Eclipse. 
 
 A boat was put off at 7 a.m. next morning for those 
 who wished to be taken to Suez, but they had all changed 
 their minds, and instead of any passengers excuses were 
 sent some were too ill to come, and others could not be 
 found. We left our anchorage at 8.30 a.m., arriving at 
 Dhahab in the afternoon. Here we again landed, as the 
 Eclipse anchored here for the night, and we could see on 
 the beach four or five Bedouin, with whom we wished to 
 converse. However, before we could get ashore they bolted, 
 leaving only a simple fisherman, who knew about nothing 
 but fish. We walked on to some palm-trees a mile and a 
 
CHAP, iv.] Captain Stephenson, R.N. 89 
 
 half up the coast ; but only found there a few camels, and 
 a boy who roared and screamed whenever he was asked a 
 question. All we could gather was that the people there 
 were of the M'saineh, a branch of the Towara, and a very 
 inoffensive race. Dhahab will probably always continue a 
 village on account of its fresh water and good anchorage. 
 
 We left again early in the morning and arrived at Suez 
 on October 14th. Here we found that the East Indian 
 Squadron had left, and H.M.S. Carysfort of the Mediter- 
 ranean Fleet had taken its place. The Carysfort was 
 commanded by Captain Stephenson, now Senior Naval 
 Officer at Suez, whom Colonel Warren at once visited to 
 report our proceedings. Telegrams were sent home 
 stating the little prospect that remained of finding the 
 party alive ; but as there was still a chance of the survival 
 of one or more, all arrangements were to be made with a 
 view to their succour and assistance. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 RETURN TO SUEZ. THE HAIWATAT SHEIKS. ARRANGEMENTS FOR 
 THE EXPEDITION INTO THE DESERT. SUALEM ABU FARAG. 
 DIFFICULTIES WITH THE EGYPTIAN SHEIKS. ARRIVAL OF 
 MUSA NUSIER. GUARANTEES SAFETY OF COLONEL WARREN 
 AND PARTY : ALIGAT WITNESSES. THE OBJECT OF GOING 
 INTO THE DESERT. 
 
 DURING our absence at Akabah, Burton had got on with 
 the preparations for the desert expedition. The Bedouin 
 were fast arriving, in accordance with our requisition to 
 Biaz Pasha ; and some thirty of them, with their camels, 
 were already camped on the fringe of the desert outside 
 Suez. Colonel Warren had arranged that the men as they 
 arrived should have their various camping-grounds pointed 
 out to them ; and the Egyptian Government had to supply 
 them with rations. The provision of stores for one hun- 
 dred and fifty camels and their riders, being no small 
 matter, the officials of Suez soon showed more interest in 
 our proceedings than they had up to this time. 
 
 Baoulf Pasha, the Governor of Suez, was ill ; and 
 Reschid Bey, who was acting in his place, proposed that 
 the new Governor of Nackl should start at once for his 
 government, taking with him the grain for the pilgrims 
 and the year's rations for the soldiers. As there was no 
 escort to send with them, and as the Governor of Suez's 
 messenger to Nackl had been stripped and otherwise 
 
CHAP, v.] Organising the Bedouin. 91 
 
 ill-treated a short time before by the desert Bedouin, it 
 seemed rather a venturesome course to adopt, and Hassan 
 Effendi said he would rather wait till he could be escorted 
 by our party. 
 
 Colonel Warren soon had occasion to talk to the 
 Egyptian sheiks. He told the Shedids that they had been 
 at Suez now ten days, and had not brought him one scrap 
 of information. The letter of the Governor of Nackl was 
 shown them, implicating their family in the fanatical 
 dealings of the desert Bedouin with Christians. They 
 urged that they had been unable to do anything in the 
 matter, as the Bedouin of the desert denied their authority. 
 This, in the face of their proposal to go into the desert 
 with one hundred and fifty men, to take by force those 
 prisoners we required, was palpably ridiculous ; and they 
 were warned that they were expected to show greater 
 energy in the matter, or an adverse report about them 
 would be sent to the Government at Cairo. 
 
 As the number of the Bedouin increased, Colonel 
 Warren found great difficulty in organising them into a 
 workable body. Altogether, the party would include 
 about fifteen different sheiks, and it was impractical that 
 all these should act independently on their own respon- 
 sibility. We naturally looked to Saad Shedid to control 
 the whole of them, but he pleaded that he was too young 
 to give orders to men so much his senior. Finally, the 
 Bedouin were divided into three parties, according to the 
 districts they belonged to, and a separate sheik was made 
 responsible for each party. These three divisions were : 
 Haiwatat 
 
 1. 
 
 Ayeidi 
 
 Bili 
 
 Maasi 
 
 " 
 
 distr ict. 
 
92 Mutual Hostility of Sheiks. [CHAP. v. 
 
 C Tumeilat , 
 
 _b rom the onurkia district. 
 
 c 
 
 3. Terebin From Gizeh. 
 
 It was difficult to see how any combined action could be 
 expected from this heterogeneous body, and there were 
 special circumstances which increased our difficulties. 
 There was actually an active blood-feud between the 
 Terebin and the tribes of Ayeidi, Bili, and Maasi these 
 tribes having formerly lived to the east of the Canal, 
 whence they were driven by the Terebin, who are a very 
 powerful tribe. During the war, in the intervals of 
 opposing our troops, this blood-feud had been actively 
 carried on, chiefly by the Maasi, a very warlike people ; 
 and they had more than once crossed the Canal and made 
 incursions into the desert, driving- off all the camels and 
 flocks they came upon, and then retiring to their fast- 
 nesses beyond the Attica range of mountains, where they 
 were pretty safe from similar incursions, being more 
 directly under the eye of the Government. The hostility 
 of the sheiks when they first came in council together was 
 therefore intense, and it needed the tightest hold over 
 them to produce anything like combined action. 
 
 On October 1 7th there arrived three important men : 
 Sualeni Abu Farag, one of Shedid's head-men, M'dackle, 
 the head camel-driver that accompanied Palmer's party, 
 and Ode Ismaili, the sheik of the Aligat. It may here be 
 mentioned that the Aligat are one of the Towara subdivi- 
 sions, over all of which Musa Nusier presides, and it was 
 from the Aligat that Palmer got his camels and drivers ; 
 thus, Ode Ismaili was M'dackle's sheik. 
 
 Sualem Abu Farag had been actively engaged during 
 the war. He had been in command of the Bedouin 
 called out by Arabi to cover Cairo from the expected 
 
CHAP, v.] Sualem Abu Farag. 93 
 
 advance of the Indian Contingent from Suez, and he was 
 Shedid's right hand in the desert. His authority appeared 
 to be acknowledged by all parts of the Haiwatat tribe, 
 east, as well as west of the Canal ; and we came to the 
 conclusion that he had been only lately in the desert thwart- 
 ing our endeavours at opening up communication with the 
 Bedouin. He came into our hands owing to the vigilance 
 of some soldiers of the Indian Contingent at Nefichi, where 
 he was made prisoner on account of some irregularity in 
 his papers, as he was attempting to pass from Egypt into 
 the desert east of the Canal. This man, of lithe, active 
 frame, and somewhat sullen demeanour, was a person of 
 some importance, and it soon became evident that through 
 him the Shedids were playing a very double game. It was 
 recognised by all the Bedouin that, as Shedid's lieutenant, 
 during the war, Sualem had done his utmost to stir up 
 hostility to the Christians, and that he was a man of 
 authority over, if not actual sheik of, the very Haiwatat 
 who had attacked Palmer's party; and here he was, sent to 
 join our expedition for the solution of the mystery which 
 enshrouded Palmer's disappearance, and to exact penalties 
 of the guilty parties ! The Shedids professed to distrust 
 Sualem, and got permission to keep his son in detention as 
 hostage for his good behaviour while he was with us in the 
 desert, contemplating, apparently, that at some future 
 time Sualem might make a convenient scape-goat to save 
 themselves by ; while Sualem secretly told Colonel Warren 
 that the Shedids were throwing obstacles in our way, 
 but that he would engage to catch any Bedouin we 
 wanted. 
 
 Bather an amusing incident connected with Sualem 
 occurred at this time. We were at Government House, 
 and Consul West was reading out a list of those people 
 
94 The Aligdt. [CHAP. v. 
 
 whom Colonel Warren desired to be brought in, in order 
 that the various sheiks might take note of the names At 
 an early period in the preparation of the list Sualem Abu 
 Farag's name had been entered, as he was a sheik of the 
 barra Haiwatat the Haiwatat east of the Canal some 
 of whom were present at the attack on Palmer. When 
 Sualem heard his name read out, there was considerable 
 embarrassment noticeable in his face and in the faces of the 
 other sheiks present, each of whom wondered whose turn 
 would come next. Mr. West, however, not being conver- 
 sant with all the details of the evidence, and seeing the 
 man before him who was required, with the other criminals, 
 was on the point of making him a prisoner when, much 
 to Sualem's relief, Colonel Warren interfered, intimating 
 that for the present Sualem could remain at large. 
 
 The evidence of the Aligat Bedouin was useful to us 
 in correcting a tendency, which the Shedids lost no oppor- 
 tunity of increasing, to throw the responsibity for the 
 outrage on Palmer on the Towara. This aspect of the case 
 was strengthened by the prolonged absence of Musa Nusier, 
 who had been expected at Suez for some considerable time, 
 and whose backwardness in presenting himself might 
 plausibly be adduced as evidence of his complicity in the 
 {jrime. 
 
 On October 18th an influential old sheik, Abu Sarhan 
 of the Terebin, arrived from Grizeh, and immediately came 
 in for a good deal of reproach from the other sheiks, whose 
 tribes were not directly implicated in the attack on Palmer. 
 They seemed to think it a good opportunity of showing 
 their discontent and determination not to do the work 
 required of them. Some wanted to do one thing and 
 some another. The Nofiat wanted to escort the new 
 Governor and the supplies to Nackl, and leave the matter 
 
CHAP, v.] Arrival of Sheik Musa. 95 
 
 of Palmer's disappearance to those tribes implicated ; and 
 the tribes implicated professed to have no influence with 
 their brethren across the Canal. Others, like the Maasi, 
 Bili, and Ayeidi, contented themselves with protesting- at 
 being brought out on a service which had nothing to 
 do with them or their country. Raoulf Pasha took their 
 part and said " Let those sheiks who have men on the list 
 of those implicated go in search of their men, while the 
 others go back to their homes." Colonel Warren, how- 
 ever, objected to any whittling down of the expedition, 
 but insisted that all should go to Nackl to instal Hassen 
 Effendi in his command. 
 
 On October 19th Musa Nusier at last arrived at Suez. 
 His coming was opportune, as the expedition was ready to 
 start ; and it was palpable to all that unless Colonel Warren 
 went justice would not be done, but the Bedouin would 
 combine for the purpose of closing the inquiry as 
 expeditiously as possible, by removing all trace of the 
 crime from our reach, and perhaps inventing a story 
 and providing scape -goats, in accordance with many a like 
 precedent in the history of Eastern government. Musa, 
 however, at once engaged to safe-conduct Colonel Warren 
 and his staff in the desert, and the way was thus cleared 
 for an early start. 
 
 Musa, sheik of the Towara sheiks, was a fine specimen 
 of a Bedoui ; and, in some respects, was not unworthy of 
 the name of the great Law-giver, who led Israel through 
 the desert. Although having little executive power over his 
 tribe, which is a weak one compared with others in the desert, 
 there was probably no sheik whose safe-conduct was likely 
 to be more generally respected than Musa's. In appearance 
 he was tall and stately, of from 40 to 50 years of age, and 
 his person conspicuous by the absence of the weapons 
 
96 Miisa Defends the Aliydt. 
 
 whicli generally bedeck a Bedoui chieftain. In council, 
 although the representative of the poor Towara only, he 
 bore a preponderating influence, which was due to his 
 known probity, good judgment, and moderation. He 
 had more than once suffered imprisonment for his tribe, in 
 the course of his opposition to Government in their mis- 
 government of the Bedouin ; and several times he had 
 succeeded in his advocacy and been the instrument of the 
 withdrawal of some unjust burden from his people. 
 During the ferment in the desert caused by the revolt of 
 Arabi, Musa succeeded with skilful felicity of purpose in 
 maintaining the neutrality of his people ; so that while 
 to the Arabs, Towara and Christians were almost as 
 one category, to the English little or no advance was 
 made. 
 
 Musa Nusier explained his tardy arrival by saying he 
 had had much trouble with his own people on account of 
 fanatical emissaries of the Haiwatat tribe ; they having 
 endeavoured to stir up the Towara to sack Tor and 
 massacre the Christians there and at Mount Sinai. 
 
 A true father of his people, his abilities were at once 
 required to defend the Aligat tribe, on whom the Shedids 
 were endeavouring to throw the responsibility of the attack 
 on Palmer. Musa at once threw his energies into the work, 
 and by his influence over Ode Ismaili and the Aligat 
 camel-drivers, these men were made to speak out much 
 more freely than they had before. The story which we 
 had heard from Salami, Palmer's camel-driver, was sub- 
 stantiated by this fresh evidence ; and, except for offering 
 no resistance to the attacking party, little blame could be 
 attached to the Towara for their conduct in relation to 
 Palmer's untoward end. 
 
 Ode Ismaili stated that he refused to go with Palmer 
 
CHAP, v.] Account of Palmer s Death. 97 
 
 more than once, when Palmer was trying to find camels to 
 start with from Suez ; but, notwithstanding the sheik's 
 hanging back, the discipline of his tribe was so lax that 
 several Aligat were engaged by Palmer as camel-drivers. 
 We obtained from Ismaili, who was of a very excitable 
 temperament, a curious account of Palmer's death, which, 
 although hearsay, and painted in somewhat high relief, 
 represents very nearly what actually occurred. This 
 account was given at Grovernment-House, where Colonel 
 Warren happened one day to be examining the witnesses, 
 contrary to his usual custom of conducting the examina- 
 tion, in a private room at the Suez Hotel ; and, although 
 we had tried, with success up to this time, to keep all 
 the details of the massacre from getting into the public 
 prints, we failed on this occasion, and this account was 
 spread about all-the-world-over. In it was described how 
 " Palmer and his companions were taken to a very steep 
 place in the mountains, hard-by to some water, and there 
 their captors gave them the choice of being thrown over 
 the precipice, or shot. Palmer (Sheik Abdullah, as the 
 Bedouin called him), seeing they were surely to die, stretched 
 his arms towards heaven, and, calling down the vengeance 
 of the Almighty on their cruel captors, jumped over the 
 cliff." It is exceedingly probable that such an appeal 
 was made by Palmer, although this description of it was 
 not substantiated by any other witness ; but it is easy to 
 understand that the recollection of such an act would be 
 unpalatable to a Moslem, viewing, as he must have done, 
 the retribution that was overtaking the participants in 
 Palmer's death retribution which approached with slow, 
 measured steps, as under the hand of the Almighty, from 
 Whom there was no escaping until the pursuing hand 
 
 H 
 
98 Plan of Action. 
 
 were stayed retribution exacted by Christians, from 
 Moslem Bedouin, for acts contrary to the Mohammedan 
 religion and to Bedoui tradition. 
 
 With the assistance of Musa Nusier the location of 
 Wadi Sadr was at last satisfactorily determined, and the 
 waters on that route to Nackl ascertained. It was unfor- 
 tunate in this respect that we had not with us a good series 
 of books which refer to this part of the world, as the 
 position of Wadi Sadr might then have been more easily 
 decided. However, our many inquiries were not thrown 
 away, and Sualem Abu Fara'g and the Shedids were 
 now, by means of them, incorrectly under the impression 
 that, by feigning ignorance of the place, they had suc- 
 ceeded in veiling from us the position of this all-important 
 wadi. 
 
 Musa Nusier having provided camels for our use, a 
 contract was drawn up and signed in the presence of 
 the Governor of Suez, making him responsible for our 
 safe-conduct ; and the Bedouin were sent off to Ayun 
 Musa, where we were to join them on the morrow 
 by sea. 
 
 The objects, that the expedition into the desert was 
 to achieve, have already been detailed ; the purposed 
 plan of action was as follows : We were to go straight 
 to Nackl with our whole force of Bedouin, and instal 
 Hassan Effendi safely in his seat of government, re- 
 mitting the ex-governor under escort for safe-conduct 
 to Suez. At Nackl, Colonel Warren was to divide his 
 forces into two parts one, of eighty men, under Sualem Abu 
 Farag, would go and bring in the suspected persons of 
 the Haiwatat and Terebin ; the other, under Musa 
 Nusier, would go after Metter Sofia and his nephew of 
 the Lehewat tribe. Orders were given to the new 
 
CHAP, v.] Consul harangues Sheiks. 99 
 
 Governor of Nackl to give us every assistance, and letters 
 were written to Sheik Misleh (Amir of the Tiyahah) 
 asking his help to secure Metter Sofia. Before starting, 
 the sheiks of the expedition were again summoned before 
 the Governor and informed by him what was to be done, 
 and several of the elder sheiks were given over into 
 custody, to be kept until the expedition should return in 
 safety. The Consul then harangued the sheiks, many of 
 whom were plaintively urging the impossibility of their 
 doing what was required of them, without stirring up 
 feuds which would bring trouble on their heads for 
 generations to come. He told them they had come down 
 to do this business, and to catch the men that were 
 required ; and if they could not do it with their present 
 numbers they must get another hundred men to help 
 them, or a thousand if necessary ; but do it they must. 
 Justice had to be satisfied, and the stain on Bedoui 
 hospitality wiped away by the delivering-up of the 
 perpetrators of the crime to suffer the just penalties of 
 the law. 
 
 With the despatch of the sheiks to join their parties 
 at Ayun Musa, we felt that we were drawing close to the 
 solution of the mystery which we had so far been unable 
 satisfactorily to dispel ; and the change from perpetual 
 examination and cross-examination of unwilling witnesses 
 in the baking temperature of a Suez autumn, to a life of 
 action in the desert, could not be otherwise than inviting. 
 It has often been remarked that it was a foolhardy enter- 
 prise to put ourselves in the power of those very men who 
 had been fighting us a few weeks before, and to follow 
 Palmer's party bent on an avenging errand, which we 
 .could only carry out by the help of the friends of the 
 
 H 2 
 
100 Not a Foolhardy Enterprise. [CHAP. v. 
 
 very men we were to exact vengeance of. It would have 
 been easy, said the critics, to have tumbled us over the 
 same cliff that Palmer died at, or to have shot us, and 
 brought back our bodies as killed in fighting against the 
 desert Bedouin ; and the sands of the desert may be made 
 to close behind a party, leaving no trace of its course, 
 as readily as do the waves of the sea. Such theorising 
 is all very well, and can be applied to other incidents. 
 When Gordon rode into the hostile slave-dealer's camp, 
 some hours before his troops could arrive, he may have 
 been doing a most foolish thing judged by all ordinary 
 standards and precedents ; but Gordon had counted the 
 cost, and was satisfied that the object to be attained was 
 worth the risk. In our case we had also to count the 
 cost, and Colonel Warren had amply insured our safety, for, 
 escorted as we were by Nile Bedouin under the great Sheik 
 Shedid's representative, great trouble would have been 
 brought on the Bedouin in the case of anything untoward 
 happening to us. In addition to this, Colonel Warren 
 exhibited a personal ascendency over the Bedouin that 
 triumphed over all minor difficulties an ascendency due not 
 so much to a happy way of treating them, such as Palmer 
 relied upon, but based on a rigid straightforwardness,* an 
 absolute rectitude of conduct, backed by the prestige of 
 the lately-conquering Power and the support of the 
 
 * The opinion of Lady Hester Stanhope, given in the pages of 
 " Eothen," is noticeable in this connection. Her ladyship, than whom no 
 one was better acquainted with the Bedouin of these parts, says : " A 
 downright manner, amounting even to brusqueness, is more effective than 
 any other with the Oriental ; and that amongst the English of all ranks 
 and all classes, there is no man so attractive to the Oriental no man who 
 can negotiate with them so effectively as a good, honest, open-hearted, and 
 positive naval officer of the old school." 
 
The Vendetta. 101 
 
 re-established Government. This ascendency converted 
 the rude sons of the desert into easy tools, unwilling 
 though they were, and even produced in them a fellow- 
 feeling. " Were these not Palmer's kin come to avenge 
 his blood ? Blood must be satisfied, for Abdullah 
 and his companions were not killed in battle, and he 
 was justified in calling on Heaven to avenge them." 
 Such might have been their thoughts thoughts well 
 adapted to compel attention in the mind of a fatalistic 
 Arab. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM SUEZ. AYUN MUSA. THE SEARCH-EXPEDITION 
 STARTS. WADI SADR. ARRIVAL AT SITE WHERE PALMER'S 
 BAGGAGE WAS PLUNDERED. IBN MERSHED ESCAPES. SOME 
 CAPTIVES. CAMP AT TUSSET SADR. EVIDENCE OF SALAMI. 
 DISPOSITIONS FOR THE MORROW. UNRELIABLE CHARACTER OF 
 OUR BEDOUIN. DISCOVERT OF THE REMAINS OF PALMER AND 
 HIS COMPANIONS. START FOR NACKL. JOURNEYING ACROSS 
 THE DESERT ON THE Tin. MISSION OF SUALEM ABU PARAG. 
 
 THE morning of October 20th was spent very busily, 
 packing up and seeing the numerous visitors who called 
 to wish us Grod-speed. Governor Raoulf Pasha was among 
 the number, and the interpreter being busily engaged in 
 preparations for our start, Colonel Warren had the task of 
 entertaining His Excellency ; and, as the Pasha spoke a 
 mixture of Arabic and Turkish, which was quite unin- 
 telligible to us, the task was a somewhat difficult one. 
 The Pasha having bowed himself out of the hotel, and 
 our baggage being put on board a felucca, we were ready 
 to start soon after noon ; intending to sail over to Ayun 
 Musa, whither our Bedouin had gone before, and were 
 now marking with a black line the glaring desert in the 
 distance beyond the harbour. However, the wind was 
 unfavourable, and there was nothing for it but to wait 
 until one of Captain Stephenson's launches, the Polly, was 
 sent to tow us down the harbour. The launch having 
 
CHAP, vi.] Start for the Desert. 103 
 
 arrived, we got on board our felucca, all except Ode Ismaili 
 and Musa Nusier, who were to have gone with us, but 
 had been nowhere to be found for some time ; and about 
 5 p.m. we started, pounding away down the harbour after 
 the snorting little Polly, in company with Captain Stephen- 
 son in his launch. Arrived at the entrance of the Canal 
 we saw a party of Bedouin on the far shore ; and, thinking 
 it might be some of our men, Colonel Warren got into 
 Captain Stephenson's launch, which drew less water than 
 the Polly, and went off to see. The party turned out to 
 be Musa Nusier and Ode Ismaili with some Towara, who, 
 not knowing exactly what they were to do, were waiting, 
 like Mr. Micawber, for something to turn up. Fortunately 
 the right thing did turn up in the person of our Chief, 
 and they were soon packed off to Ayun Musa to be ready 
 to start with the caravan next day. 
 
 Proceeding down the anchorage of Suez past the light- 
 ship, we were at last able to get a fair wind into the 
 quarantine pier at Ayun Musa; so we said good-bye 
 to Captain Stephenson, cast off the Polly, and away she 
 went puffiting back to H.M.S. Carysfort. The sun had 
 set, and we could just see through the dusk the dark 
 line of palm-groves at Ayun Musa; and this fading 
 away soon left nothing of the land in front of us 
 visible, except the fires of the quarantine camp, and 
 our Bedouin's bivouac. 
 
 The felucca sped across the waters, driven by the 
 freshening evening breeze, and in enforced idleness we sat 
 and smoked, speculating on the course of events before us. 
 In our quest for information about the business we had in 
 hand, we had heard much of the country we were now 
 going to enter for the first time, but the testimony of our 
 informants was obscured by contradiction. Was it an arid 
 
104 We join Sheik Musa. [CHAP.VI. 
 
 desert, which the fringe bordering on the Canal had often 
 shown to us a desert with waters small and far between, 
 and therefore supporting a sparse population ; or was it a 
 fat land, with a company of fifty thousand fighting men ? 
 If the latter (and Palmer, than whom there was no better 
 authority, had said so), where would we be with our 
 party of one hundred and fifty Bedouin, impressed into 
 our service by the orders of the newly-established Govern- 
 ment, and possessing neither cohesion, discipline, nor love 
 for their leaders ? 
 
 About 8 p.m., as the moon rose over the land ahead of 
 us, we arrived at the quarantine pier. Here we found Musa 
 Nusier and Ode- Ismaili, and, acting in accordance with 
 a pre-arranged plan, Colonel Warren sent back Ode 
 Ismaili in the boat to Suez, as soon as our belongings 
 were unloaded. Ismaili carried with him a letter to 
 the Governor of Suez, requesting that the bearer be 
 made a prisoner until we returned from the desert. 
 Colonel Warren had decided to keep Ode until all the 
 camel-drivers of his tribe, that accompanied Palmer on 
 his last journey, had come in and given their testimony. 
 There had always been something suspicious about this 
 man's behaviour, and Musa Nusier himself concurred in 
 the desirability of detaining him at Suez while we were 
 in the desert. As sheik of the Aligat he ought never to 
 have allowed his men to go as camel-drivers with Palmer, 
 when he had suspicions that the country was unsafe ; 
 especially as he had himself twice refused to go with 
 Palmer. Although this man took 110 active part in the 
 outrage, there was a very general feeling against him 
 in the matter a feeling which it was somewhat diffi- 
 cult to exactly account for, but which could not be 
 disregarded. 
 
CHAP, vi.] A Midnight Visitor. 105 
 
 Loading our baggage on Musa Nusier's camels, we 
 proceeded up the pier to the quarantine camp, where we 
 selected a spot to pass the night. The quarantine officer 
 offered us the use of his tents, which were then empty ; 
 but ten days before, a party of pilgrims, which had come 
 up the Red Sea from Mecca, had occupied them, so we 
 politely declined his hospitality, and, scraping a clean spot 
 on the sand, settled down for the night in the open. 
 Adam, our cook, was set to work to prepare our supper, 
 and we overhauled our baggage and stores to see that 
 nothing important was left behind. It requires a very old 
 hand to cater for an expedition into the desert without 
 leaving out a few necessaries, and therefore, it is always 
 advisable to camp out on starting close to one's base of 
 operations, from which, if necessary, things can be sent 011 
 after one. In our case we found ourselves deficient of an 
 absolutely necessary article, a tin-opener, but were able to 
 obtain one from the quarantine camp in exchange for a pot 
 of marmalade. 
 
 After supper we lit our pipes and got into our blankets, 
 for sand, on which we had bivouacked, gets very cold 
 during the night ; and after writing up our diaries and a 
 few letters for home, were soon fast asleep. About two 
 o'clock in the morning we were awakened by arrivals in 
 the camp ; these turned out to be Reschid Bey and an 
 interpreter from Cairo, Josef Eaad, whom Colonel Warren 
 had sent for to join our party. Rescind Bey had been 
 sent out by Raoulf Pasha, he being anxious about Ode 
 Ismaili, who had not arrived at Suez when they started ; 
 and the Governor also wished to show the Bedouin that we 
 had the support of the permanent Government. After 
 some coffee and cigarettes Eeschid Bey left to return 
 to Suez, carrying with him our post-bag ; and, left to 
 
106 Composition of Party. [CHAP. vi. 
 
 ourselves, we were soon asleep again, dreaming- of home, 
 precipices, and Bedouin. 
 
 In the morning we started off for Ayun Musa, where 
 our Bedouin were encamped. At Ayun Musa there are 
 some gardens situated upon sand-hills, slightly elevated 
 above the surrounding country : on the summits of several 
 of these hills are springs, wells, or pools of water, slightly 
 brackish, but excellent for irrigating purposes ; and round 
 them are grouped palms and pomegranate-trees giving a 
 very luxuriant shade. We visited the houses which had 
 been looted by the Bedouin, but little damage had been 
 done as far as we could see. 
 
 Our Bedouin, who were grouped round the water, 
 were divided into small camps, under separate sheiks. 
 Those from the Sharkia district were under Hadj 
 Mohammed Shedid ; those from the Khalyub district 
 under Mohammed Hassan of the Nofiat ; while the Terebin 
 had Sheik Abu Sarhan at their head. Sualem Abu Farag 
 occupied the position of free-lance ; but he was looked up 
 to as the man to whom, if any concerted fighting was to 
 be done, the direction would naturally fall. In addition 
 to the above, Musa Nusier and his party of Towfira formed 
 our own camp ; and Hassan Effendi, with the convoy of 
 supplies for the fort of Nackl, had his. The whole 
 expedition numbered about three hundred and seventy men, 
 with two hundred camels. 
 
 Some time was spent inspecting the different camps, 
 in becoming acquainted with the capacity of the different 
 units, and the preparations that they had made for the 
 work in front of them. As long as they had been in Suez 
 under the eye of the Government the Bedouin were very 
 meek and amenable to discipline ; but now in the desert 
 they at once asserted a different mien, and Colonel Warren 
 
CHAP, vi.] Change of Route. 107 
 
 had to reduce them roughly to their proper position. They 
 appeared to think that we would be quite unable to arrange 
 the details of the marches, and that we would place our- 
 selves entirely in their hands to go when and where 
 they liked : questions as to the road and country were 
 
 A HALT IN THE DESERT. 
 
 answered in an unwilling manner as having little to do 
 with us, and there was apparent a consensus of intention 
 to take things very easily. 
 
 The immediate destination of the expedition had been 
 given out as Nackl, and the Bedouin had assumed that we 
 should follow along the ordinary Hadj route, watering at 
 Marbook about twenty miles from Suez. Colonel Warren, 
 however, had determined to follow in Palmer's footsteps up 
 Wadi Sadr, and early in the afternoon called the head- 
 sheiks together, and told them of his purpose. They at 
 once threw difficulties in the way. "Wadi Sadr," they 
 said " was a wild place, where they might all perish for 
 want of water ; the road was rough and little known, and 
 it would be impossible to take the convoy of grain that 
 way." Colonel Warren declined to allow the expedition to 
 be divided into two parties, and insisted on an early start 
 being made for Wadi Sadr. The sheiks, however, refused 
 
108 Maintenance of Authority. 
 
 / v 
 
 to acknowledge that this route was practicable ; so Colonel 
 Warren gave orders for the camels to load up, and warning 
 the sheiks that they must follow us or incur the anger of 
 the Government, we started with Musa Nusier on the road 
 to Wadi Sadr. Sualem Abu Farag, the only man in the 
 expedition who rode a horse, after a few minutes trotted up 
 alongside of us, and we soon learnt that the whole caravan 
 was in motion docilely following in our footsteps. That 
 march we only did about ten miles, and bivouacked for the 
 night in a little wadi which ran across our path, where 
 Palmer also had made his first halt. This change of plan, 
 whereby Colonel Warren was able to follow a route which 
 the Bedouin did not credit us with knowing of either in 
 respect to the locality, capacity as a road for a heavy 
 column, or for the water to be found on the route proved 
 very opportune to the success of our inquiry. In a few 
 days the rain fell in this part of the country, washing away 
 all traces that remained of the murder; thus we should 
 have lost all the circumstantial evidence that we were 
 actually enabled to obtain, if we had not insisted on going 
 up Wadi Sadr. 
 
 It may here be of advantage to describe our party, at 
 the head of which we may put ourselves three Englishmen 
 of a rather nondescript appearance, made up of corduroy- 
 trousers, gaiters, flannel-shirts, any sort of coat, mushroom 
 pith-hats, swords, revolvers, and very red faces. We had 
 not yet learnt to discard our hats for the Bedoui head- 
 dress, and cover ourselves during daytime with the goat- 
 hair abba, which forms an excellent protection from 
 the burning rays of the sun : these improvements came 
 later with the teachings of experience. 
 
 Our interpreters, Selim Mosalli and Josef Raad, were 
 both Syrians from Beyrout. They had been brought over 
 
CHAP, vi.] Personnel of Party. 109 
 
 at the outbreak of the war by the Admiralty, to serve 
 with the expeditionary forces in Egypt ; and now that the 
 war was over, were thinking 1 , when we engaged them, of 
 returning to their native land. Excellent linguists, 
 speaking half-a-dozen languages each, both had previously 
 been employed as dragomen to tourists, and were infinitely 
 useful in the details of camp-equipment, and in arranging 
 for travelling in the desert. Of a dark-skinned, handsome, 
 brave, and hardy race, these men were well used to the 
 Bedouin, and we had often to be thankful that we had got 
 them instead of some poor Egyptian dragomen, who, from 
 their feeble, down-trodden nature, are generally unsuitable 
 for employment in transactions requiring nerve and sang- 
 froid. 
 
 We also took with us two somewhat hybrid in- 
 dividuals Ossad, a Persian merchant, who knew a good 
 deal about the Bedouin, from whom he purchased 
 turquoises, and who had been very useful to us at Suez 
 during the progress of our inquiry ; and Adam, our cook. 
 This latter was of unknown nationality, and his appearance 
 savoured of the Levantine from the Turkish provinces in 
 Europe ; he was always dirty, and dressed in a medley of 
 Eastern and European cast-off clothing. This gentleman 
 wanted a good deal of coaching in his duties, and we all 
 assisted to teach him to cook, with the result that by the 
 end of our first journey in the desert, he was tolerably 
 competent. Adam always took his time, and of an 
 evening, after arriving in camp, our mess was always 
 served about an hour after the Bedouin were curled up 
 asleep they having fed their camels, made their bread, 
 had supper, and the usual smoke round the camp-fire 
 before turning in. We could stand this in the evening, 
 but in the early morning, to start without our customary 
 
110 Wadi KaJi all/i. [CHAP. vi. 
 
 chocolate and porridge, was a serious trial ; and Adam had 
 to be put through a course of early rising, which he 
 triumphantly survived ; and thenceforth long before the 
 first streak of dawn illuminated the sky, we would realise 
 in our slumbers the crackling of sticks under the pot, and 
 know that Adam was practising his art for our benefit. 
 
 The rest of our party, except the new Governor of 
 Nackl, Hassan Effendi, and his Nubian servant, were 
 Bedouin, and as such need no description to English 
 readers. 
 
 On the morning of the 22nd we started early, and, 
 travelling over a succession of low sandy hills, arrived at 
 Wadi Kahalin about nine o'clock. On the march we were 
 usually accompanied by Musa Nusier and Sualem Abu 
 Farag. Owing to the close relations between the latter 
 and the men who attacked Palmer, we were always 
 somewhat suspicious of his intentions towards us. A 
 little wiry fellow, with small black eyes, and a deter- 
 mined look on his browned sedate face, we knew him for 
 the greatest cut-throat and the most feared man among 
 our retinue. Taciturn for an Eastern, he even dispensed 
 with the ornate salutations current with the Bedouin, and 
 showed by his behaviour that he was determined to 
 impress us with his character as a man of action. As we 
 approached each rise of the ground Sualem trotted off to 
 the top, and sitting there on his little Arab steed, with 
 rifle in hand, he made a fine picture of a scout, for our 
 delectation. 
 
 We had hitherto followed accurately in Palmer's foot- 
 steps, halting at the two places he had. In fact, the desert 
 offers so little facility for change of route, and the Bedouin 
 are so familiar with their country and the way it has for 
 centuries been travelled over, that, whatever the circum- 
 
CHAP. vi.] Entrance to Wadi Sadr. Ill 
 
 stances, the halting-places are rarely changed, although the 
 road may be so little used as hardly to be tracked at all 
 except by a Bedoui. After a short halt at Wadi Kahalin 
 we started again for Wadi Sadr, the entrance of which 
 we could now plainly detect as it breaks the outline of 
 Jebel Bahah the name by which the Bedouin here style 
 the mountains east of Suez, on the edge of the Tih. This 
 Tih, or " Desert of the Wanderings," as it is sometimes 
 termed in travellers' maps, is the central plateau of Arabia 
 Petrsea, at about the middle of which is Nackl. It is 
 bounded on the south by a very marked escarpment,* 
 oftentimes falling abruptly a thousand or more feet in one 
 all but perpendicular scarp ; and here and there, as in the 
 case of Wadi Sadr, the scarp is broken away by a icadi 
 which extends far into the plateau in rear, and the scarp 
 runs back on either side. In the centre of the gap before 
 us stood a mountain Tel el Bisher which we had seen 
 continuously since leaving Ayun Musa, and which now 
 stood towering over us as sentinel of the wadi which we 
 were entering. From scarp to scarp the gap must, at its 
 mouth, have a width of several miles ; and thus, in this 
 country, which has, and has had for many centuries, a very 
 meagre rainfall, a vast notion is formed of the process of 
 denudation, and the period of time through which it has 
 to act. The limestone precipices, which form the most 
 prominent feature of the scarps of Wadi Sadr, are every- 
 where carved and fluted in a marvellous way by Nature's 
 processes, and resemble nothing so much as the stone 
 
 * This escarpment has by some been identified with the Shur of 
 Scripture. It is probable, however, that the Desert of Shur was more to the 
 north, and was so named from the line of fortifications which, at the time of 
 the Exodus, protected Egypt on its north-eastern frontier. 
 
112 
 
 Looted Baycjaye. 
 
 [CHAP. VI. 
 
 reredoses of some of our Grothic cathedrals, or the clusters 
 of pilasters and buttresses which adorn some of our more 
 ornate exteriors. 
 
 About one o'clock we arrived at a spring, Ain Abu 
 Jerad, where the Bedouin wished to halt. However, 
 Colonel Warren had his reasons for not halting this time 
 at the accustomed place, and we passed on, spreading out in 
 
 TEL EL BISHER. 
 
 extended order and sweeping up the wadi in search of any 
 traces of the baggage, which we knew had been plundered 
 close to this spring. Our search was quickly rewarded. 
 First a piece of tin was found, then some broken wood and 
 pieces of paper ; and a mile from the spring we reached the 
 spot where the baggage had been looted, and found the 
 remains of a portmanteau, a sponge, an iron camp -fireplace, 
 and several smaller articles. Here we found also a quantity 
 of note-paper with envelopes of the flag-ship Eiiryahix, 
 letters to Lieutenant Charrington, and a mutilated copy of 
 
CHAP, vi.] Bivouac in Wadi Sadr. 113 
 
 " Don Juan," with the following on the cover, " John 
 Charrington, 1823." Following up the valley we found 
 more paper, parts of maps, a Bradshaw's Guide, old news- 
 papers, the peak of a forage-cap, two cakes of moist water- 
 colour, and a bottle of essence of camphor. There was 
 nothing, however, amongst all these articles that could be 
 surely identified as belonging to either Gill or Palmer. 
 Mounting our camels again for our search had perforce 
 been conducted on foot we rode on, eagerly seeking for 
 more signs of the missing party. There had often been 
 retailed to us a story of a camel having been shot at the 
 attack, and we hoped to find its remains to mark the place ; 
 but no camel was found, and at sunset we bivouacked in 
 the wadi in an open place hemmed in on either hand by 
 steep precipices. 
 
 The day had been a satisfactory one for the progress 
 of our inquiry. The cameleers' story had been confirmed 
 by the evidence of the looted baggage, and we might hope 
 to be within easy reach of evidence of the fate of our 
 missing countrymen. We were, however, in hostile 
 country, close to where Palmer had been attacked, and could 
 not be quite unapprehensive of our own position ; so 
 sending out some parties of Bedouin to look out and camp 
 ahead of us, we chose a snug place for our night's resting- 
 place under the overhanging rocks of one side of the wadi y 
 which was here bounded by cliffs some fifty feet high. 
 
 Next morning the camp was roused before dawn for an 
 early start. That morning is chiefly memorable to me by 
 the kicking of Adam, and the porridge he was leisurely 
 preparing, into the fire because our breakfast was not ready 
 for us to eat. It rather startled Adam, but he had yet to 
 learn many things, and he never failed to supply us with 
 breakfast again. 
 
114 Ibn Mershed Escapes. [CHAP. vi. 
 
 Carefully searching for any vestiges of Palmer's party 
 we made our way up the wadi. About ten o'clock we 
 neared the water of Abu Bigem, about seventeen miles 
 above Ain Abu Jerad ; and here the road left the water- 
 course to the north and crossed over some low hills. At 
 this point we caught sight of a man about a mile off : 
 he appeared to be trying to make his escape towards the 
 hills beyond, and we immediately gave chase. Two more 
 fugitives were seen, and our Bedouin were soon in full 
 cry. Sualem Abu Farag on his horse, and the better- 
 mounted Bedouin, rapidly out-paced us, for we were 
 but tyros at the art of galloping our camels ; and our 
 pursuit taking us to the water of Abu Bigem, we dropt 
 out of the chase to search for any more Bedouin who 
 might be hiding in the underwood near the water. Our 
 search was rewarded by the capture of an old man and 
 several women ; one of whom proved to be the wife of a 
 Terebin, Hassan Ibn Mershed, who had frequently been 
 named to us as one of the principal men in the attack on 
 Palmer. The other three Bedouin escaped, and much to 
 our chagrin we learnt that one of them was Ibn Mershed 
 himself. It appears that they had their guns with them, 
 and fired several shots (the reports of which we heard) at 
 our Bedouin who were following them, and who promptly 
 gave up the pursuit. Ibn Mershed had heard of our pro- 
 posed journey to Nackl, and, expecting we would go by 
 the ordinary route, had come here with his flocks to be out 
 of our way ; thus we had taken him by surprise. 
 
 Our caravan was halted at the water, and Colonel 
 Warren sent out the Bedouin to all sides to make any 
 captives they could, while he examined the prisoners. The 
 old man, whose name was Salami, was a cripple. He said 
 he was the care-taker of the palm-trees, of which there 
 
CHAP vi.] Tidings of the Murder, 115 
 
 were several there. He was found in possession of a 
 tobacco-pouch, marked " H. Charrington," which he 
 asserted had been given him by Ibn Mershed. Amongst 
 the hair-ornaments of Ibn Mershed's wife we saw a silver 
 pencil-case. No information of importance was to be got 
 from the captives, and when our parties returned from 
 their fruitless pursuit of Ibn Mershed and his men, we 
 decided to move to another water, some two and a half 
 hours further up the ivadi, where we should be less 
 exposed to attack if Ibn Mershed were to gather his men 
 and try to retake his wife by force. The conduct of our 
 Bedouin had been most unsatisfactory, and gave us some 
 anxiety at this time. We considered that they could, if 
 they had so chosen, have captured Ibn Mershed, and their 
 failure in this respect could only be attributed to bad faith. 
 At the same time they appeared to be much concerned for 
 their own safety, and to be only longing to return to their 
 flesh-pots in Egypt. Taking our captives with us, we 
 contiued our march up the valley to the water of Tusset 
 Sadr. Here we found another fine water and more 
 palms, and choosing a flat open site we bivouacked for 
 the night. 
 
 During the evening, old Salami, who was of the Aligat 
 tribe, and therefore under Musa Nusier's jurisdiction, was 
 induced to speak out ; and told us that he had heard Ibn 
 Mershed and another Bedoui talking over the attack on 
 Palmer and his subsequent murder. He surmised that 
 the site of the murder could not be far away from the 
 water of Abu Bigem, and thought that he might be able 
 to find the spot if we wished to visit it. Later on in the 
 evening, Salami's memory revived under the vivifying 
 influence of the faithful Musa Nusier ; and he came to us 
 again to say that he knew where the bodies of the white 
 
 i 2 
 
116 Simlems Mission. FCHAP. vi. 
 
 men were, and that one had fallen into the water at the 
 bottom of a gully. 
 
 To us who had been struggling on for so many days in this 
 inquiry with the barest possible progress, the rapidity with 
 which the mystery was now unfolding itself was sufficiently 
 startling. However, the information demanded immediate 
 action, and Colonel Warren decided to go and see the site 
 of the murder at once ; lest those Bedouin in our party 
 (the Shedids in particular) who were interested in burking 
 the inquiry, should remove the bodies. Again, since the 
 bodies had fallen into a gully, and the season of year had 
 arrived when rain was expected, it was absolutely necessary 
 to visit it at once, lest the rain should come and the gully 
 be swept clean by a torrent before our arrival. There was 
 some probability that we might be attacked if we visited 
 the site of the murder, passing as we should have to do 
 the water where we had surprised Ibn Mershed : so, to 
 minimise this chance, and get rid of some of the dis- 
 affected and more troublesome of our escort, Colonel 
 Warren gave orders for the despatch of a party of seventy 
 men to a water half a day's journey to the east, with 
 instructions to capture any Bedouin they might find there ; 
 while, with the remainder of our men, he intended to 
 retrace his steps and visit the place of the murder. 
 
 Early next morning, October 24th, Colonel Warren 
 sent off Sualem Abu Farag and his party of Bedouin. 
 We then set out with a party of sixty men to visit the site 
 of the murder, the Governor of Nackl and the rest of the 
 Bedouin being left to defend the camp. Proceeding on 
 our mission, we soon found our party of sixty reduced to 
 about twenty-five, the rest having slinked away back to 
 camp, being either too indolent or afraid to come on. Colonel 
 Warren sent back for them, and we started again with about, 
 
CHAP, vi.] Tie Site of the Murder. 117 
 
 fifty-five men. Mohammed Shedid and four men were 
 detached as a scouting party, to ride some distance in 
 front of the main body, but as we neared the palm-trees 
 of Abu Bigem, our scouts disappeared, and after some 
 time wasted in searching for them, we continued our 
 march without them. It was clear we could trust none of 
 our men out of our sight, so Colonel Warren put two 
 Bedouin in front, and held the rest of the party close 
 together. Another woman was captured close to Abu 
 Eigem, a Haiwatat, wife of a man named Nassier, and she 
 was taken on with us. 
 
 We continued our march down the right bank of Wadi 
 Sadr, which here follows a somewhat tortuous course, 
 different from the way we had come up the day before. 
 On leaving Abu Rigem, the valley began to narrow, with 
 ledges shelving in on either side. The sides got steeper 
 and steeper, until there was merely a camel-track along 
 the ledge, with precipices above and below us on our 
 right to the cliffs above, on our left to the gully below. 
 The gully was about twenty feet broad and fifty deep, with 
 pools of water in places at the bottom ; and the edges at 
 the top so rounded off that it was with difficulty we could 
 see down to the bottom. On we went till we reached a 
 spot about six miles below Abu Eigem, where the ledge 
 broadened out, making a cave in a re-entering angle ; in 
 the middle of which, in a cistern formed out of limestone- 
 rock by the dripping of water from the roof above, was a 
 pellucid pool of water. Salami tells us that the bodies 
 were beneath us in the gully ; but as we could see nothing 
 of them from above, and we had had a long fast, we retired 
 to the cave to lunch before commencing what we inferred 
 would be a lugubrious and sickening task. 
 
 While we were lunching, shouts were heard from 
 
118 Remains of tlie Bodies. [CHAP. vi. 
 
 below. Ascertaining the cause, we found that Mohammed 
 Shedid and our scouts had arrived at the same spot as we 
 had, they having come up the gully from some miles 
 below and this without any guide, though they had pro- 
 fessed all the while to know nothing about the country 
 or the murder. Leaving Burton and Mosalli with the 
 Bedouin to look after the ropes at the top, Colonel 
 Warren and I were next lowered to the bottom of the 
 gully, which was here forty-seven feet deep, and from ten 
 to twenty feet wide,, with precipitous sides. Below, we 
 found the remains of our unfortunate countrymen a skull, 
 jaw-bone, numerous ribs and broken bones, much gnawed 
 by wild beasts ; a truss of a very small man, supposed to 
 be Professor Palmer ; two socks marked W. Gr. (W. Gill), 
 with the feet still in them ; and parts of socks and drawers 
 marked H. C. and H. Charrington : also a pair of duck- 
 trousers, with buttons marked with the name of a Bombay 
 tailor ; these latter were in such a condition that we 
 burnt them. The bones were much scattered over the 
 bed of the gully, where were pools of water and clumps 
 of reeds ; and on the ledge, and on the side of the gully, 
 there were traces of blood, showing that one or more of 
 the party must have been killed or wounded above. 
 Never could a better place have been chosen for the 
 concealment of the tragedy : after the first rain all trace of 
 it would have been washed away from the gully beneath, 
 and even on the sides, and above on the ledge, where the 
 marks of the blood were, the rocks would have been 
 washed clean, for there was here the bed of a little torrent 
 that, after rain, courses down the side of the ravine and 
 traverses the ledge from the above-mentioned cave to 
 the gully. 
 
 The remains of the bodies were carefully collected 
 
CHAP, vi.] Our Work Simplified. 119 
 
 and placed in a case, provided for the purpose, for removal 
 to England ; and after sketching the gully we were drawn 
 up again, and started off on the return- journey to camp, 
 where we arrived at sunset and found all correct. 
 
 Little had we thought a week hefore to arrive at so 
 rapid a solution of the mystery of Palmer's disappearance ; 
 and now with our sad burden before us, journeying on that 
 last journey, which was finally to deposit it in the crypt of 
 St. Paul's Cathedral from the " Desert of the Wander- 
 ings " to the heart of Great Babylon we could not but 
 feel that our task was in part accomplished, and the 
 question " What now ? " recurred with force. Ketribu- 
 tion was now the only end at which our efforts could aim. 
 The circumstances of the crime must be unravelled, the 
 assassins brought to book, and innocent blood be avenged. 
 The Bedouin themselves, now that fanaticism was quenched 
 by the triumph of our armies and the restoration of the 
 Khedive's Grovemment, hated and bemoaned the detestable 
 action of their tribesmen ; and, recognising the equity of 
 the law life for life looked on with dread, but in a 
 spirit of fatalistic expectancy, at the successive steps of an 
 inquiry that was to close only with the exaction of the 
 death-penalty. 
 
 Colonel Warren determined to march next day for 
 Nackl, as it was inadvisable to remain long camped where 
 we were. Once in the fort of Nackl, with Hassan Effendi 
 installed as Governor, we should be in a secure position for 
 prosecuting further research, and a formidable obstacle to 
 the pacification of the desert would be removed. 
 
 During the night we were somewhat apprehensive of 
 attack. Sualem's party had not returned, and might have 
 got into difficulties on their mission ; thus our fighting 
 strength being reduced by about half its number, consider- 
 
120 Precautions against 2 1 readier//. [CHAP. vi. 
 
 able inducement existed if the Bedouin were at all inclined 
 to attack us. Each night we gathered our trunks and 
 cases of stores around our sleeping-place, converting it into 
 a little fort ; and with the token of the results of surren- 
 der hard by, in the shape of the remains of Palmer and 
 his companions, we might have made that little enclosure 
 an unpleasant place to come near with any hostile intention. 
 During our wanderings on this expedition the Bedouin 
 constantly regaled us with their expectations of attack 
 from the tribes of the desert, and we never neglected to 
 take the utmost precaution we could to render ourselves 
 secure against being rushed. Every night a belt of 
 ground round our sleeping-place was cleared of obstacles, 
 and we lay down side by side, with our rifles under our 
 blankets, and revolvers, loaded in the last three chambers, 
 fastened to our wrists. Our constant activity in the 
 day-time precluded any attempt on our part to keep 
 sentry-go at night, as we had done while in standing-camp 
 at Tor ; but we soon became extraordinary light sleepers, 
 and I have oftentimes been awake at night looking up into 
 the star-bespangled sky overhead, and noticed that not a 
 camel could grunt or shift his position near us, or, indeed, 
 not a movement take place anywhere in the camp, without 
 " our Chief," who appeared to be sleeping hard, and was to 
 all practical purposes, at once lifting his head and fixing the 
 cause of the disturbance. Our precautions were, however, 
 never destined to be tested by any overt attempt at 
 treachery or violence, but we never shall know to what ex- 
 tent they succeeded in protecting us from sharing the fate 
 of Palmer and his companions. Certainly we could not 
 reckon on our escort ; except for the faithful service of 
 Musa Nusier and half-a-dozen of his camel-drivers, we 
 had nothing but ourselves to depend on, and until Colonel 
 
CHAP vi.] The Desert of the Tih. 121 
 
 Warren was thoroughly known, and had obtained the 
 position of complete dominance over the desert Bedouin 
 which he subsequently attained to, our position necessarily 
 involved some risk. 
 
 Next morning Colonel Warren gave the order to strike 
 camp and start for Nackl. The sheiks protested, but he 
 was obdurate, and we started. The morning was, however, 
 very misty, and after proceeding a little distance Colonel- 
 Warren called a halt and sent for the recalcitrant sheiks. 
 They hotly urged the foolishness of moving on to Nackl 
 without Sualem and his party. We might arrive there, 
 they said, and find the tribes gathered, under the Governor 
 of Nackl, to oppose us ; and, cut off from the water, we 
 should be in a very perilous position. Most of the 
 Haiwatat had gone with Sualem on his raid, and the 
 other tribesmen left with us objected to go on without the 
 Haiwatat, who as a tribe were largely mixed up in the 
 massacre urging that they might by going on come to 
 hostilities with the desert Bedouin, while the Haiwatfit, 
 on whom, if on anyone, the brunt of the w r hole matter 
 should fall, would escape. Words ran very high, but 
 under the influence of coffee and cigarettes, and our sneers 
 and laughter, the sheiks were finally made to understand 
 that, like it or not, Sualem or no Sualem, they would start 
 after mid-day. So camp was again formed. 
 
 Early in the afternoon we loaded up and started again, 
 winding up the slight depression, which was all that was 
 left of Wadi Sadr, as it debouched on to the central 
 plain. Passing the Calaat i Jeudi, a solitary limestone 
 mountain in shape like the frustum of a cone, after 
 several hours' march, we found ourselves on the Desert of 
 the Tih. The effect as one reaches this flat expanse is 
 very remarkable. Instead of the varied rugosity of the 
 
122 Failure of Commissariat. [CHAP. vi. 
 
 scenery to which our eyes had become accustomed, with its 
 stern scarps and boulder-strewn water-courses, here an 
 apparently level plain, covered with sun-blackened stones, 
 stretched before us as far as the eye could see, and rising 
 therefrom into the dazzling sky were the dim outlines of 
 the mountain-peaks of Jebels Yeleg, Ihkrim, and Bodia. 
 North of us were the mountains of Rahah, through which 
 the Hadj route from Suez to Nackl passes ; and to meet 
 this route, where it debouches on to the plain, we now 
 bent our course to the northward. Proceeding thus we 
 crossed a number of shallow depressions, in which were 
 dotted bushes of tamarisk and scrub : here we put up 
 several hares, which were instantly chased by a crowd of 
 Bedouin armed with guns and sticks and stones. Though 
 the Bedouin are exceptionally fleet of foot, the hares 
 generally got the best of them ; but it was interesting to 
 see the usually stoical Arabs entering into the excitement 
 of the chase with all the exuberance of joy which, under 
 similar circumstances, might be displayed by an English 
 school-boy. 
 
 That night, after we had formed camp, the sheiks came 
 to complain of the rations which had been provided for 
 them by the Government. The Governor of Suez, seizing 
 the opportunity to get rid of his old stock of provisions at 
 the expense of the " pigs " under which generic term he 
 classed all the Bedouin of our escort had sent with us a 
 quantity of mouldy biscuit as rations for the men. The 
 sheiks, having exhausted their private stock of flour, were 
 reduced to sharing this biscuit with the men, and came up 
 holding in their hands samples of the green cake full of 
 maggots, complaining that their stomachs were full of 
 worms. Colonel Warren at once examined the samples, 
 and choosing the least repulsive piece, munched it with 
 
CHAP, vi.] A too zealous Sentry. 123 
 
 self-evident gratification at its excellent flavour and 
 appetizing qualities. The sheiks being nonplussed at this, 
 the affair was soon turned into a joke, and they retired in 
 excellent humour, seeing nothing for it but to make the 
 best of things. 
 
 We had still no news of Sualem's party, and the 
 Bedouin were now thoroughly alarmed, and throughout 
 the night kept up a very efficient guard round the camp. 
 This resulted in a somewhat amusing incident. One of 
 our number being little inclined to sleep, straying some- 
 what away from the camp in the moonlight, was suddenly 
 approached by one of the Bedoui sentries, who, bringing 
 his Remington rifle to the shoulder, presented the muzzle 
 at our friend, at the same time shouting some challenge in 
 Arabic. The victim of this display of vigilance grasping 
 the situation, but being somewhat deficient in his use of 
 Arabic, cried out at once, " Damn you ! Don't be a fool ! 
 Don't shoot ! " However, the Bedoui remained motion- 
 less, with finger to trigger, the moon plainly revealing the 
 precision of aim of the shining weapon. The situation 
 was an uncomfortable one, and our companion, racking his 
 vocabulary, succeeded in producing the pregnant sentence 
 " Ana Inglize " in pigeon Arabic, " Me Englishman " 
 and to his infinite relief our guard lowered his rifle with 
 the ejaculation " Wahad Kawadja." 
 
 On the 26th we continued our journey across the Tih, 
 and halting in the middle of the day were overtaken by 
 six Terebin of Sualem's party. They brought the news 
 that Sualem had returned to our camp at Tusset Sadr, and, 
 his men being somewhat fatigued, was resting there, 
 intending to catch us up to-morrow. They gave us a 
 graphic account of the dangers they had run in their 
 mission. They had proceeded to the water to which we 
 
124 Sualems Exploits. [CHAP. vi. 
 
 had sent them, and there they had found some Bedouin, 
 who had agreed to take them to the Arab camps in the 
 hills. On their way there they fell into an ambush laid for 
 them in a defile, and the hostile Bedouin opening fire upon 
 them from the heights on either side. Sualem at once 
 drew off his men as well as he could, but not before one 
 man was wounded in the wrist by a slug. 
 
 Such was the tale they told. But we were somewhat 
 sceptical as to its credibility, although next day, on the 
 arrival of the main body, the wounded man was produced, 
 and became urgent that we should cut out the slug from 
 the fleshy part of the wrist, where it was embedded. 
 However, whatever games Sualem had been playing, we 
 had been successful in our own part of the work, having 
 visited the scene of Palmer's death, and obtained, without 
 incurring any opposition, evidence which was of the 
 greatest importance ; thus, whether Sualem had been in 
 earnest or not, he had probably attracted some attention 
 from our party, which was what Colonel Warren most 
 desired when despatching him on his errand. 
 
 On the night of the 26th we camped six miles from 
 Nackl, it being undesirable to approach nearer till Sualem's 
 party should have arrived to re-enforce us. Our camels had 
 done very well, and were still quite comfortable, as, owing 
 to the thick mists that we had experienced on the Till, the 
 bushes and herbage were every morning bathed in 
 moisture, and the animals got all the water they required 
 while grazing. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT NACKL. SUBMISSION OF THE GOVERNOR. THE COM- 
 PLICITY OF ALI EFFENDI IN THE ATTACK ON PALMER. 
 DEPARTURE FROM NACKL. THE MARCH ACROSS THE DESERT. 
 ESCAPE OF METIER SOFIA. DISASTROUS MARCH. I FALL 
 ILL OF FEVER. ARRIVAL AT ISMAILIA. SURRENDER OF 
 METTER SOFIA. His EVIDENCE. EESTITUTION OF ,1000 OF 
 GOVERNMENT MONEY. OUR ENTRY INTO THE DESERT NOT IN 
 VAIN. 
 
 EARLY on the morning of October 27th we started for the 
 Fort of Nackl, intending to arrive before it about nine 
 o'clock, so as to have all the day before us for whatever 
 action might be necessary. The Governor, Ali Effendi, 
 had always been represented to us as a staunch adherent 
 of Arabi ; and we had evidence in the letter to his colleague, 
 the Governor of Akabah, and in his messages to Miisa 
 Nusier, that he had espoused the popular cause with 
 considerable vigour. He had some fifty soldiers in garri- 
 son, and the fort commanded the water, which he could 
 thus prevent our using if he chose. The trump-card in 
 our hand was the possession of the year's supplies, which 
 were already considerably overdue. The soldiers, who are 
 mostly permanencies at these desert forts, have little in 
 common with the Governor and his immediate subordinates, 
 who are changed periodically in the routine of the Govern- 
 ment service. Thus with the prospect before them of 
 either delaying the arrival of their rations or losing them 
 
126 We Siylit NacM. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 altogether, it was hardly probable that we should be 
 seriously resisted in inarching on the fort, particularly as 
 we had with us a new Governor, to whom the soldiers 
 would in future have to look for countenance and chance 
 of promotion. There was, however, the possibility that 
 the Governor, who had hitherto very cavalierly resisted all 
 our efforts at communication with him, and had been very 
 closely connected with the capture of Palmer's party, even 
 if he did not actually superintend the arrangements which 
 led to their massacre the possibility that he might make 
 a stubborn defence in the hope of obtaining possession of 
 our persons, or, at any rate, making terms for himself ; 
 and to aid him in this action he might have obtained the 
 assistance of those tribes whose men were implicated in the 
 murder, in which case little dependence could be placed on 
 our escort. 
 
 We soon came in sight of Nackl lying in the centre of 
 a wide depression, the Wadi el Arish, the Torrens Egyptii, 
 and Biblical " brook of Egypt." The fort, about four 
 miles off, could hardly be distinguished, except for the 
 deep shadows it cast, and a dark tuft of green made by 
 some trees rising from the interior court ; but as we 
 descended the side of the depression and got nearer, we 
 could see all bustle and activity in its vicinity. Colonel 
 Warren called a halt to allow the long line of camels to 
 close up, during which we were joined by Sualem Abu 
 Farag and his party, a reinforcement which doubled our 
 fighting- strength. Proceeding onwards till about one and 
 a half miles from the fort, we perceived some skirmishers 
 in the scrub in front of us, and Colonel Warren halted the 
 column and sent two men forward to say we were come in 
 peace. One of these, Abu Sarhan, the deaf old sheik of 
 the Terebin, was allowed to pass on to the fort, his 
 
CHAP. VII.] 
 
 A Doubt/til Reception. 
 
 127 
 
 companion being sent back with the message that if 
 anyone else advanced, the big gun in the fort would be 
 fired, a contingency from which terrible results might be 
 expected to ensue. After waiting a considerable time, a 
 party of men were seen approaching, which turned out to 
 be a subordinate official under a guard of four soldiers 
 with fixed bayonets ; they came requesting that Hassan 
 Effendi, the new Governor that we had brought from Suez, 
 should go at once alone to the fort. This, however, did 
 not suit Colonel Warren, who told Hassan Effendi to write 
 a letter to the ex-Governor, ordering him to send out 
 at once the wakil, the boulttk-bashi, and all the principal 
 officers to receive him and their new Commander. 
 Colonel Warren also sent word that if the garrison gave 
 him any trouble and did not open their gates at once, he 
 would send their food back to Suez ; and if they attempted 
 to stop that, he would put it all in a heap and burn it. 
 The letter and messenger 
 were duly despatched, 
 and we waited some time 
 longer until the latter 
 (one of the fort guards) 
 returned to say he had 
 lost his letter on the way 
 to the fort ; but never- 
 theless, letter or no letter, 
 the officials were coming 
 out to see us, and they 
 shortly after arrived. 
 After having a few pro- 
 clamations read to them 
 
 they were introduced to Hassan Effendi, whom they all 
 rapturously embraced ; and after the customary coffee and 
 
 ALI EFFENDI, GOVERNOR OF NACKL. 
 
The Governor of Nackl. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 cigarettes, we all proceeded to the fort, the soldiers going 
 ahead of us firing a fcu-de-joie, the bullets of which 
 whistled close over our heads, while the big gun boomed 
 out a salute in our honour. As \ve alighted from our 
 camels at the entrance of the fort, Ali Effendi came 
 forward to receive us. He was a plain, honest-looking 
 man with bright eyes, very superior to the ordinary sallow - 
 looking Egyptian official. He had been a captain in the 
 
 l w 
 
 THE FORT OP NACKL. 
 
 Artillery, and there was little of the fanatic about his 
 appearance. He apologised for the show of resistance that 
 he had made, saying he had known nothing of the 
 restoration of His Gracious Master the Khedive until 
 our arrival, and thus was merely safeguarding his command 
 at the approach of so formidable a column as ours : he 
 now begged us to enter the fort and take possession of 
 the guest-chamber. 
 
 The fort of Nackl is a square, stone-built structure, 
 with a central yard, and towers at the four corners. The 
 gateway is defended by a machicoulis -gallery, and this, 
 which is the best part of the building, served as an 
 armoury and guard-room. The remaining apartments were 
 
CHAP. VII.] 
 
 The Fort. 129 
 
 stuffy little places, with mere slits in the masonry for 
 windows, and with mud-floors. The soldiers of the fort 
 were fine men. Their ancestors had been Mograbites ; 
 but, intermarrying with the Bedouin, they had assimilated 
 to these latter in dress and appearance, though of still 
 a distinctly fairer type. They were armed with old match- 
 locks, and thus would have stood little chance against our 
 men, armed as they were with the Remington rifles which 
 Arabi's troops had flung away at Tel el Kebir. We 
 visited the guest-chamber, but found the ceilings in rather 
 a dilapidated state, so were glad to refuse the offer of 
 accommodation and return to our tent, which we had 
 pitched some distance from the fort. 
 
 We took the evidence of the wakil and Ali Effendi the 
 same evening. The former we found ready to paint his 
 late chief in the blackest of hues ; but Ali had been too 
 cunning to give his subordinate much handle against him, 
 and we found out that the 'wakil had been reported for 
 peculation in his duties as commissary at the fort, and 
 there was thus reason for his rancour. 
 
 Ali Effendi gave his account of Palmer's end and his 
 part therein. It appears that two days before Palmer left 
 Ayun Miisa, on his return- journey into the desert, the 
 Grovernor of Nackl left the fort with two soldiers, and 
 travelled in the direction of Suez as he said for the 
 purpose of taking leave, a rather unlikely proceeding in 
 the middle of a war. Next evening he arrived at Metter 
 Sofia's tents, near Tusset Sadr, where he learnt that 
 Metter had gone to Suez. The occupation of Suez by the 
 British, which had occurred five days before, must have 
 been well known at Wadi Sadr ; and it is pretty certain 
 that Ali ascertained the reasons of Metter's absence. The 
 Grovernor stopped at Metter's tents the nights of the 8th 
 
 K 
 
130 All Effendis Evidence. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 and 9th of August, and on the 10th went to Aid's (Metter's 
 blind brother) tents at Rahah, not five miles from where 
 Palmer was captured. He arrived at 5 p.m., and stayed 
 there the night of the 10th, when Palmer was taken 
 prisoner. 
 
 There were several camps of Bedouin at Eahah at this 
 time, grouped close together round their mazeira (corn 
 grounds), and it was somewhat doubtful in which the 
 Governor stayed. But he probably visited several, and all 
 the Bedouin must have been well aware of his presence in 
 the vicinity. After sunset, Ali Shwair, a spy, came up the 
 pass from Wadi Sadr to Eahah, announcing the approach 
 of Palmer's party. The Bedouin immediately assembled 
 and rushed helter-skelter down from their tents to the spot 
 where the ambush was laid, and Palmer was captured 
 about midnight. 
 
 The Governor maintained that he knew nothing of all 
 this ; but early next morning, according to his own 
 account, he started off for Marbook, a water on the way 
 for Suez. It is surmised that this move was occasioned by 
 the escape of Salami Ibn Aid, Metter's nephew, with the 
 money Palmer had with him, some three thousand pounds 
 in gold, and the probability that he would endeavour to 
 reach his father's tents at Rahah by making the circuit 
 via Marbook ; but Ali said that he set out for the purpose 
 of reaching Suez and going on leave, although war was 
 in progress and Suez in the hands of his enemies. Ali 
 arrived at Marbook about 5 p.m., and there, according 
 to his statement, first heard of Palmer's entry into the 
 desert under Metter's guidance, bound for Nackl ; he 
 accordingly started off next morning for Metter's tents 
 in the hope of conducting the English gentlemen to f/ieir 
 destination. Arriving at Eahah at 11 p.m. on the 12th, 
 
CHAP, vii.] Complicity of Governor. 131 
 
 he found Metter, who told him the details of the attack 
 and of his subsequent ineffectual efforts to save the 
 party, &c. The Governor admitted taking no steps to 
 bring the murder home to the offenders, although 
 Metter gave him the names of several of those who had 
 participated in the outrage ; and he remained at Metter' s 
 tents over Sunday, the 13th, until the following morning. 
 On the Monday he started to return to Nackl, taking with 
 him one of Palmer's camels, which he kept some six weeks, 
 until after the collapse of Arabi Pasha and the end of the 
 war. 
 
 The circumstances of this man's presence so close to 
 the theatre where the murderous proceedings against our 
 countrymen were enacted, was very suspicious. As to his 
 asserted move to Marbook assuming that it was not a 
 pure fabrication it is certain that Metter Sofia had 
 reached his tents at Rahah before the Governor left, 
 and the news of the attack upon the party must have 
 reached his ears. It would then be strange indeed if Ali 
 Effendi, the figure-head in this part of the desert of 
 Arabi's fanatical rising, had started off at such a time 
 except for a very strong reason such as a desire to avoid 
 responsibility for the murder which he knew was to 
 follow, or the determination to obtain possession of the 
 money which Salami Ibn Aid had carried off. It may 
 here be mentioned that while Metter subsequently dis- 
 covered and restored to us Palmer's black bag, inside of 
 which was a bag containing one thousand pounds in gold, 
 there should have been two other bags in addition 
 containing a like amount each, which bags may possibly 
 represent the share of the Governor of Nackl and other 
 principals in the crime. 
 
 It is evident that there could have been no general 
 
 K 2 
 
132 The Missing Gold. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 distribution of the missing sovereigns amongst the attack- 
 ing Bedouin, or we could not have failed to hear of it ; for 
 whereas the effects of the murdered men were traced to 
 many places far and wide from the place of attack, no 
 evidence ever pointed to the Bedouin being in possession 
 of an inordinate amount of British coin. It is also difficult 
 to understand why Metter should have only restored one 
 third of the gold if he had been in possession of the whole 
 sum. Hence we are led to the conclusion that the money 
 was divided amongst the principal people interested, Metter 
 receiving one thousand pounds as his share, the remaining 
 two thousand pounds going to the other principals 
 possibly Sheik Misleh of the Tiyahah, Shedid, and the 
 Governor of Nackl. 
 
 However, notwithstanding the suspicious circumstance 
 accompanying the visit of Ali Effendi to Wadi Sadr, we 
 were unable, throughout the inquiry, to inculpate him 
 directly in Palmer's capture and massacre. He must have 
 bound the Bedouin over with the terrors of officialdom to 
 absolute secrecy as to his part in the business. Once only 
 we got a side-light into the matter. Metter Sofia was 
 being examined on the gathering of the Bedouin to attack 
 Palmer, and said : " Government won't allow me to say 
 who it was that arranged the attack. I do not know 
 who it was." It is difficult for us in England to under- 
 stand how men could possibly be brought to shield a 
 principal in a crime for which they themselves were 
 inculpated ; especially when by his position as a Govern- 
 ment-official that principal would have been mainly 
 responsible for what occurred, and thus the culpability of 
 his subordinates be diminished by the very fact of his 
 incrimination. These Bedouin of the desert, however, 
 had had a long experience of misrule in the injustice and 
 
CHAP. viL] Despatch of Search-parties. 133 
 
 absolute recklessness with which they had been treated by 
 the successive Governments. They had no one to fight 
 their battles for them. No public opinion bore on their 
 treatment. They were too poor ever to hope to be able 
 to curry favour with any high Egyptian official. They 
 recognised no difference between the Governments of 
 Egypt prior and subsequent to Arabi's rebellion ; and 
 there was, indeed, little on the surface to show any 
 difference. They had no notion that English dominance 
 in Egypt meant that justice would be dealt out to them ; 
 but doubtless had cause enough to infer that to speak 
 against an official, even against an Arabist, would be 
 resented by every other official with whom they unfortu- 
 nately might have to do, greatly to the detriment of 
 their people. 
 
 From the information we were now in possession of, it 
 was clear that only two tribes, the Haiwatat and Terebin, 
 were as tribes implicated in the attack on Palmer's party, 
 and it was decided that the detachments of these tribes 
 that we had with us in our escort the Haiwatat under 
 Sualem Abu Farag, and the Terebin under their old sheik, 
 Sarhan should proceed to visit their own tribes, and 
 endeavour to arrest certain men whose names we had now 
 ascertained to be implicated. The head-man of the 
 Haiwatat to be captured was Salem Sheyk, and Sualem 
 expected to find him near Marbook. The head-man of the 
 Terebin was Hassan Ibn Mershed; but this tribe being 
 partly in Syria it was very difficult to deal with them, and 
 it was proposed that Abu Sarhan should proceed to Gaza 
 and deliver a letter to the Turkish Governor there, who 
 was an old friend of Colonel Warren, in order to obtain 
 his assistance in the matter. It had been ascertained that 
 Palmer's guide, Metter Sofia, was at Gatie, which lies west 
 
134 The Vendetta. [CHAP, vn 
 
 of El Kantara ; and it was arranged that the Haiwatat 
 should first go there, and on their way visit Sheik Misleh 
 of the Tiyahah, Palmer's friend, at Jebel Magara. Eations 
 were accordingly issued, and next day, the 28th, they 
 started off ; Colonel Warren intending to leave on the 
 following morning with the remainder of the expedition 
 on another journey unbeknown to these two parties. 
 
 In sending these men away to search for the guilty 
 ones of their respective tribes, now that they were 
 thoroughly embued with the serious character of their 
 missions, we were only following the custom of the 
 country ; and the plan appeared to give reasonable hope of 
 accomplishing the object before us. With our whole 
 company composed of miscellaneous tribes, prompt action 
 as a detective -force was impossible. For instance, when 
 we chanced on Ibn Mershed at the water of Abu 
 Eigem, if, in the chase he had been killed by our men, 
 there would have been established a feud between the 
 men of our various tribes and Ibn Mershed's tribe, the 
 Terebin. The law of the blood -feud is rigidly enforced 
 by the Bedouin, and is the foundation of all law and secu- 
 rity amongst them. Naturally self-interest is their only 
 consideration, and they w r ill commit any crime or take any 
 man's life without scruple so long as they can do so 
 without risk to themselves. But the scourge of the blood- 
 feud stands over them with its awful consequences and 
 paralyses the wildest. Beginning perhaps in a family- 
 quarrel it may, after decimating the families concerned, 
 involve whole tribes in conflicts where hundreds of lives 
 are lost ; and indeed when once started it is impossible to 
 say how long, or to what extent, the feud will be carried. 
 To the individual also whose blood is required, the 
 impending doom must be particularly terrible. One of our 
 
CHAP, vii.] Departure for Gatie. 135 
 
 prisoners, Salami Owardi of the Tiyahah tribe, had once 
 killed the murderer of his brother, in expiation of his crime. 
 But the matter did not cease here. The avenger had had 
 to flee his tribe, and live as a renegade in the Eahah 
 mountains ; with no wife, no home, his life was further 
 embittered by ever present knowledge that he might be 
 caught unawares at any moment and his life taken like 
 any dog's. 
 
 Before leaving Nackl Colonel Warren arranged for 
 sending the ex-Governor of Nackl into Suez with the 
 camels that had brought out the supplies for the fort ; and 
 sent orders that his effects were to be rigorously searched 
 before reaching Suez, so as to discover if he carried with 
 him any property of Palmer's party. The remains of the 
 bodies of our unfortunate countrymen were left in the 
 charge of our friend Hassan Effendi, as also were the 
 Bedouin we had captured in Wadi Sadr; and on the 
 morning of the 29th we started on our journey. 
 
 Colonel Warren intended to march to Gatie, about one 
 hundred and fifty miles to the north-east of Nackl, and 
 where Metter Sofia was reputed to be ; for it was desirable 
 to secure his arrest, and also to see how far Sualem Abu 
 Farag carried out his orders on his independent expedition. 
 Colonel Warren wished afterwards to visit El Arish, and 
 put matters on a proper footing with the new Governor, 
 who might have opportunities of aiding us in our search. 
 Our party was now reduced to about one hundred men of 
 the Nofiat, Maasi, Ayeidi, and Bili tribes, and Musa 
 ISTusier. We travelled very lightly, so as to push forward 
 with all available speed before the news of our approach 
 could precede us. The Ayeidi tribe had been living some 
 years before in the very country we were now to pass 
 through, but had been driven out by the Terebin ; arid 
 
136 A Forced March. [CHAP.VH.. 
 
 we had one of the Ayeidi, named Abghouenem, as our 
 guide. Abghouenem, was a fine devil-may-care man, and 
 though no sheik, was looked up to by all the Bedouin. 
 Mohammed Hassan, Sheik of the Nofiat, was put in charge 
 of the Bedouin. 
 
 The 29th we spent crossing the monotonous flat of the 
 Tih Plateau, and did thirty -two miles. The heat was 
 excessive, and much to my disgust, I having for some 
 days previous been generally out-of- sorts, with a cold 
 arising from an indiscreet hot bath taken in the open one 
 evening at Nackl suffered considerably from the effects of 
 the sun. We followed a bee-line across the plateau, which 
 admitted the passage of our camels in almost any direction ; 
 and steered for the gap in the mountains to the west of 
 Jebel Feli. There being a good moon, we travelled most 
 of the following night ; and as the day dawned we witnessed 
 a very fine sight, as the massive forms of the Jebels Yeleg 
 and Feli became illuminated by the warming colours of 
 the rising sun. On the 30th we passed a piece of culti- 
 vated ground belonging, it was said, to Metter Sofia ; and 
 here we could detect an old road crossing our path, 
 seemingly made for wheeled transport, and totally unlike 
 the camel-tracts which intersect the desert. By the 
 evening of the 30th we had covered seventy-one miles 
 from Nackl, just reaching the edge of the sands, which 
 spread northwards to the Mediterranean in an ever-shifting 
 series of ridge and furrow. 
 
 At the end of the second day's journey, we found the 
 camels of our escorts were considerably distressed for want 
 of water. It turned out that they had been watered the 
 day before we left Nackl, and consequently would not 
 drink on the day we left these camels having been accus- 
 tomed only to water every three days. They had thus 
 
CHAP, vii.] Jf-wape of Metier Sofia. 137 
 
 been their full time, and though they had been travel- 
 ling hard two days, we had thirty odd miles to go 
 before reaching the vicinity of water. Our own animals 
 were all right, Miisa Nusier having looked after them 
 properly, but the Egyptian Bedouin, who, from their 
 residence in Egypt, where water is more abundant, had 
 entirely misconceived the journey they were embarking on, 
 placed us in a position of great difficulty. However, there 
 was nothing for it but to push on, and trust to reaching 
 the water before the animals were entirely incapacitated. 
 
 On October 30th Colonel Warren was ahead of the 
 column shortly after sunrise, and had mounted the top of 
 a hill with the plane-table we used to survey the route 
 with, when he saw before him in the valley on ahead a 
 small party of Bedouin coming our way. When they saw 
 him they stopped, and he at once sent forward some of our 
 Bedouin to surround and capture the strangers. As soon as 
 they saw our men approaching them they made off across 
 country as fast as they could. However, they could not 
 go very fast as there were four men to two camels only ; 
 and although our Bedouin's camels were tired, and in a 
 somewhat distressed condition, the men would never have 
 been allowed to escape had not our Arabs behaved in the 
 most lax, half-hearted manner. Some of our men got close 
 enough to hail them, and one even to recognise amongst 
 the fugitives the person of Metter Sofia, the very man we 
 were going to Gatie to arrest ; but the fugitives threaten- 
 ing to fire on their pursuers, these latter were rapidly left 
 behind, and the men soon passed over a rise of ground 
 which hid them from our view. We had been watching 
 the pursuit from the high ground where the men had first 
 been seen from, never dreaming that our men could come 
 back without the fugitives, until it was too late to 
 
138 Water-supply Fails. [OHAP. VIL 
 
 intervene. When our escort returned it was with some- 
 what down cast looks, and the Colonel addressing the 
 sheiks told them that after this last exhibition he could 
 only look upon them as Fellahm, not Bedouin. Only one 
 man had behaved well, and he, a Syrian servant of 
 Mohammed Hassan, had been on ahead at the time the 
 strangers were sighted. He had got close to the fugitives 
 and endeavoured to stop them, but they had twice fired at 
 him, and he relinquished the attempt, seeing there was no 
 one to back him up. The Colonel now called up this man 
 and commended him, giving him two pounds in recognition 
 of his plucky conduct. We made a cast for the back-tracks 
 of the fugitives, and found they came direct from Jebel 
 Magara, whither Sualem Abu Farag had gone ; and it is 
 possible that hearing preparations were being made for his 
 capture, Metter had resolved to give himself up, and he 
 was even now (as he said afterwards in evidence) on his 
 way to Suez for that purpose. If this was the case, why 
 he resisted our attempt to capture him is difficult to say. 
 This fruitless pursuit had wasted considerable time, and at 
 noon we had only done eight miles out of the thirty that 
 lay before us. 
 
 The water carried on the camels was now finished, 
 except for our own casks, which had still a fair amount in 
 them, and during the afternoon, as we wound our weary 
 way over the ever-recurring sand-dunes, the men suffered 
 much from thirst. Some of the camels fell out and were 
 obliged to be left behind ; and the owners, loath to leave 
 them, in some cases stayed behind also. As the column 
 moved slowly along, the cry of " Mowyah, mowyah " 
 (water, water) could be heard from front to rear. We 
 gave all the assistance we could from our bottles, but these 
 were quite inadequate to supply so many thirsty mouths ; 
 
CHAP, vii.] The Niylit March. 139 
 
 and at sunset when we halted we had only covered 
 twenty-five and a half miles. On inspecting our water 
 barrels, which held enough at starting for six days' use, 
 we found that they were empty all but a little muddy 
 fluid at the bottom of them ; the rest had been stolen by 
 the Bedouin, and we had only enough now for a little tea, 
 and to fill our flasks with what remained. We were still 
 a considerable distance from the spot where Abghouenem 
 said the water was, and the Bedouin were all much 
 excited at our prospect of getting in before the sun rose, 
 as otherwise it would be impossible for the majority of the 
 exhausted animals to go further through the sweltering 
 heat of another day, and they would have to be abandoned 
 to their fate. Many of the men were clamorous against 
 our guide, but as we were entirely in his hands, and 
 without any other remedy depended on his knowledge to 
 find the water before us, there was little use in clamouring 
 against him. 
 
 Shortly after midnight when the moon rose, we 
 continued our journey. Many of the camels that had 
 been now four days without water, refused to get up and 
 move on, and had to be left behind. It was piteous to 
 see the condition of some of the men, their mouths 
 parched and their voices hoarse from the dryness of their 
 throats. Wearily the column toiled over the soft sand, 
 with the gaunt figure of Abghouenem, our guide, standing 
 out before us in the bright moonlight. To us Englishmen 
 there seemed to be nothing in the constantly recurring 
 sand-dunes to guide our leader to the water he was in 
 search of. Our little column was sadly attenuated from 
 the number of men and camels that had dropped out of 
 their places. Our own animals were doing fairly well, but 
 were beginning to stumble, and we realised that we had 
 
140 The Water of MaJiada. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 but little time left in which to reach the water we were in 
 search of. As the coming dawn shed a glimmer in the 
 east, about 4.50 a.m., we arrived at some larger hills com- 
 pared to what we had hitherto been crossing over, and 
 Abghouenem said that these were the hills of Mahada, 
 and the water must be close by. A halt was called while 
 our guide went off to look for the well, and men and 
 animals lay down in the sand to fall asleep with fatigue. 
 After some twenty-five minutes, Abghouenem's welcome 
 voice was heard coming through the cool morning air, 
 announcing that he had found the water. Immediately 
 the column was alive again, and soon stampeding across 
 the soft sand in the direction of his voice. Down a steep 
 slope plunged men and animals, driving before them 
 avalanches of sand, eager to get first to the water ; and 
 reaching the well, they thronged around it in a tumultuous 
 crowd. 
 
 The well was a wide one and the water too deep 
 to be easily got at ; but across from side to side were 
 beams for the drawers to stand upon, and a service was 
 soon organized for passing up the water. To the weird 
 refrain of a Bedoui song, the work was quickly in full 
 swing. It was an impressive sight to see the eager 
 animals and Bedouin crowding round the well, lighted up 
 by the dim light of the breaking day. A stone -trough at 
 the side of the well was soon supplied with water, and the 
 camels here drank to repletion, whilst their owners emptied 
 cup after cup of the precious fluid. Several of the camels 
 drank too much and died from the effects, and among 
 those latter was Mohammed Hassan's favourite riding 
 camel. 
 
 Colonel Warren now arranged for the despatch of men 
 with water to relieve those (some fifteen) who had dropped 
 
CHAP. vii. j Sickness in tlie Camp. 141 
 
 out along the road ; but it was only with great difficulty 
 he could get this done, and then only in a most leisurely 
 manner. The sheiks could not understand this solici- 
 tude for men who had been left behind on the road ; 
 Mohammed Hassan thought much more of the loss of his 
 favourite camel than if all the men of his tribe had been 
 left dying in the desert. After all the animals had been 
 watered, news came that there was a better water some 
 two miles ahead ; so the order was given to shift camp, as 
 the well we were at gave only a poor supply. We arrived 
 at the new water about 8.30 a.m., put up our tent and 
 had breakfast. Round the water the sand-hills rose to a 
 height of three hundred or four hundred feet, forming a 
 regular sun-trap, where as the day advanced the heat 
 became intense. Here I rapidly developed the symptoms 
 of a severe attack of sunstroke. The previous afternoon, 
 while on the march, I had shown signs of being affected 
 in my head by the sun, but during the cool of the night 
 had been all right ; I now became delirious, and rapidly 
 reached a critical condition. 
 
 Colonel Warren took up the view that a live donkey is 
 of more importance than a dead lion, and considered it 
 desirable to take steps to put me on my legs again, even at 
 the cost of abandoning for a time the work he was engaged 
 on ; but it was difficult to know what to do. We had travelled 
 one hundred and ten miles in three days, and the camels 
 were now exhausted and full of water, so that they needed 
 a rest before resuming the march. We had been unable to 
 carry our survey on in a regular manner during our late 
 march, and although some twenty or thirty miles east of 
 Lake Timsah whence we could get to Ismailia our guide 
 could not guarantee to take us there. To continue our 
 journey to Gatie, and thence to El Kantara, would be about 
 
142 Sedoui Good-fellowship. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 fifty miles ; but as this seemed the only outlet, Colonel 
 Warren determined to follow it, carrying me on in a 
 stretcher, though with little hope of saving my life 
 through so long a march. About midnight the delirium 
 ceased, and, through the opportune capture of a Haiwatat 
 who knew the road to Ismailia, a way was opened, and 
 arrangements were immediately made for starting, in the 
 hope of reaching Ismailia before the heat of next day set 
 in. A litter was constructed, and Colonel Warren called 
 on the Bedouin to provide bearers. With the exception of 
 the Bili tribe, they all cheerfully assented, and at 2 a.m. 
 a start was made, the Bedouin trotting over the soft 
 sand with the litter at about four and a half miles an hour. 
 After a halt of an hoar's duration at sunrise, the march was 
 resumed, and the Canal reached at 10 a.m. The men 
 had behaved splendidly in carrying me, fresh men always 
 being at hand to relieve the tired bearers, and the greatest 
 willingness and good-fellowship being displayed by all. 
 At the end of the journey Colonel Warren offered the men 
 five pounds for their trouble, but the sheiks refused to 
 accept any recompense. 
 
 Here were a number of men who but yesterday had 
 shown themselves so disaffected or cowardly as to be un- 
 able to take four men prisoners when ordered to do so, and 
 now to-day displaying all goodwill and exerting themselves 
 to save the life of a Frank, in the fate of whom they 
 might be expected to have little or no sympathy and this 
 while their exertions were taking them further from those 
 of their comrades who had fallen out during the march and 
 were left to an unknown fate in the desert ; as well as to 
 the imminent risk of their own animals, which were not 
 yet recovered from the effects of their forced march. 
 The two actions are difficult to reconcile. It is probable 
 
CHAP, vii.] Arrival at Ismailia. 143 
 
 that the misconduct was due to terror of the blood-feud, 
 and unwillingness to risk creating one merely for the sake 
 of the Government a Government that was synonymous 
 with oppression and injustice. For the rest the Bedoui 
 is, notwithstanding his savagery, a gentleman at heart, 
 fully cognizant of all the virtues, and eager to display 
 them where they will not be misunderstood. 
 
 Arrived at the Suez Canal we suffered different treat- 
 ment from men of lighter skin. The Canal-authorities, 
 although Colonel Warren offered them ten pounds and 
 explained the urgency of the case, refused to put us across 
 the Canal. Passing ships were asked to drop a boat for 
 this purpose but laughed the matter to scorn. Fortunately 
 the heat of the last few days suddenly abated, the sky 
 became overcast, and we had our first shower of rain. I 
 had recovered from the prostration of the day previous, 
 and having slept all night in my stretcher, was able on 
 reaching the Canal to walk a little. But the fever still 
 recurred in hot and cold fits, and it was desirable to get 
 me into Ismailia at once. At 2.30 a boat arrived from 
 Ismailia, and in an hour or so I was stowed away in bed 
 in the Hotel des Bains. Surgeon-Major Flood came and 
 examined me, and reported rather seriously as to my 
 condition, my temperature being very high. 
 
 Colonel Warren with characteristic contempt for the 
 expedient, gave up everything else for the next five days to 
 nursing me through my fever till I was convalescent, and 
 it is undoubtedly to his kind attention that I owe my life. 
 During this time the work of the Search-Expedition 
 rather hung fire, but Burton went to Suez and carried on 
 as best he could. The keeper of the Hotel des Bains was 
 a Frenchman, and the tone of the place was aggres- 
 sively French, and at that time bitterly hostile to the 
 
144 Surrender of Metier Sofia. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 English ; thus the presence of a bed- sick Englishman up 
 stairs was a nuisance little to be borne with, and Colonel 
 Warren could often only get what nourishment I required 
 by visiting the kitchen and making it himself. As an 
 instance of this ill-will -I remember, while lying in bed 
 recovering from my illness, listening to two ladies who 
 were practising for a concert that they were giving in the 
 town in a few days. Everything was arranged, and they 
 expected a good house, as a large proportion of the seats 
 were taken up, when it transpired that the artistes were 
 English, upon which the tickets were returned, and the 
 entertainment had to be abandoned. 
 
 Before leaving Ismailia Colonel Warren dismissed 
 Mohammed Hassan, and the Nile Bedouin that had 
 returned from Nackl with us, to their homes. They were 
 utterly unsuited for the task before us ; and it was now 
 necessary to dispense with their services and make other 
 arrangements on a new plan. Mohammed Hassan in- 
 vited us to visit him at that " elysium abode," his home at 
 Zagazig, and we parted in mutual goodwill. 
 
 On November 6th Metteh Sofia surrendered himself 
 at Suez. He said that he had been on his way from Jebel 
 Magara, accompanied by his nephew Salami Ibn Aid, who 
 ran away with Palmer's gold when we met them in the 
 desert and endeavoured to capture them ; and he was 
 probably so impressed with the steps taken to clear up 
 Palmer's fate, and capture those implicated, that he 
 thought it best to give himself up. Under cross-examina- 
 tion Metter proved shifty and circumlocutory ; while he 
 habitually worked himself up into such an excited state 
 that it was difficult to clear his facts from the mass of 
 verbiage in which they were wound. His evidence, how- 
 ever, was of the greatest importance. The successful 
 
CHAP, vii.] Important Evidence. 145 
 
 accomplishment of their journey from Jebel Magara to 
 Suez during the war had evidently given Palmer great 
 confidence in Metter. He described the arrangements for 
 the return -journey, and how he, having no idea of being 
 molested, was, at the time of the attack, taking Palmer 
 and his companions to his own tents at Bahah. On the 
 attack he and his nephew made off, leaving the English- 
 men to their fate ; the nephew taking with him Palmer's 
 camel with the money, three thousand pounds in gold. 
 Metter fled by a circuitous route to his tents, and returned 
 to the place of attack with a few friends ; when he offered 
 money in an ineffectual, half-hearted manner, to save the 
 Englishmen's lives. His evidence confirmed that of the 
 ex-Governor of Nackl as to the movements of the latter ; 
 but he stated that Ali Effendi had told the Bedouin at 
 Rahah that they must capture the Christians and send 
 them prisoners to Arabi. Metter Sofia gave a list of 
 twenty-five people Haiwatat and Terebin who were in 
 the attack on the party, and from him we first got a clear 
 idea of the employment of Ali Shwair as spy on Palmer's 
 movements (see Appendix B). His evidence was, however, 
 so shifty that Colonel Warren determined to go out to the 
 desert and test it, by visiting a spot in Wadi el Hadj, 
 about forty miles from Suez, where Metter said* he had 
 concealed a bag and box of Professor Palmer's. 
 
 In the evening of November 7th Sualem Abu Farag, 
 with the Haiwatat we had despatched from Nackl, arrived 
 at Suez, bringing as prisoner Salem Sheyk, who had taken 
 a prominent part in the murder of Palmer's party, and two 
 Dubur from Bahah, which latter were able to give some 
 evidence. Next morning Salem Sheyk was confronted 
 with Metter Sofia, but the latter immediately got into 
 such a passion that Salem had to be removed from the 
 
146 
 
 Salem Sheyk. 
 
 [CHAP. VII. 
 
 ) 
 
 SALEM SHETK, ONE OF THE MURDERERS. 
 
 room. Salem Sheyk refused to know anything of what 
 had occurred, and, when questions were put to him, did little 
 but shake his head and intimate that his mind was a blank 
 on the subject : Mr. Gill and Mr. Charrington, brothers 
 
 of the murdered men, 
 had arrived at Suez, and 
 it was arranged that Mr. 
 Grill, who was in per- 
 sonal appearance very 
 like his poor brother, 
 should enter the room 
 during the examination 
 of Salem Sheyk. Salem 
 remained, however, im- 
 movable, without appear- 
 ing to recognise the 
 likeness to the man he 
 
 had murdered, and the manoeuvre failed to effect any- 
 thing. 
 
 On November 9th Colonel Warren and Lieutenant 
 Burton left Suez again for the desert. Miisa Nusier with 
 his Towara camel-drivers conducted them, and they were 
 accompanied by Sualem Abu Farag and nine men of 
 the Haiwatat tribe. They also took with them Metter 
 Sofia, Mr. Charrington, and Mr. Houndle a friend of 
 Captain Grill's. The day following their departure the 
 party arrived in the vicinity of the spot in Wadi el Hadj, 
 where Palmer's property was supposed to be hidden. 
 Here Metter Sofia, who was much agitated, asked whether 
 there was a tarfak tree about. On arriving near one he 
 dismounted, and walked up the rock-strewn slope which 
 here bounded the road. At a certain point he stopped, 
 and clearing away some loose stones, exposed a crevice in 
 
CHAP, vii.] Restoration of Money. 147 
 
 the rock, in which was a small leather-case, containing a 
 despatch-box and a black bag. These were taken out by 
 Colonel Warren, who, pressing the spring of the black bag, 
 opened it, and exposed the contents to view ; upon which 
 Metter Sofia made as though he did not know how it 
 could be opened, and went through a pantomime in trying 
 to open it, playing with the bag as though he were a 
 monkey. In the black bag was found a bag of gold, with 
 the label Euri/alns* a cigar-case, clothes-brush, comb, two 
 pairs of scissors, two sketching water-tins, blue spectacles, 
 various cartridges, and two pairs of dividers. The 
 sovereigns in the bag were counted by Colonel Warren, 
 Lieutenant Burton, Mr. Houndle, and Mr. Charrington, 
 and found to number one thousand. The money-bag did 
 not appear to have been opened. 
 
 It was known that Palmer took with him into the 
 desert three thousand pounds in gold ; and as between 
 the time of his leaving Suez and being captured there was 
 no reason for his having disposed of any of it, the question 
 now arose what had become of the remaining two thousand 
 pounds. As it might be in the despatch -box it was 
 proposed to break it open and see. Both Mr. Houndle 
 and Mr. Charrington agreed that if it had belonged to 
 their relations they would have approved of its being 
 forced, so the box was opened ; but the missing money 
 bags were not found inside. There was, however, a small 
 bag with one hundred and sixty-four pounds ten shillings 
 in English gold, fifteen Turkish liras, fifty-five pounds in 
 English notes, and an I U for one hundred pounds. 
 In the box were also various letters, and a rough journal 
 of Palmer's journey from England to Suez. 
 
 * Admiral Sir William Hewett's flag-ship. 
 L 2 
 
148 The Missinff 2000. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 What happened to the two thousand pounds was never 
 ascertained. From the frequent reference, in the evidence 
 of the Bedouin, to a sum of twenty-one pounds which was 
 taken from Palmer's cook, it was certain that if a large sum 
 of gold had heen secured by the attacking party the excite- 
 ment about it could not have been restrained, but we 
 should have heard about it : besides, all accounts pointed 
 to the fact that it was to a great extent due to the dis- 
 appointment of the Bedouin at losing Palmer's gold for 
 Palmer had taken no trouble to conceal the fact that he 
 carried with him a large sum that led them to murder 
 their prisoners. The black bag was very easy to open, 
 and it is impossible that anyone possessing it for a 
 considerable time, and wishing to do so, could have 
 failed to open it. It was well known amongst the 
 Bedouin who captured Palmer, that Metter's nephew had 
 run off with the money ; and in such circumstances it is 
 difficult to believe that the Governor of Nackl would 
 have allowed Metter to keep it all for himself. He would 
 have insisted on the money, or a portion of it, being 
 handed over to him for Arabi's use, or given to one of 
 Shedid's emissaries for transmission to his master direct. 
 If the matter had not been settled in some such way the 
 Bedouin would not have acquiesced so readily in losing the 
 money themselves. 
 
 It was thus apparent that Metter Sofia had in some 
 manner made away with two thousand pounds, and he was 
 pressed to say what he had done with it. He denied all 
 knowledge of it, saying his nephew had taken the bag 
 away at the time of the attack, and he himself had not 
 seen it again until a few days before on his journey 
 from Jebel Magara to Suez to give himself up. Even 
 if his personal responsibility for the money were waived, 
 
CHAP, vii.] Arrangements for pursuing Search. 149 
 
 still Metter must have well known what had happened 
 to it ; and, as he persistently lied in this respect, the 
 court-martial, which finally disposed of the case, was 
 right in confiscating his family's property. It is in 
 such a case, when dealing with a hardened old scoundrel 
 like Metter, that our modern refined methods fail. 
 Doubtless if a little torture had been applied, such as a 
 Turkish Governor delights in a little delicate manipulation 
 of the kourbash the mystery would have been solved, 
 and we should have been able to point to another couple 
 of thousand pounds restored to the Government as one of 
 the results of our inquiry. 
 
 On the llth Colonel Warren returned to Suez. Ar- 
 rangements had now to be made for the furtherance of the 
 work in hand. On dismissing the Nile Bedouin whom we 
 took with us to Ismailia, Colonel Warren had requested 
 that additional parties of the Haiwatat and Terebin should 
 be despatched from Cairo to assist in capturing the persons 
 required of those tribes. Colonel Warren, now that there 
 was no doubt of the composition of the party that attacked 
 Palmer, decided that the proper people to bring in the 
 persons wanted were the authorities of the particular tribes 
 concerned ; that upon them must fall in future the burden 
 of the search. In a review that appeared in a home-news- 
 paper at the time, it was said that we " now abandoned our 
 fruitless search, and placed it in the hands of more suitable 
 agents." This was hardly an accurate way of putting it. 
 Our search had not been fruitless. If we had not gone 
 into the desert the remains of Palmer's party would never 
 have been recovered, and the circunstances of the attack 
 would never have been known with certainty ; for the 
 confliction of testimony which we received from the various 
 witnesses was only cleared away by help of the circum- 
 
150 Laboriow Examination. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 stantial knowledge we had gained in our examination of 
 the ground. By his journey into the desert Colonel 
 Warren had become possessed of information which enabled 
 him to formulate a definite series of charges against 
 certain persons ; and the seriousness of our mission had 
 been impressed upon our unwilling emissaries, with the 
 result that we had now possession of Metter Sofia 
 all but two of the camel-drivers who accompanied Palmer on 
 his ill-fated journey Salem Sheyk, one of the principals in 
 the attack and several hostages for other persons impli- 
 cated in the attack and murder. 
 
 By our close contact with the Bedouin they had been 
 made to understand that not one stone should be left un- 
 turned until the culprits in the crime were brought to 
 justice; and justice and the Government had hitherto been 
 to them two utterly irreconcilable conceptions. The 
 Bedouin viewed with amazement the precision with which 
 Colonel Warren achieved success after success in his inquiry. 
 Entirely unacquainted with his methods of weighing the 
 evidence of all who had anything to say about the matter ; 
 of piecing together, and extracting the true from the 
 false by minute and continual comparisons of one man's 
 evidence with another they could only attribute to a species 
 of second-sight his intimate acquaintance with events and 
 places which they imagined we had no clear conception of. 
 They one and all, even to the honest Musa Nusier, en- 
 deavoured to tell us only what they thought we knew; and 
 this position, adopted by a people as apt of tongue as the 
 Arabs, required all the patience and acumen of a practised 
 cross-examiner to turn to advantage. Of the many barren 
 days that we spent eliciting nothing or, what appeared 
 at the time to be nothing from our unwilling informants, 
 this account can give no conception ; for it only attempts 
 
CHAP, vii.] Recording Scribe on the Hack. 151 
 
 to record the successive steps which marked the progress 
 of our inquiry. But behind were days upon days of 
 patient, pitiless examination and cross-examination during 
 which, if the unfortunate witness was not literally put 
 upon the rack, the unfortunate scribe and I can speak 
 feelingly on the subject who recorded the evidence was 
 punished to a degree that left the rack nowhere in 
 comparison. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE BEDOUIN. THE SHEDIDS. PALMER ON HIS 
 JOURNEY FROM SYRIA TO SUEZ. STUDIED OBSTRUCTION OF 
 THE SHEDIDS. THE FATAL MISSION. PALMER'S ATTITUDE 
 TOWARDS THE BEDOUIN. ARRIVAL OF SALAMI IBN SHEDID. 
 THE CONTRACT. COLONEL WARREN MOVES TO NACKL. 
 EXAMINATION OF PRISONERS THERE. METTER SOFIA'S PART 
 IN PALMER'S DEATH. SHEIK MISLEH, PALMER'S " FRIEND." 
 SULEIMAN THE TIYAHAH. EXPEDITION INTO THE TIYAHAH 
 TERRITORY. A BEDOUI ENCAMPMENT. ASCENT OF HILL AT 
 SHWEIKI'S ENCAMPMENT. CAPTAIN SIR RICHARD BURTON. 
 
 IT has always been a difficulty, for the government 
 under which they are placed, to impose the ordinary con- 
 ditions of the governed upon the Bedouin. Living in the 
 desert, entry into which without their assistance is, from 
 lack of water, well nigh impossible living in the simplest 
 fashion, with nothing but their flocks to arouse the cupidity 
 of officialdom requiring nothing from the State in the way 
 of protection or service of any sort, but only wishing to be 
 left alone to their barren flats and mountains these people 
 are able to escape most of the responsibilities of citizens. 
 The Egyptian Government certainly taxed them to the tune 
 of so many loads of charcoal per tribe, a tax which, as the 
 Bedouin were obliged every year to come into the towns to 
 purchase their annual supply of coffee and sugar, it was 
 able to enforce. For the remaining purposes of govern- 
 ment, such as keeping open the country for the Mecca 
 
CHAP. viiL] Government of Bedouin. 153 
 
 pilgrims and for travellers, maintenance of order, protection 
 of telegraph-line, keeping ready the tribes for purposes of 
 war, &c., the government was dependent on bringing 
 pressure to bear on the sheiks. Where the local sheiks 
 were far from any official centre, and in the pathless desert, 
 where whole tribes could, as it were, on occasion disappear 
 into the ground, it was often impossible to bring the 
 necessary pressure to bear upon them ; thus to preserve 
 responsibility and make government possible, arrange- 
 ments were made for the wealthiest and most influential 
 family of the Bedouin to be located at Cairo within reach 
 of the central authority, and held there as hostages, the 
 head of this family was de facto Viceroy of the desert. 
 
 At the time of the Palmer Search-Expedition the family 
 of Shedids held this position at Cairo. They belonged to 
 the Haiwatat tribe the most powerful of the Bedoui tribes 
 of Lower Egypt and the head of their family had been 
 head-sheik of the Bedouin for many years. Salami Shedid 
 was the head of the family, his father Ibrahim having died 
 during Arabi's rebellion, and during the war he had 
 assisted Arabi with contingents of Bedouin, the Haiwatat 
 tribe alone providing two thousand men. When Colonel 
 Warren was in Cairo at the end of September he endeavoured 
 to get Shedid sent to him for the purposes of our Search- 
 Expedition ; but at the time of the re-establishment of the 
 Khedivial authority he was too essential a character to be 
 dispensed with by the central Government ; so we had been 
 obliged to be satisfied with Saad, a younger brother, Hadj 
 Mohammed, and several minor members of the family. 
 
 The Shedids, although not in any way personally 
 responsible for Palmer's murder, as far as we could 
 ascertain, were, from the first, hot obstructionists of our 
 search. They apparently resented any interference in the 
 
154 Cairo and the Desert. [CHAP. vm. 
 
 desert, which they regarded as their private preserve, and 
 feared their names being connected with the attack on 
 Palmer, and the subsequent tragedy. 
 
 It appears that on Palmer's first entry into the desert 
 from. Syria, in July, he proceeded to the tents of the 
 Tiyahah, a tribe which he had formerly travelled amongst, 
 and with whose sheik, Misleh, and his brother Suleiman, 
 he was personally acquainted. Suleiman was at the time 
 at Cairo, doubtless summoned there by Shedid ; but Misleh 
 received Palmer hospitably, and Palmer, in pursuance of 
 his plan to enlist the sympathies of the Bedouin on behalf 
 of the Khedive, promised Misleh five hundred pounds 
 should he engage the services of the Tiyahah tribe on the 
 Khedive's behalf. Palmer made a good many presents, or 
 promises of presents, while in the desert, and became quite 
 persuaded that the Bedouin would hold themselves at his 
 disposal. It is probable, however, that while Misleh 
 received Palmer's overtures, he reported the matter to his 
 brother at Cairo ; and thus the news reached the Shedids, 
 who, afraid for their heads if their people were stirred into 
 open enmity to Arabi, thereupon sent messages which 
 resulted, on Palmer's return to the desert, in his being 
 taken prisoner and placed out of harm's way. Fanaticism, 
 however it may affect the Bedouin as a class, has little 
 influence on the leading sheiks, and possibly Shedid, and 
 Misleh also, looked for an opportunity of making money out 
 of Palmer, as well as keeping in with Arabi by making the 
 Englishmen prisoners. But amongst the common Bedouin 
 of Arabia fanaticism is a great power, and under its 
 influence the shedding of blood is as readily resorted to 
 now as when Mohammed and his followers propagated 
 their religious tenets by force of arms. Palmer met Misleh 
 on July 18th. On the 24th the news of his mission might 
 
CHAP, viii.] Attitude of the Shed ids. 155 
 
 have reached Cairo, and instructions might have been sent 
 to the desert, arriving at Nackl about August 2nd. On the 
 7th the Governor of Nackl left for Wadi Sadr. The 
 Bedouin, possibly exceeding their instructions, killed 
 Palmer and his companions, and then afterwards the 
 Shedid sent positive instructions that in future such 
 Christians were to be made prisoners and sent to Arabi, 
 not killed. This is upheld by the letter of the Governor 
 of Nackl to his colleague of Akabah, vide p. 85, in 
 which we find the following passage : " When he learned 
 that the Christians whom I spoke of were killed, Abu 
 Shedid informed his Bedouin in writing that if they saw 
 any Christians they should take them prisoners, and send 
 them to Cairo." 
 
 In ordinary times Shedid would have been held respon- 
 sible, whatever occurred in the desert, in accordance with 
 the established methods of Eastern government ; and 
 Shedid doubtless expected that in applying for him we 
 meant to treat him similarly, and that as we became 
 acquainted with his position he would be squeezed in the 
 ordinary method current in the East. It was, therefore, 
 only to be expected that they would protect themselves by 
 endeavouring to throw the blame elsewhere, and on the 
 first arrival of the Shedids at Suez they attempted to put 
 all responsibility for the outrage upon the shoulders of the 
 Aligat, the section of Towara from which Palmer had 
 obtained his camel-drivers. This was defeated, however, 
 by the arrival of Musa Nusier, and the surrender of the 
 camel-drivers, who were able to clear themselves and 
 inculpate the Haiwatat and Terebins of Wadi Sadr. 
 The next object of the Shedids appears to have been to 
 involve the whole matter in mystery, but at the same time 
 to provide scape-goats in case such should be necessary ; 
 
150 Absolute Authority of S/teiks. [CHAP. vm. 
 
 and in the latter respect Sualem Abu Farag, who repre- 
 sented Shedid in the country east of the Canal, soon felt 
 he was on dangerous ground. Hadj Mohammed, in fact, 
 before our departure for the desert (Saad Shedid was left 
 hostage at Suez), arranged that Farag' s child should be 
 put in custody and held hostage for his return and good 
 behaviour, on the ground that he could not vouch for his 
 conduct, so closely was he (Farag) mixed up in the matter. 
 On our first expedition to the desert Hadj Mohammed 
 let us pass within two miles of the place of murder without 
 taking us to the spot, although he must have been aware 
 of the whole of the details of the attack and murder, and 
 knew that Colonel Warren was still uncertain of the death 
 of our countrymen. The absolutely paramount position 
 that the Bedoui sheiks hold over their tribes precludes all 
 possibility of their people acting in studied opposition to 
 their known will, or concealing their doings from them ; 
 and although this position of paramountcy has, as its 
 natural corollary, the obligation upon the sheik to do his 
 best to protect his people, the fact remains that while 
 Hadj Mohammed was pretending to aid us in the search, 
 he was so acting that, except for Colonel Warren's per=- 
 sonal investigations, we should have gained no informa- 
 tion on the matter of our inquiry. Hadj Mohammed 
 also on two occasions allowed important prisoners that 
 had been handed over to him to escape ; and although 
 he brought in as prisoner and surrendered to us Salem 
 Sheyk, against whom, as a head-man in the attack, 
 we had evidence, the behaviour of this man under cross- 
 examination showed that he had been elaborately taught 
 what to say, and we could get nothing out of him for a 
 long time. 
 
 On November 12th, Colonel Warren took the 
 
CHAP. vin. j Warnings received ly Palmer. 157 
 
 Shedids before the Governor of Suez, and brought their 
 conduct to the attention of his Excellency ; the result of 
 which was that Saad Shedid was put in prison, and appli- 
 cation made to Cairo for the immediate despatch of the 
 great sheik, Salami Shedid, to take charge of our search 
 parties. Next day some excitement was occasioned by the 
 sudden absconding of Sualem Abu Farag and three of the 
 Haiwatat ; and we found that Hadj Mohammed had 
 allowed Sualem's son, who had been placed in the Shedid's 
 custody as hostage for his father's good conduct, to ride 
 away some days before, and had not reported it. Hadj 
 Mohammed tried to make out that this was the result of 
 putting Saad in prison, and said that if he was not released 
 the Haiwatat would all make their escape, on which he was 
 told that if Sualem was not brought back in an hour he 
 himself would be made prisoner. 
 
 The Shedid, although daily expected from Cairo, was 
 not to put in an appearance till some ten days later. 
 The interval was occupied in a laborious re-examination of 
 all the witnesses we had collected, and in making a minute 
 account of the conduct of Palmer's last journey, even to 
 such particulars as the loading of the various camels. It 
 appeared that during his progress from Ayun Mitsa 
 Palmer had met with considerable opposition, both in the 
 unwillingness of the Bedouin to go with him at all, and in 
 the hostile measures taken to delay his journey. It is an 
 extraordinary testimony to the strength of his will, and his 
 confidence in himself and in the Bedouin, that he perse- 
 vered in the face of these warnings not to pursue his 
 course. The sheik of the country around Ayun Milsa 
 (Ode Ismaili) had refused to conduct him, pleading that 
 the country was too unsafe since the Bedouin had been 
 incited by Arabi against Christians. Metter Sofia, his 
 
158 Treachery. [CHAP, vm 
 
 guide, had only brought his own camel and one other, and, 
 having only two of his own people with him, was powerless 
 to safe-conduct the party. Great difficulty had been expe- 
 rienced in hiring the camel-drivers, the risk to all con- 
 cerned being distinctly recognised. After the start from 
 Ayun Musa fresh opposition of the camel-drivers was 
 experienced, and, the morning after the party started, when 
 they were encamped at Wadi Kahalin, two of the baggage- 
 camels were found to be missing. The animals were 
 tracked, and after a long pursuit taken from some 
 Bedouin who had visited Palmer's camp the night 
 before, slept there, and had stolen the camels in the early 
 morning ; and, as forcibly illustrating the exceptional nature 
 of the times, notwithstanding their theft nothing was done 
 to the thieves. Palmer was not to be deterred from pro- 
 ceeding on his mission, but was induced by Metter Sofia, 
 his guide, to go on quickly with him and his nephew, in 
 order to reach his tents at Eahah, leaving the baggage to 
 follow in a more leisurely fashion. 
 
 The progress of the travellers had from the time of 
 their leaving Ayun Musa been regularly spied upon by a 
 Haiwatat named Salem Ibn SiYbheh ; and messengers had 
 been despatched by him to warn the Bedouin at Marbook 
 and Rahah of the approach of the Christians. It is 
 reported that Ibn Subheh had several angry conversations 
 with Metter Sofia, but what the upshot of them might be 
 it is impossible to say for certain ; probably the object was 
 to persuade Metter to betray the travellers, and deliver up 
 the money Palmer had with him. Certain it is that 
 Subheh arranged for the stealing of Palmer's camels, and 
 the delay which ensued enabled him to assemble his men 
 in time for the attack : it is also apparent that the conduct 
 of Metter, in dividing the party and travelling by night, 
 
CHAP, viii.] Palmer's Attitude to the Arabs. 150 
 
 was the very thing to serve the purpose of the attack, and 
 seems to have been expected by the attacking- party and 
 nicely calculated for. The prompt action of Metter Sofia 
 in escaping with his nephew, without any attempt to 
 protect the Christians for whose safety he was responsible, 
 can also only be accounted for on the ground that this 
 action had been previously contemplated by him, and was 
 arranged for. In the early days of the inquiry there were 
 ominous bazaar rumours to the effect that Metter's nephew, 
 on the attack, had struck Palmer from the camel he was 
 riding and which carried the money, and subsequently 
 made off with it. The throwing of Palmer from his camel 
 was not, however, confirmed by the evidence adduced before 
 us, although the latter part of the story, the riding off with 
 the money, was admitted, but explained by being attributed 
 to Palmer's request. 
 
 In reviewing the sad incidents of this eventful mission 
 of Palmer's, one cannot but come to the conclusion that he 
 was throughout completely over-reached by the wily 
 Bedouin, in whom he reposed a confidence that they were 
 very far from deserving. Mr. Walter Besant faithfully 
 depicts Palmer's attitude towards the Bedouin as 
 follows : " Palmer among his Arabs spoke as one of 
 them, and thought as one of them, not as a stranger. 
 His was that strange sympathy which enables its possessor 
 to feel with as well as for his friends. His extraordinary 
 gift of sympathy was connected with his mesmeric power ; 
 he was a thought reader. To know what a man is think- 
 ing about goes a long way towards acquiring an influence 
 over that man. Another thing, again, gave him a power 
 over all sorts and conditions of men he possessed in a 
 wonderful degree the enthusiasm of humanity .... 
 He relied therefore in undertaking .... this expe- 
 
160 The Arab a Practised Dissembler. [CHAI-. vm. 
 
 dition .... entirely on his power of managing the 
 people .... This self-reliance one must point out 
 strongly and insist upon, because it illustrates the character 
 of the man, was complete and absolute. He never doubted 
 himself. It was not in boastfulness, but as a mere 
 matter of plain fact, that he regarded himself as able to 
 manage any number of Arabs, friendly or hostile." 
 
 In my opinion, it was this very attitude of absolute 
 self-confidence that compassed the ruin of this erudite man 
 of letters and his companions. The courage and calmness 
 displayed by Palmer the quiet scholar and man of books 
 were remarkable, his fixity of purpose worthy of all 
 praise ; but I cannot but think that he misconceived the 
 conditions of the problem before him, and in mere matters 
 of fact was often and entirely deceived. His exaggerated 
 notions of the number of Bedouin that he could command 
 for the protection of the Canal may be instanced in this 
 particular, and are specially extraordinary in the face of 
 his knowledge of the country, the poverty of its natural 
 resources, and the paucity of its waters. The Bedoui is 
 a practised dissembler, an actor of no small power, intent 
 on the glorification of his people ; and he will talk of 
 a company of two dozen men as a great, great number, and 
 lift up his hands in amazement at the recollection. 
 Highly imaginative as they are, these men were all 
 persuaded that Arabi was a match for any number of 
 Ohristians, as they themselves were a match in astuteness 
 for any individual Frank. As Mr. Besant describes, 
 they doubtless thought : " Why did the great Abdullah 
 ride across from Gaza by night ? Why should he fear the 
 Egyptians ? He will make all rich ; Courage, brothers ! 
 the good time long-dreamed of by the Beni Ishmael has 
 come at last." In respect also to his guide, Metter 
 
CHAP, viii.] The Fatal Mistake. 161 
 
 Abu Sofia, Palmer was induced to believe that he was a 
 great sheik of the Lehewat, whereas in reality he was 
 merely a wealthy Arab living apart from his tribe. In 
 these and many other similar points Palmer was absolutely 
 deceived. 
 
 It is sickening to consider the successive steps 
 towards its end of this valuable life ; inspiriting and to be 
 admired the courage and constancy of purpose displayed 
 by this noble-spirited man, who could conceive little in 
 humanity to dread, and refused to regard the tendency of 
 mankind towards double-dealing and villainy. 
 
 When he entered the desert from Gaza, Palmer was 
 careful to avoid any semblance of official status. He 
 travelled alone, with his cook and Bedoui guide ; and as 
 he says in one of his published letters : " I have had to 
 dodge troops and Arabs, and am thankful, but somewhat 
 surprised, at the possession of a whole skin." When 
 Palmer returned to the desert a few days after this, his 
 policy is reversed. He sends notice of his coming, and 
 convenes a meeting of sheiks in the heart of the desert, 
 and, strange to say, at the fort of Nackl, which was held 
 by one of Arabi's adherents. He takes with him a naval 
 officer to demonstrate to the sheiks his authority from the 
 British Government ; and carried with him a large sum of 
 money and some naval swords which latter he meant to 
 present to the sheiks. The one absolutely necessary 
 sequel to this change of front was the provision of a 
 strong escort, and Palmer, in his summons to Metter, 
 asked him to bring twenty armed men with him. Metter 
 Sofia arrived on the 7th August with only one man instead 
 of twenty ; and then, I think, Palmer made a fatal 
 mistake in persisting in carrying out his original intention 
 of reaching Nackl on the 12th, escort or no escort. 
 
 M 
 
162 Arrival of Salami 8/iedid. [CHAP. vra. 
 
 After waiting ten days for him, the great sheik, 
 Salami Ibn Shedid, reported to us at Suez on November 
 22nd, under instructions from the Government to place 
 himself entirely at Colonel Warren's disposal. He pro- 
 fessed to be quite ignorant of the facts connected with 
 Professor Palmer's disappearance, and insisted that he was 
 not sheik of the Haiwatat of the desert, but that 
 Mohammed Feyere, who lives east of Akabah, was ruler 
 of the country about Wadi Sadr. To refute those 
 statements, our Haiwatat prisoners from Wadi Sadr were 
 produced ; and they declared before Salami that the 
 Shedids of Cairo were their only sheiks, that Sualem Abu 
 Farag ruled them by deputy, and that Mohammed Feyere 
 was to them but a name. Having at last acknowledged 
 that he was sheik of the Haiwatat about Wadi Sadr, 
 Salami Shedid asked for the names of the people implicated, 
 and the details of the murder. This Colonel Warren 
 refused "to give him, and told him he could obtain the 
 information for himself from his own people. He pro- 
 tested he could not do this, but must send to Cairo for the 
 particulars, which were known to the Bedouin there. He 
 was told, however, to examine Salem Sheyk and two other 
 men of his tribe who had been brought in by Sualem Abu 
 Farag ; and this he did in our presence, after a great deal 
 of expostulation, obtaining a general outline of the attack 
 and murder of the party, as we already knew it,, and the 
 names of the principal culprits. 
 
 Salami was a much more accomplished obstructionist 
 than his brother Saad or Hadj Mohammed, and Colonel 
 Warren had a difficult task in dealing with him. However, 
 by dint of continual hammering, he was reduced to a proper 
 condition of subordination ; and Colonel Warren determined 
 that he should give proof of his good intention by exerting 
 
CHAP, vm.] Confession of Salem Skeyk. 163 
 
 his power as sheik upon Salem Sheyk, a man of his 
 tribe who had shown great stubbornness in cross-examina- 
 tion, and pretended to know nothing of the matters of 
 which he was known to be a prominent actor. The Shedid 
 was accordingly informed he must make this man speak 
 out, and give his account as an eye-witness of the attack 
 and murder. After considerable pressure, Salami acceded to 
 Colonel Warren's importunity, with the result that Salem 
 Sheyk made a complete confession, thus exemplifying to 
 the full the enormous power a Bedoui sheik possesses 
 over his people. The account confirmed those we had 
 previously obtained, except for the part played by two 
 brothers of Salem Sheyk and a few other Haiwatat. 
 
 Salami Shedid having thus put himself in possession of 
 the necessary facts, and being furnished by us with a 
 complete list of persons implicated, and the witnesses 
 required in evidence (some sixty in number), Colonel 
 Warren told him he must write out and sign an agreement 
 to bring in all the culprits in a given time. Here was 
 opportunity for prolonged dialogue which would go on 
 somewhat as follows : 
 
 Salami Shedid. Ah ! Impossible. I shall be killed if 
 I venture into the desert for such a purpose. 
 
 Colonel Warren. You must bring in all the persons I 
 require in twenty-one days, or I shall report you as one 
 of the persons implicated. There is plenty of proof 
 against you. 
 
 Salami SUedid. I am undone. I am undone. It 
 cannot be done in twenty-one days. Two months is the 
 very least time. 
 
 Colonel Warren. You don't intend to do it. What 
 have you done since you came here ? Nothing ! 
 
 Salami Shedid. I will die for the Government. But I 
 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 Shedid' s Contract. 
 
 [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 must get some men from Cairo to take with me into the 
 desert. 
 
 Colonel Warren. Do you mean deliberately to refuse to 
 get these men ? 
 
 Salami Shedid. By my father's heard, I am undone, I 
 am undone. 
 
 This sort of thing went on for some days, hut on the 
 25th Salami signed a contract binding himself to bring in 
 all the men required in thirty-one days, sending in a batch 
 at the end of each ten days to show he was in earnest. 
 His proposed mode of action was to possess himself of 
 the waters of the desert, to which the Bedouin must in 
 ordinary times come to water their flocks, and draw water 
 for their own use. For this purpose he required a 
 large number of men, and after signing the contract he 
 at once proceeded to Cairo to obtain more Haiwatat. 
 
 Shedid was to be 
 assisted in the work by 
 Abu SarhAn of the Tere- 
 bin and his men. These 
 latter had been unsuc- 
 cessful in the quest that 
 we had despatched them 
 upon from Nackl. They 
 had visited most of the 
 Terebin sheiks, but all 
 
 had refused their assist - 
 
 
 
 ance. The Terebin were 
 a very difficult tribe to 
 deal with ; living as they 
 did on the borders of 
 
 Syria and Egypt, they could avoid the jurisdiction of 
 either government by quietly stepping over the border ; 
 
 SHEIK ABU SITTJSH. 
 
CHAP, viii.] Binding over the Sheiks. 165 
 
 and, being a very powerful tribe, able to put into the 
 field several thousand men, they were rather out of 
 Government control. Sheik Abu Sarhan and Abu Sitteh, 
 another Terebin sheik, for some days refused to bind 
 themselves to assist Shedid in getting in the men of their 
 own tribe that we required ; but, finally, on December 
 18th, Colonel Warren secured their adhesion to Shedid's 
 agreement, and they started with their men for the 
 desert. 
 
 This disposed of the greater number of the persons 
 whom we required as implicated in, or as witnesses of, the 
 murder ; but there were some other tribes that had also to 
 be worked. The Towara were made to produce the two 
 remaining camel -drivers who had started with Palmer's 
 party, and had not yet given themselves up, and these 
 arrived at the end of November. Sheik Aleyan of the 
 Lehewat made himself responsible for the family of Metter 
 Sofia, and Salami Ibn Aid, Metter's nephew, who had 
 run away with Palmer's camel and his money on the 
 evening of the attack, was produced on December Oth, and 
 certain of the sons afterwards. Sheik Misleh, Palmer's 
 friend, and sheik of the Tiyahah, had also to produce two 
 men ; and arrangements were also made with Mohammed 
 Gad of the Alawin, and with Sheik Makbul, for general 
 assistance in preventing the escape of the culprits into 
 Arabia Felix. 
 
 All these matters required some time to bring them to 
 perfection ; but as Shedid had stipulated that the desert 
 should not be entered by other than his search-parties 
 during his thirty days, we had plenty of time for them. 
 During this month Shedid's operations were much impeded 
 by the unusually heavy rains which fell in the desert, but 
 on December 25th Colonel Warren was able to report the 
 
166 
 
 Proceed to Nackl. 
 
 [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 capture of nine out of the twenty-one persons implicated 
 and a number of witnesses were also secured. 
 
 Shedid having placed two of his most important 
 prisoners in the care of the Governor of Nackl, Colonel 
 Warren determined to go there and conduct his examina- 
 tion for a while at that place ; hoping also to induce a 
 little more activity in the search-parties by his presence 
 in the desert. Accordingly, leaving Suez on December 20th, 
 accompanied by Captain Stephenson of H.M.S. Carijsfort 
 and Messrs. Burney, Chappie, and Sir C. Cust, officers of 
 that ship, we arrived at Nackl on the 22nd. Here we 
 found three of the men who actually murdered Palmer 
 and his companions Salem Abu Telhaideh, Salami Abu 
 Telhaideh, and Ali Shwair with several other Bedouin 
 who were present at, and assisted in, the attack. The cross- 
 examination of these 
 men continued for 
 some days, and was 
 of a very tedious cha- 
 racter. They had 
 all evidently deter- 
 mined to maintain 
 a dogged silence upon 
 the events which ac- 
 companied Palmer's 
 death, and some car- 
 ried the determina- 
 tion into an apparent 
 imbecility which was 
 
 palpably insincere. The two brothers Abu Telhaideh were 
 particularly obstinate ; as an instance we quote the fol- 
 lowing dialogue. 
 
 Warren. Where do you live? 
 
 AL.I SHWAIR ONE or THE MURDERERS. 
 
CHAP, vnr.] An Obstinate Witness. 167 
 
 Telhaideh. Yonder on the Tih (with a wave of the 
 hand all round the compass). 
 
 Colonel Warren. Whereabouts ? 
 
 Telhaideh. Far away ! Yonder ! 
 
 Colonel Warren. What is your name ? 
 
 Telhaideh. Don't know. The people call me Salem. 
 
 Colonel Warren. What was your father's name ? 
 
 Telhaideh. Don't know. 
 
 Colonel Warren. Did you ever have a father ? 
 
 Telhaideh. I once had three camels. 
 
 Colonel Warren.^-Where were your camels ? 
 
 Telhaideh. Yonder in the hills, a long way off. I have 
 tended them ever since I was born. 
 
 Colonel Warren. Do you meet any Bedouin in your 
 country ? 
 
 Telhaideh. No ! I go wandering about and never see 
 anything but camels. 
 
 Colonel Warren. When did you last see your brother 
 Salami? 
 
 Telhaideh. What brother ? I never had one. 
 
 Colonel Warren. Do you know this man ? (Pointing to 
 his brother, who was here produced.) 
 
 Telhaideh. No ! I never saw him before. 
 
 Such were the results which often were all we could 
 point to after some hours of examination, but Colonel 
 Warren persevered. Other witnesses would be brought into 
 the room, and details of the attack would be given in the 
 presence of the men who refused to give evidence ; and 
 gradually, as they saw the hopelessness of their position, 
 and the uselessness of maintaining silence about a matter 
 concerning which we knew what appeared to them to be 
 everything, their opposition would break down and they 
 would give their story in such hot haste that they often 
 
168 Metiers safe-conduct a Sham. [CHAP. vm. 
 
 had to be checked so that the writing should keep pace 
 with the evidence. 
 
 The examination of the prisoners at the fort proceeded 
 slowly, and on Christmas -Day Captain Stephenson and the 
 officers of the Carysfort left us, and started on their return 
 journey to Suez. 
 
 The evidence went very badly for Metter Sofia, and 
 it soon became apparent that the death of Palmer was in 
 a great measure owing to Metter's avarice and refusal 
 to give up the money that his nephew had escaped with. 
 He may, or may not, have connived at the attack, but his 
 flight and his somewhat half-hearted attempt at the release 
 of the captives showed he placed very little store on their 
 safety ; and he certainly aggravated the danger to their lives 
 by his ill-judged, avaricious conduct. The unfortunate 
 trust that Palmer reposed in this man can scarcely now be 
 credited to a person of his experience and knowledge of 
 the country ; and it is evident from his journal that Metter 
 systematically conspired to deceive Palmer as to his status 
 and power. 
 
 It is probable that if Metter had been accompanied by 
 any one man of either of the principal tribes, Haiwatat, 
 Tiyahah, or Terebin, the attack would not have taken place ; 
 but having merely a few Towara camel-drivers with him, 
 men who had been warned by their sheik not to go with 
 Palmer, there was nothing for the lawless inhabitants of 
 Wadi Sadr to fear from the attack on a party which was in 
 no way protected by adequate authority. Finally when 
 the Christians were their prisoners, and either with their 
 connivance (as it might have appeared to the Bedouin) or 
 without, Metter Sofia, the man who had made himself 
 responsible for their safety, refused to give up the money 
 which his nephew had escaped with then the Bedouin 
 
CHAP, viii.] Avarice of Metier Sofia. 169 
 
 decided to kill them. Even then, if Metter had been true 
 to his trust, and had acted up to Bedoui tradition, he 
 would have thrown in his lot with the Englishmen, with 
 a result that their lives would probably have been saved. 
 But, no ! He coolly retires from the scene and goes to 
 his tents, taking no steps to inform the authorities at 
 Suez of the fate which had overtaken the unfortunate 
 men who had trusted themselves to his care. 
 
 Some days after our taking the evidence at Nackl we 
 were informed that Metter Sofia had died at Suez in hospital, 
 whither he had been removed from the prison a few days 
 before. The body was examined by Dr. Hamilton of the 
 Xavy, and the death certified as due to natural causes. 
 Thus terminated the life of the principal actor in this 
 tragedy. The motives which impelled him in his course 
 are difficult to determine. In appearance he was of 
 commanding stature and of haughty bearing, and he 
 seemed to have an overweening idea of his own importance. 
 In his action he seems to have been chiefly actuated by 
 avarice and a fixed determination to possess himself of 
 Palmer's gold, cost what it might. 
 
 It would appear that the Bedouin who attacked 
 Palmer were acting under general authority from Arabi's 
 head-quarters. It is certain that the actors in the tragedy 
 had access to Metter Sofia, and probable that he knew of 
 the preparations for taking his party prisoner, and made 
 his arrangements accordingly for saving the gold ; while 
 his subsequent lax endeavours at ransoming the captives, 
 offering but thirty pounds a head for them when he had 
 three thousand pounds in gold in his possession, point 
 either, to his certainty that the captives would be sacrificed 
 in accordance with orders received from Cairo, or, to his 
 disregard for the lives entrusted to him now that he was 
 
170 Metier s Death. [CHAP. vm. 
 
 in possession of their money. Mr. Walter Besant, in 
 Professor Palmer's memoir, puts it thus : " When Metter 
 went away at last there seems reason to believe that he 
 went sorrowfully, because he saw that no ransom at all 
 would be accepted, but that the murder was resolved upon, 
 and that he, who thought only to plunder the man who 
 had trusted him, had compassed his death. He went 
 away ; first he hid himself ; then he gave himself up ; but 
 he was torn by remorse ; he wandered in his mind ; and 
 presently he lay down and died." In my opinion this 
 passage puts the behaviour of Palmer's guide under a 
 somewhat favourable light. There is no evidence that he 
 hid himself; on the contrary, he seems rather to have 
 toured the country after the tragedy in which he played 
 so important a part, going first to Smar, then to Jidi, 
 thence to Gaza, back to Jidi, then to Gatie, and finally 
 south (when we nearly captured him) to Suez. True ! 
 He gave himself up, but only at the last moment, when 
 capture was imminent ; and even then he never appeared 
 to realise the great breach of trust of which he had been 
 guilty. His sorrow was of a barren character, which could 
 neither lead him to save Palmer's life by the sacrifice of 
 the gold in his possession, nor induce him to restore the 
 gold to the rightful owners when subsequently this lay in 
 his power. The death of Metter Sofia was inconvenient 
 for the purposes of our inquiry ; but the " natural causes " 
 were probably more a question of old age than sorrow, for 
 he was an old man, possibly seventy years of age. 
 
 Consul Moore, of Gaza, reported on October 31st that 
 he had been informed by a leading Tiyahah sheik that 
 Metter Sofia had betrayed the party and kept most of 
 the plunder, and that he had been spending a quantity of 
 gold amongst the Sowarki Bedouin about El Arish. As 
 
CHAP, vm.] Sheik Misleh. 171 
 
 has, however, been before stated, we were unable to trace 
 any extraordinary superfluity of gold among the Bedouin 
 after the war, although we gave this matter our special 
 attention. There was, however, throughout the desert a 
 general consensus of opinion that Metter was mainly 
 responsible for what had occurred, and never during the 
 whole course of our inquiry did we meet with any Bedoui, 
 connected or unconnected with the outrage, who attempted 
 to make excuses for him, or to interpret his conduct in 
 other than an unfavourable light. 
 
 A few days after the attack Metter Sofia was visited 
 by Suleiman, the brother of Misleh the Tiyahah sheik. 
 The latter had been requested by Palmer, in a telegram 
 sent via Gaza, to meet him at Nackl on August l:2th. 
 Misleh was described in official papers as of " bad repu- 
 tation, suspicious and brutal " ; and in his " Desert of the 
 Exodus," (p. 330) Palmer himself described him as " an 
 ill-looking, surly ruffian, his features rendered more hideous 
 than their wont by a scowl of mingled cunning and 
 distrust." But during his journey down from Gaza, Palmer 
 stayed with Misleh some time, and became convinced 
 of the latter's goodwill towards him. When Misleh's 
 brother arrived at Wadi Sadr and was informed of the 
 circumstance of Palmer's murder, he returned to the camp 
 of the Tiyahah to inform his sheik, who did nothing either 
 to avenge his " friend " or to report the matter to the 
 authorities ; and thus the man whom Palmer had stated 
 would befriend him as a brother, to whom he had promised 
 five hundred pounds, and under whose influence the desert 
 Bedouin were to take service with the Christians for 
 operations against Arabi, acquiesced in the treachery of 
 one friend and the murder of another, taking no further 
 trouble in the matter. 
 
172 Suleiman the TiyahaJt. [CHAP. vm. 
 
 It may be that Misleh was in league with Metter 
 Sofia in his treachery, and possessed himself of part of the 
 money that we were unable subsequently to recover. 
 Misleh had first introduced Metter to Palmer, and misled 
 the latter by representing him as sheik of the Lehewat 
 tribe, which, he said, held the country to the S.E. of 
 Suez ; and it is quite possible that Metter's foolhardy 
 behaviour, in conducting Palmer on his return-journey into 
 the desert, was due to a plan between him and Misleh for 
 securing the fruition of Palmer's promises, or possessing 
 themselves of the money Palmer had stated he would bring 
 with him on his return. 
 
 On December 24th Suleiman, brother of Sheik Misleh, 
 came to see us at Nackl, bringing with him a Tiyahah who 
 had assisted in the attack, and another who lived at Metter 
 Sofia's tents at Rahah. Suleiman acknowledged that he 
 had gone down to Wadi Sadr after the murder, and heard 
 all the details of the tragedy ; he appeared to think he 
 had acted quite naturally in not sending information in to 
 the authorities. The reason he gave was that immediately 
 after the attack he had gone after a body of the Maasi, 
 who had made a raid into Tiyahah territory, and carried 
 off some sheep. This tendency to systematic conceal- 
 ment appears to have been pretty universal in the desert ; 
 doubtless they argued that the first man to give an account 
 of what had happened would be put in prison and kept 
 there, and in the then custom of the country this argument 
 was probably correct and conclusive. 
 
 Suleiman busied himself to assist in the capture of the 
 men still out, and left us on the 29th. Next day, how- 
 ever, a letter from Shedid arrived saying that Salem 
 Siibheh was in hiding at a certain camp of the Tiyahah 
 about thirty miles to the north of Nackl, and we started 
 
CHAP, viii.] A Bedoui Encampment. 173 
 
 off to try and overtake Suleiman and take him to capture 
 Subheh. About ten miles out we arrived at a Bedoui 
 encampment belonging to the Tiyahah. It was a perfect 
 little encampment, with three tents made of the ordinary 
 goat-hair cloth ; and as we got there about sunset, as the 
 flocks were being assembled, the vicinity and the tents 
 themselves were alive with sheep and goats. The pure 
 desert air gives to the kids and lambs a great charm, 
 their coats remaining silky and unmatted, as if they were 
 washed and combed every day ; and as we sat round the 
 entrance to the tent, waiting at our host's invitation for a 
 dish of roast corn he was preparing, the little animals 
 thronged round us, squatting round the fire, putting their 
 noses into the pot, and displaying all the eccentricities of 
 the spoiled children of indulgent parents. We had wanted 
 Captain Stephenson and his officers to see a Bedoui 
 encampment, and inquiring of Sheik Suleiman if there 
 were any of his tribe about, he had replied saying there 
 were none within less than three days' journey ; so evi- 
 dently our friend was an accomplished liar like the rest. 
 
 Next day we were joined by Suleiman. He was 
 doggedly obstructive at first, being very unwilling that we 
 should go with him ; but after some trouble it was 
 arranged. Suleiman had conducted Palmer on his explo- 
 rations in the Tih in 1869, and was a man of some 
 presence and force of character. We visited a number 
 of Bedoui encampments during the day ; got a shot at 
 some gazelle that were feeding on the new grass at 
 about eight hundred yards range, and much impressed 
 the Bedouin as the bullets splashed up the dust at so 
 great a distance. We also visited a number of rude 
 stone-monuments in Wadi el Aggab. These nawamis 
 (sepulchres) did not impress us with any sense of solemnity. 
 
174 New Year's Eve on the Tilt. [CHAP. vm. 
 
 They are mere heaps of loose stones, such as two or three 
 men could form in half an hour with very little exertion : 
 in one case the stones were arranged in the form of a 
 rude circle. However, whether the monumental relics of 
 the Amalekites, or the site of a modern Bedoui encamp- 
 ment, it would be difficult to say ; probably the former, as 
 Bedouin do not generally encamp on the top of hills, but 
 in shady nooks under their lea. 
 
 Under Suleiman's guidance we travelled north-west 
 across country, in the direction of the camp where Salem 
 Subheh was supposed to be in hiding. Sheik Suleiman 
 now professed to be glad we had come, as he suspected 
 Shedid of laying a trap for him by his message about Ibn 
 Subheh. Encamping that night at a Bedoui encampment 
 we had to celebrate New Year's Eve; so a kid was killed, 
 and the cook feasted the party after his best fashion. 
 During these few days the fog had been very heavy over the 
 Tih, not lifting at all until well towards noon, and Colonel 
 Warren determined to reach the camp of Shweiki, where 
 Subheh was supposed to be in hiding, by a forced march. 
 Early next morning we started, our route laying across 
 the dry beds of watercourses, bristling with the blades of 
 the fresh grass, which springs up after the rains and trans- 
 forms the arid desert for a few weeks into a smiling 
 grazing-land across flat tracks of white clay, now smooth as 
 a billiard-table for hundreds of yards, and again dotted with 
 black flints. About noon the fog lifted, and an hour later 
 we surrounded the encampment of Shweiki ; but no 
 Subheh was to be found there, nor could the Bedouin give 
 us any intelligence of him. 
 
 In the afternoon we examined a hill close to Shweiki 's 
 encampment. Amongst the strata forming the hill we 
 observed some sandstone which outcrops beneath the 
 
CHAP, viii.] Hill near Shweiki's Camp. 175 
 
 limestone of the Till ; both descriptions of strata were 
 inclined upwards towards the centre of the hill, such as is 
 generally to be seen in the formation of a volcano, but we 
 failed to find any evidence of eruptive rocks. From the 
 top we got a splendid view of Jebel Yeleg, and the 
 country to the north-west, and descending on the far 
 side we made the half -circuit of the hill and returned to 
 camp at sunset.* 
 
 * At the time we visited this hill we did not think much of the matter, 
 but in the light of the Geological Reconnaissance of this country, made in 
 1884 by Professor Hull, it becomes of some importance. 
 
 The surface formation of the plateau of the Tih is of two kinds, the 
 Nummulitic and Cretaceous Limestone, with strata to all intents and 
 purposes horizontal. Projecting through this homogeneous and extensive 
 tract Professor Hull in his map shows two blocks of older strata, apparently 
 the mountains of Ihkrimm and Hilall. These were not visited by Professor 
 Hull himself, but by the Rev. F. W. Holland, and upon the strength of his 
 observation these two isolated tracts of sandstone and crystalline rock, of a 
 much earlier geological period than the limestone, are placed as islands 
 arising from the surrounding sea of cretaceous formation. 
 
 Now the hill we ascended lay about N.W. and S.E., and was about seven 
 miles long at the foot ; the strata composing it Avere partly sandstone, and 
 were steeply inclined to the N.E. The following is the description of it 
 entered in our diary : " The hill is detached from Yeleg The strata is 
 upheaved in such a manner that it has the appearance of a volcano. Two 
 descriptions of strata are visible all round, the inner ring at a much steeper 
 angle than the outer. The inner one rises to about four hundred feet. It 
 was a point of interest to know if this inclination of the strata extended all 
 round the hill, and we started to walk up it about 3 p.m. On reaching the 
 summit of the outer ring, the second ring was found, between which and 
 the first one was a considerable depression. On arrival at the top of the 
 inner ring it was found that the remainder of the circle of the hill (from 
 W. to S.E.) had disappeared, if it ever existed, and nothing but a 
 flat plain was visible. The party went down the north side, and saw 
 a good deal of sandstone and baked earth ; no appearance of granite 
 or trap. They passed round the west end of the hill and arrived in camp 
 at sunset." 
 
 It appears very probable that the group of mountains, Jebels Hilall, 
 Ihkrimm, Yeleg, Magara, and Feli, are all composed of rocks of a greater 
 age than the limestone of the Tih plateau, and from their appearance, as 
 viewed from a distance, they would appear to be formed, like the hill we 
 visited, of stratified rock, the strata of which is considerably tilted towards 
 the summit. From the shape of these hills it seenis highly improbable that 
 
176 Visit to Sadr Postponed. [CHAP. vm. 
 
 Next day we started to return to Nackl. Suleiman, 
 after going some way, expressed a wish to leave us, so he 
 was presented with a sovereign and dismissed. On the 
 3rd we arrived at Nackl, and found that Shedid had 
 sent in some more prisoners, whom it was necessary to 
 examine. 
 
 Shedid had already much exceeded the time allowed 
 him in the contract, but being still in possession of the 
 waters of Wadi Sadr and surrounding country, and being 
 anxious to continue the search for ten days longer, Colonel 
 Warren postponed his projected visit to the scene of the 
 tragedy to survey the vicinity and make his final examina- 
 tion of the ground. It was therefore decided to go south, 
 to the Convent of Mount Sinai, to make some inquiries of 
 the monks there about the state of the desert during the 
 war, &c., and impress upon the Towara what we had 
 already done on the Bedouin of the central plateau, viz., 
 that the guilty persons wn-xt be given up to be dealt 
 with by the Government, or the search would be 
 indefinitely extended to the expense and annoyance 
 of the tribes concerned; and the upset of the desert 
 generally. 
 
 The result of the six weeks' work which this chapter 
 aims at chronicling were important. We had now emis- 
 
 they were thrust up along faults, but were rather the effect of intrusive 
 masses of eruptive rock. Where this eruptive rock has disappeared to, in 
 the case of the hill we visited, is a question of importance ; but whatever the 
 explanation of these grand masses of Yeleg, Hilall, &c., it is probable that 
 their presence betokens some variation to the flat waste of yellow that in the 
 geological map covers the area of the Tih where they stand, betokening an 
 unvaried continuance of the level cretaceous formation. 
 
 In this connection it is interesting to note that Colonel Kitchener in 
 " Seir and Moab " records finding a volcanic outburst of trap rock west of 
 Bir el Hemmah, a place in this neighbourhood that he passed when travelling 
 west on a line between Jebels Magara and Yeleg. 
 
CHAP, viii.] Sir Richard Burton. 177 
 
 saries all over the desert endeavouring to get in the people 
 required. The sheiks of every tribe implicated had bound 
 themselves over to this work, and everything appeared in a 
 fair way of progress ; and now that the rains were 
 diminishing, and the country recovering its ordinary arid 
 condition, greater results were to be expected from the 
 search-parties. Shedid, while needing constant jogging, 
 was apparently anxious to exhibit his power over his 
 people, and ensure the confirmation of his appointment in 
 his father's place by the new Government. And in this 
 respect he was the more careful to gain our goodwill, 
 owing to the fact that the head-men of the Bedouin, 
 recognising the astuteness of the elder brother, showed a 
 preference for young Saad as head-man, as under him they 
 would be likely to have an easier time than they could 
 expect under Salami Shedid. 
 
 During this time the Home Government, acting under 
 the pressure of the friends of the murdered men, had sent 
 out Captain Eichard Burton,* the celebrated traveller and 
 explorer, to assist in the Search. He had come to join us 
 at Suez, and, giving expression to the opinion that the 
 evidence, obtained by us as to the fate that had be- 
 fallen Palmer and his companions, was not absolutely 
 conclusive, he had been sent to Syria to see if it was 
 practicable to do anything towards a fresh search for the 
 missing men being made from that direction. Almost 
 simultaneously reports arrived from Syria reports which 
 are supposed to have had their origin in Mr. Schapira, 
 the notorious forger of the Schapira manuscripts and 
 manufacturer of the Moabite pottery that Palmer was 
 
 * Sir Eichard Burtou, K.C.M.G., who died in 1892. 
 N 
 
178 Burton Returns to Trieste. [CHAP. vm. 
 
 a prisoner in the hands of the Bedouin in the vicinity 
 of Petra. 
 
 Captain Burton's services, however, were found to be 
 unnecessary, and on account of the stipulation that Shedid 
 had made, that he should not be interfered with in his 
 desert search for a month, the renowned explorer returned 
 to his Consulate at Trieste, and Colonel Warren was re- 
 duced again to his two assistants to aid him in the conduct 
 of the Search -Expedition. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 START FROM NACKL. CAMEL-RIDING. THE Tin PLATEAU. THE 
 AMALEKITES. RAILWAY COMMUNICATION BETWEEN EGYPT AND 
 SYRIA. MOUNTAINS OF THE PENINSULA. SERABIT EL KHADEM. 
 DESTRUCTION OF TREES. BEDAN. APPROACH TO JEBEL MTJSA. 
 CONVENT OF MOUNT SINAI. MUSA NUSIER'S CAMP. WADI 
 FEIRAN. ASPECT OF THE PENINSULA. GEOLOGICAL CHANGES. 
 STRENGTH OF DESERT TRIBES. 
 
 WE left Nackl on January 4th for the Convent of 
 Mount Sinai. Our route lay over the Desert of the Tih, 
 which was no longer of the same flat, monotonous nature 
 that we had travelled over more to the north, hut inter- 
 sected hy depressions forming part of, or connected with, 
 Wadi el Arish. The ground rose gradually as we journeyed 
 south, and was varied by several sharp descents, the lie of 
 the strata being inclined gently upwards towards the south. 
 At one place, which we had been approaching up what 
 seemed to be an interminable slope, the edge of an escarp- 
 ment 100 feet high was suddenly reached, and before 
 us, much to our surprise and delight, spread out in a 
 glorious panorama was a great wadi, some five miles across, 
 and extending southwards through the haze in plane after 
 plane of dimly outlined detail, like an expanse of troubled 
 sea. Down one of the re-entering angles in this scarp the 
 camels wound their tortuous way, grunting and growling 
 at the badness of the road and the uncomfortable burdens 
 swaying about upon their backs. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 Camel-riding. [CHAP. ix. 
 
 The hills of this part of the Tih, as, for instance, 
 Bodia and Ejimi, appear from a distance as flat-topped 
 elevations bounded by steep scarps, such as form the dis- 
 tinctive feature of much of South African scenery. They 
 are apparently the remnants of an earlier period, when the 
 country stood at a higher level, and from possessing a 
 slightly harder surface have escaped the general levelling 
 action of the rains. 
 
 By this time we had all become tolerably inured to 
 camel-riding, and our beasts had little to congratulate 
 themselves upon in any want of toughness in their masters' 
 hides. Camel-riding, despite the endeavours of the drome- 
 daries at the Zoo, and the familiarising of thousands of 
 Englishmen with this, as with most other things of 
 Eastern life, which has of necessity followed England's 
 intervention in Egypt despite all this, camel -riding is 
 still to most Britons an uncommon proceeding, in which 
 novelty covers a multitude of imperfections. The swaying 
 motion caused by his peculiar gait the camel in his walk 
 follows his off-hind by his off-fore, then near-hind and 
 near-fore, instead of as in a horse the off-hind being 
 followed by the near-fore, the near-hind by the off-fore 
 is very objectionable for the first two or three days, for the 
 unusual motion brings into play many muscles of the body 
 which generally escape active duty, and the result is one 
 gets painfully stiff. The camel, too, is very loosely 
 jointed, and its legs seem entirely wanting in elasticity, so 
 that the flop with which he plumps down his foot accen- 
 tuates the swaying from side to side, and makes one all the 
 more uncomfortable. 
 
 The saddles are generally very lumpy, and the wooden 
 pommels in front and behind are responsible for many an 
 unwonted abrasion of the cuticle. Stirrups there were 
 
CHAP ix.j Eccentricities of the Camel. 181 
 
 none; to grip the front pommel with the knee is of no 
 avail when the camel begins to trot, while to hold on to 
 the pommel with the hands can only be resorted to when 
 one has been entirely bereft, by physical pain, of all self- 
 respect ; so one has to plump up and down, alighting 
 sometimes on the middle of the saddle, which hurts, 
 sometimes partly on the saddle and partly on the pommel, 
 which hurts more, and, unfortunately, sometimes on the 
 pommel, which is painful to a degree. 
 
 The great advantage of camel-back is that when the 
 rider has got used to it, he may indulge in perfect freedom 
 as to how he shall sit or what he shall do. The animal 
 is perfectly regardless of its rider, and one may sit front- 
 ways, backways, or sideways, according to fancy or the 
 exigencies of the weather. We once did some seventy miles 
 across the sand looking at our beasts' tails all the while ; 
 for the khamsin wind was blowing from the direction we 
 were travelling in, and, burdened with the dry sand of the 
 desert, it was impossible to face it ; so, with the hoods of 
 our abbas drawn well over our heads, we left matters 
 to Providence and our camels. On camel-back one has no 
 trouble about reins ; but can smoke, eat, or read, as 
 comfortably as on the top of a coach. The rope that does 
 duty for a rein comes away from the animal's halter at one 
 side, or is hitched on to his lower jaw ; it is chiefly useful 
 to call the beast to attention when he requires rousing, but 
 may be used to drag his head round if it is necessary to 
 change direction. If this does not do one resorts to one's 
 stick, and it is indeed heavy work to apply it to the camel 
 to any effect, for his epidermis is impervious to all but the 
 heartiest cudgelling. 
 
 One bad habit the camel indulges in frequently, as he 
 passes through a wadi where there is any herbage, he will 
 
182 Bedoui Salt. [CHAP. ix. 
 
 feed on the way, stretching his long neck, and snapping 
 at the scrub or grass on either side of his path ; thus 
 intensifying to a horrible degree his habitual swaying 
 motion. This habit breeds resistance in the rider, and one 
 delights to foil him in his desire by pulling at the halter 
 as he makes for a tender mouthful ; but it is little use, for 
 he can tire the strongest of arms in a tug-of-war of this 
 sort ; so, to avoid defeat, one fastens the halter up short to 
 the front pommel, and continues in fear and trembling that 
 the beast will trip up in his ineffectual efforts to pluck 
 the tempting branches of dry twigs just out of his reach, 
 and in tripping precipitate one over his head to the 
 ground. 
 
 We had as escort on this journey Musa Nusier and a 
 few of his men as camel-drivers. They were all in good 
 spirits at the idea of getting out of the winter weather on 
 the elevated Tih, to the low sheltered valleys of their own 
 country. The Tih is nominally Tiyahah country, and, on 
 our way south, we saw several men of that tribe, and also 
 some Haiwatat. At a certain point in our march the 
 camel-drivers commenced eagerly digging in the ground 
 with their hands, and produced some crystals of calcium, 
 which the Bedouin use for salt. The ground in the 
 vicinity showed signs of these crystals being constantly 
 found here, and it was all disturbed. 
 
 In the wadis that we crossed we frequently found 
 traces of sandstone, though it was not observed in situ 
 anywhere, limestone in fairly level beds invariably com- 
 posing the strata. The southern extremity of the Tih 
 has a level of over 3000 feet. This portion of the 
 plateau is visited in winter by heavy rains and mists, 
 which result in a more liberal sprinkling of bushes and 
 scrub than in the lower part of the country. Tamarisk 
 
CHAP, ix.] A Winters Niylit on the Tik. 183 
 
 bushes grow to a good size here, and there is very fair 
 pasture for camels and goats. On the 6th we crossed 
 Wadi el Arish, and halted at the water of Nuteighineh, 
 which is situated in a little watercourse, a tributary of the 
 main wadi. The water wells out from several out -cropping 
 beds of limestone, which rock also forms the bed of the 
 valley. Below the spring the watercourse is bounded by 
 perpendicular cliffs, from thirty to forty feet high, and 
 between them, at one point, is a deep pool of water. 
 
 The temperature was exceedingly low at this time, 
 and snow was falling ; so we pushed on, hoping to 
 get off the Till before nightfall. We knew the main 
 escarpment could not be many miles in advance, and we 
 feared to be blocked up in the pass for some days if a 
 heavy fall of snow occurred. However, the road pursued 
 a very tortuous course ; and since Musa Nusier protested 
 that we could not possibly get down the main escarpment 
 at night, we pitched our camp and made the best of things 
 where we were. The night was spent in periodic scares, 
 digging trenches to lead away the water from our tent ; 
 for the rain fell in torrents, and, although we were 
 located pretty far up the sides of the pass, the torrents 
 which rise in these dry, barren countries, on the occasion 
 of heavy rains, often assume most formidable dimensions, 
 washing away men and herds in their course ; so we were 
 not sorry when morning broke, and we could proceed again. 
 I was much struck by the quantity of water we saw 
 fall over the Tih during this journey, and could not help 
 reverting to some remarks of Professor Palmer's, where he 
 states very forcibly that it is the Bedoui that makes the 
 desert, the term " son of the desert " being rather a 
 misnomer. If the Bedouin were endowed with any 
 agricultural tastes and capacity, Arabia Petrsea could be 
 
184 Policy of the Rechabites. [CHAP. ix. 
 
 covered with farms supporting large numbers of cattle. 
 There are many parts of South Africa which do not show 
 to advantage compared with it ; but there the practical 
 energy and prevision of the Boers convert the wilderness 
 into a valuable pastoral country ; and, storing up the water 
 by means of dams, retain that inestimable gift of 
 Providence for use, instead of allowing it to run away and 
 become lost in the sea or in the sand, as do the improvident 
 Bedouin. 
 
 In this connection one's thoughts cannot but recur to 
 the commands given to his followers by Jonadab, the son 
 of Bechab, which are recorded in the xxxvi. chapter of 
 Jeremiah, where it says : " Ye shall drink no wine, 
 neither ye, nor your sons, for ever ; neither shall ye build 
 house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyards nor have any, 
 but all your days ye shall live in tents ; that ye may live 
 many days in the land wherein ye sojourn." And the fiat 
 of the Lord which follows in the same chapter, viz : 
 " Jonadab, the son of Bechab, shall not want a man to 
 stand before me for ever." Certainly no policy that could 
 possibly be devised is more calculated to keep the Bedoui 
 the possessor and sole occupant of the desert than this, his 
 policy of desert making ; and in our age of territorial 
 expansion, when every corner of ground which may 
 possibly form a home for the surplus population of Europe 
 is rapidly absorbed this is probably the reason that 
 Arabia has so long remained, and is still likely to remain, 
 the home of the Bedoui. 
 
 If this were the country of the Amalekites, one can 
 well imagine how it fostered their wild and lawless habits. 
 An almost impenetrable block of waste, cutting off Egypt 
 from the East except for the trade-route along the north 
 shore, it was only traversed with difficulty, and with the 
 
. ix.] Railway Communication. 185 
 
 assistance of the inhabitants. Doubtless Amalek, the 
 " first of the nations," used it in this respect as a source 
 of livelihood, as the Bedouin do in the present day in 
 respect to travellers and caravans ; and all who, like the 
 Israelites, had the temerity to force their way through, 
 without the permission or aid of the inhabitants, had not 
 only to surmount the natural perils of the waterless desert, 
 but, in addition, were exposed to the onslaughts of the 
 wild denizens of the Tih. " Eemember what Amalek did 
 unto thee by the way as ye came forth from Egypt, how 
 he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee, 
 all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wert faint and 
 weary." 
 
 The question of a railway uniting Egypt and the 
 Holy Land has occasionally been mooted, but has not 
 received the attention it would appear to deserve. Possibly 
 this is due to the political difficulty of making the 
 necessary arrangements for the Syrian end of the line, 
 while the government of that country is vested in the 
 Porte. It has usually been assumed that the railway 
 should follow the line of the old trade-route between El 
 Kantara and Gaza, via Gatie, El Arish, and Kanyunis ; 
 and the exceptional difficulty of the shifting sands of this 
 district has interposed to bar due consideration of the 
 project. It is not apparent, however, that that route 
 excels others in any respect, except shortness ; and the line 
 across the Tih from Suez to Jerusalem would apparently 
 offer greater advantages. This latter route would certainly 
 offer greater facilities for the construction and maintenance 
 of the line ; for the shifting sands, except a narrow belt 
 near Suez, would thereby be avoided. The level Tih is 
 the par excellence of country for railway construction ; the 
 earthwork required would be remarkably slight, and, except 
 
186 Edge of Tih Escarpment. [CHAP. ix. 
 
 for a few bridges crossing the seils, and the necessity of 
 importing all the sleepers required, the line would be a 
 very economical one to make. It is probable that the 
 sinking of artesian-wells on the Tih would result in the 
 supply of an abundance of water ; for over this great 
 plateau rain falls at times in great abundance, trans- 
 forming the dry wadis into the beds of foaming torrents, 
 the water of which rarely reaches the sea, but gradually 
 sinks into the great absorbent reservoir of limestone, of 
 which the plateau is composed. The service of the railway 
 would, with these wells an assured success, be an easy 
 matter ; and as the value of the district would undoubtedly 
 be greatly enhanced by the creation of permanent supplies 
 of water in its midst, the results of the line on the desert 
 itself could not fail to be of great importance. 
 
 It is a glorious feature of elevated countries in low 
 latitudes that the dingiest of downpours is often rapidly 
 succeeded by the most brilliant sunshine. Next day, as 
 we left our mountain-camp, we could enjoy to the full the 
 exhilarating effects of bright sunshine after the tempestuous 
 night. A short march brought us to the top of the Tih 
 escarpment, and the rugged masses of the Sinaitic moun- 
 tains spread out before our expectant gaze. The situation 
 is of the grandest. The scarp, stretching out from our 
 feet in a drop of some thirteen hundred feet, had at its 
 base a broad valley of brilliant yellow sand, from which, as 
 in an archipelago, rose abrupt masses of blue and dark 
 maroon sandstone. Beyond was the rugged form of 
 Serabit el Khadem ; and, again, further in the distance, 
 rose the peaks of the granite mountains of the peninsula, 
 showing, by their elevated and jagged tops, the enduring 
 character and tenacity of their component rocks, compared 
 with the blunt masses of the sandstone mountains at our feet. 
 
CHAP, ix.] The Tori Territory. 187 
 
 After feasting our eyes on the glorious scenery before 
 us, we commenced the descent, and in a few minutes were 
 on the sand thirteen hundred feet below. The escarpment 
 is almost precipitous ; it is partly composed of sandstone, 
 the nearness of which to the surface of the plateau we 
 were now for the first time made aware of. As we receded 
 from it, upon the plain below, it looked like an impassable 
 precipice ; and if all the passes up to the Tih are as hard 
 to see as the one from Nuteighineh which we had just 
 followed, it would be difficult to imagine a more effective 
 natural boundary between two adjacent countries than this 
 formidable escarpment. 
 
 Arrived at the bottom, we were in To wara territory, and 
 Musa Nusier begged us to put our arms aside in our 
 saddle-bags, as we were now in a friendly country amongst 
 his own people. We readily complied, for Colonel Warren 
 had all confidence in Musa, who in all his dealings with us 
 had demonstrated a singular integrity and straightforward- 
 ness of character. The herbage in the Tori valleys is not 
 nearly as profuse as on the Tih ; but, notwithstanding this, 
 there were plenty of goats, and it was now an easy matter 
 to supply the pot. The climate was very different from 
 that of the exposed Tih ; and, although at night-time the 
 sand quickly became cold, so that our water-skins were 
 frozen solid by the morning, there being little or no mist, 
 the rising of the sun was soon followed by a rise of 
 temperature, as high perhaps as 80 F. in the shade by 
 10 a.m., and we could forget the cold of the night basking 
 beneath the almost tropical sun. 
 
 Now that we had reached the country through which 
 the Israelites were supposed to have passed under the 
 guidance of Moses, our thoughts and conversation 
 frequently turned to the ancient record, and the evidences 
 
188 Serabit el Khadem. [CHAP. ix. 
 
 of the country in that connection. It is probable that in 
 the years that have elapsed since the Exodus no great 
 alteration has taken place in the appearance of the country. 
 It may be drier than it used to be ; there is, indeed, 
 evidence of a much denser population once existing there 
 than the available water-supply would at present allow. 
 For the rest, the country is perfectly adapted to illustrate 
 the Biblical story of the Exodus, and except for some 
 particulars, which will be touched upon in the next chapter 
 fosters the identification of sites ad lib. 
 
 We climbed to the top of Serabit el Khadem, and 
 inspected the remains of the Egyptian temple which 
 crowns its summit. The temple is rather a mean affair, 
 but the inscribed slabs which form part of it are extra- 
 ordinarily clear-cut and well preserved. Professor Palmer 
 informs us, in " The Desert of the Exodus," that this 
 temple, and other tablets and inscriptions scattered over the 
 peninsula, show that at the time of the Exodus, and long 
 anterior to it, the Egyptian Government were working 
 extensive mines in this district. It was occupied by a large 
 colony of workmen, with detachments of troops to preserve 
 order, the workmen being largely convicts. Round the temple 
 of Serabit el Khadem were heaps of slag, showing the 
 nature of the industry that once must have made a busy 
 neighbourhood of the now deserted mountains of the 
 peninsula ; and amongst the rubbish, in and about the 
 temple, we picked up many fragments of old pottery and 
 glass. There is, however, little to reward the traveller for 
 his climb up to the ruins, except that the hill forms a new 
 vantage point from which to gaze at the glorious scenery 
 of the surroundings. 
 
 Our road to Mount Sinai lay for many miles along 
 narrow wadis, pent up on either hand by masses of sand- 
 
CHAP, ix.] Destruction of Trees. 189 
 
 stone or granite mountains, and covered at the bottom with 
 white sand, or other alluvial deposit. There were acacia- 
 trees in these wadis ; but all had been pollard in a very 
 rough manner, so as to be nearly destroyed. This was 
 owing to a foolish regulation of the Egyptian Government, 
 which, in 1873, imposed a tax of charcoal upon the Bedouin 
 of these parts. Such an egregious act of folly was worthy 
 of the rule of the spendthrift Ismail, and has apparently 
 already resulted in a serious diminution of rain-fall. The 
 Bedouin complained that the rain had entirely failed of 
 late years, and Musa Nusier pointed out to us places in 
 the wadis which he remembered thickly covered with trees, 
 now bare of all verdure. Colonel Warren explained to him 
 the relation of cause and effect, and urged him to stop the 
 wholesale destruction of the trees going on, and which, if 
 persisted in, would make the country uninhabitable and 
 force his people to evacuate it. The sheik took his lecture 
 very intelligently, and promised to bring the matter before 
 his next Council of State. 
 
 Not a moment too soon will have been this action, if 
 indeed, any has resulted ; for, what with the Bedouin, 
 their camels, and their goats, it is a wonder there is a 
 green leaf left in the peninsula. The Bedoui looks 
 upon the trees as only ministering to the wants of the 
 moment, and supplying him with either fire-wood, shade, 
 or charcoal for the payment of his taxes ; and as for tree- 
 planting such a notion would never enter into his head. 
 The camel looks upon leaf, thorny branch, or root, each as 
 excellent food, and hesitates not one moment to transfer 
 each and all to his stomach when the opportunity offers. 
 The goat, however, is probably more harmful than the 
 other two put together, seeking out every tender twig and 
 shoot, or nibbling at the bark of the stems, thus rendering 
 
190 77te Sedan. [CHAP. ix. 
 
 growth a hopeless impossibility in the present attenuated 
 state of the vegetation. 
 
 Notwithstanding the little reverence shown by the 
 Bedouin to their few remaining trees, there is one exception 
 to this in the " shik " tree, one of which is generally to 
 be seen in each wadi, and is sacred to the memory of some 
 great man now passed away. This tree is preserved from 
 damage or destruction ; and round it the people assemble 
 on certain days to dance the tawaf, and perform their 
 rites, /tt is interesting to observe that the tawaf* (a sort 
 of walk-round) is performed with the left hands towards 
 the tree ; so that the dancers go round in a contrary 
 direction to the apparent motion of the sun in the northern 
 hemisphere, or to the movement of hands of a watch, i.e., 
 in the way it is customary to waltz. 
 
 From the light-coloured strip of alluvial soil in the bed 
 of the wadis masses of rock rose on either hand in abrupt 
 steeps ; and high up we would often see the head and 
 horns of the bedan (ibex) looking down from some safe 
 eyrie at our cavalcade below. The mountains of the 
 peninsula are so smooth and slippery that hunting these 
 ln><l(ni is a very difficult matter, unless the soles of one's 
 feet are tough enough to do without boots. We made 
 several attempts at them, but never succeeded in bringing 
 one down, being unable to do more than make a short 
 dash from our line of march after the illusory pair of 
 horns, which promptly disappeared either for good, or to 
 reappear on some further peak high above our heads. 
 The best way to hunt the bedan is to sleep on the moun- 
 tains at night, and in the morning you are likely to get a 
 
 * This is one of the chief ceremonies that a Mohammedan performs at 
 Mecca, doing the tawaf round the sacred Kaaba. 
 
CHAP. IX.] 
 
 Jebel Serial 191 
 
 shot at some unsuspecting animal below you ; but he has 
 a wide and acute vision for all below him, and is very 
 difficult to work up to. 
 
 On the evening of the 8th we camped close to Wadi 
 es Sheik, within full view of the lofty Jebel Serbal, which, 
 until recent years, divided the honours of the Sacred 
 Mount with Jebel Musa. The outline of Serbal is a very 
 fine and jagged one, but, after the publication of the 
 results of the Survey of 1872, it ceased to be regarded as 
 a formidable rival of Jebel Musa, which latter was generally 
 preferred as the real Mount Sinai. 
 
 On the 9th we crossed Wadi Solaf, reaching the 
 Convent of Mount Sinai by the Nakb Hawy pass. The 
 granite masses which form the majority of the hills around 
 Jebel Musa are particularly fine. The vegetation is here 
 much more abundant than in the lower parts of the 
 peninsula, for the ivadis are considerably elevated, the 
 plain of Er Rahah, close under Mount Sinai, being at a 
 level of between four and five thousand feet above the sea. 
 The pass of Nakb Hawy is very rugged, and baggage - 
 camels generally go round by Wadi es Sheik ; we were 
 anxious, however, to avoid the detour, and get to the 
 convent as soon as possible, so forced our animals up the 
 pass, doing the four or five miles in two hours. Nimrs 
 infest the pass, so say the Bedouin ; there are several 
 springs, round which palm-trees, ferns, and grass are 
 closely packed, each striving to gain a monopoly of the 
 precious fluid. 
 
 As we emerged on to the plain of Er Eahah, at the 
 top of the pass, the scene which lay before us was very 
 striking. Stretching to the front was a broad plain dotted 
 with scrub, hemmed in on either hand by rugged hills ; 
 and away beyond the plain was a massive rock, Has 
 
192 Plain of Er Rahah. [CHAP. ix. 
 
 Susafeh, the place where Moses was supposed to have 
 stood to proclaim the law to the assembly in the plain 
 below. I do not think we arrived at this spot with much 
 idea of the greater fitness of Jebel Musa than any other 
 mountain to illustrate the Biblical record but rather 
 disposed to hold the modern identification of sites in 
 somewhat contemptuous regard, as related in no distant 
 degree to that hunger for the remunerative -marvellous 
 which induces the monks of Sinai to group within an 
 hour's walk of their convent many sites of scriptural 
 interest, regardless of the requirements of time and 
 space. There is, however, a majesty about Jebel Musa 
 more eloquent than the most learned disquisition of its 
 abstract claims as a rival to Mount Serbal ; and while 
 under its influence we showed little tendency to carp at 
 the theory which attributes to it God's choice of the spot 
 where His chosen people should worship Him.* 
 
 Er Rahah is beautifully adapted for maintaining the 
 scenic effect of its treasures. As one traverses it from the 
 western end, one can but see the tops of the heights which 
 form the Mount Sinai group ; and the centre of the 
 plain swelling up cuts off from sight its eastern end at 
 which is the convent. The plain is indeed in shape like 
 a cathedral, along the aisle of which we were approach- 
 ing. At the east end, in the chancel, is situated the convent. 
 In the space between the south transept and the chancel 
 is situated Jebel Musa, with Eas Susafeh in its front. 
 The actual peak of Jebel Musa was hidden from us as we 
 proceeded up the plain, and our eyes were fixed on Eas 
 Susafeh, the pulpit-rock of the Law-giver, a mass of granite 
 
 * In the last few years criticism has again been at work, and has dis- 
 credited Jebel Musa as the real Mount Sinai. 
 
CHAP. IX.] 
 
 Arrival at the Convent. 
 
 193 
 
 rising sheer from the plain some two thousand feet. As 
 we reached the watershed of the plain, its extensions right 
 and left opened up to us ; while away in the distance, 
 backed by a conical hill, we saw the convent situated in 
 
 CONVENT. 
 
 JEBEL MUSA. 
 
 RAS SUSAFEH. 
 
 WADI ES SHEIK. 
 
 WADI EL LEJA. 
 
 W 
 
 its groves of cypress and fruit-trees. Bathed in the warm 
 tints of the setting sun behind us, the granite masses, 
 hedging in the valley on either hand, formed a noble 
 setting to the ancient convent ; and so contrasted was the 
 scene in its stirring associations with the uninspiring 
 inquiry we had for months been closely engaged upon, and 
 in the presence of the convent, the only feature of civilisa- 
 tion and Christianity which the desert had to show, that 
 it was even as if we were reaching the end of a pilgrimage 
 and arriving at the long-looked -for shrine. 
 
 Pitching our camp a quarter of a mile from the con- 
 vent, we proceeded thither under the care of an old monk 
 
 o 
 
194 
 
 Reception by the Monks. 
 
 [CHAP. IX. 
 
 who had been sent to receive us he all the while showing 
 great trepidation, for his fellow-monks, he whispered, were 
 going to fire a salute of two guns in honour of Colonel 
 Warren, and it was a question whether the unusual con- 
 cussion would not bring down the convent walls or do 
 some unlooked-for damage. However, discretion prevailed, 
 protecting them from any serious consequences of their 
 rejoicing, and the guns were not fired. 
 
 THE CONVENT OF MOUNT SINAI. 
 
 We were courteously received by the monks, who ap- 
 peared to be grateful to Colonel Warren for the measures 
 he had taken on his visit to Tor during the war measures 
 resulting in the protection of the Archbishop and people 
 there, and in a partial revival of law and order in the 
 desert, where, at that time, these qualities were conspicuous 
 by their absence. We were treated to a quaint pick-me- 
 up directly we had been ushered into the guest-chamber. 
 A large silver tray was brought in on which were tumblers 
 of clear, ice-cold water, glasses of araki (a liquor much 
 drank in the East), a jar containing some sweet jelly, and 
 
CHAP. TX.] The Sights of Jebel Musa. 195 
 
 ./ / 
 
 two silver leaves holding silver spoons. The refresher 
 consisted of first drinking the araki, then taking a 
 spoonful of jelly, and finally drinking a tumbler of 
 water; the effect of the whole was excellent, and paved 
 the way to thorough enjoyment of the convivial cigarette 
 and coffee. 
 
 Unfortunately, the Archbishop and the Archimandrite 
 were absent at the time of our visit at Tor ; and the inferior 
 monks could give us no new information upon the state of 
 the desert during the war, the behaviour of Arabi's 
 governors at Nackl and El Arish, the rumours that 
 Palmer's capture and murder had occasioned, and the 
 many other points we had hoped to obtain information 
 upon. 
 
 We made as thorough an examination of the convent 
 as our time would allow. The sights are such as may 
 tickle the sense of sanctity of the Russian peasant the 
 class which mainly furnishes the pilgrims who visit the 
 convent but are not worthy of the place or its associa- 
 tions. There are some interesting old manuscripts, 
 beautifully illuminated, on which the monks place great 
 value, though it is probable that the books themselves are 
 utterly beyond the ken of any of the inmates of the 
 convent. The library has given to the world several 
 precious old works ; and, besides the famous " Codex 
 Sinaiticus," Mrs. Lewis's and Mrs. Gibson's recent find of 
 an old Syriac text of the four Gospels promises to be of 
 considerable importance. 
 
 There is an abundant supply of water from the springs 
 in the valley above the convent, the water is stored in 
 large underground reservoirs, and is led out to irrigate the 
 gardens below. 
 
 We could only spare one day, or rather part of a day, 
 
 o 2 
 
196 Departure from the Convent. 
 
 for seeing the convent and its vicinity ; but succeeded in 
 reaching the top of Jebel Musa, which attains a height of 
 7359 feet. The well-worn steps which mark the way to 
 the top bespeak the many pilgrims that have made the 
 ascent. Close to the summit we found snow in a recess 
 which the sun could not reach, while in the rays of the 
 sun the heat was considerable. The panorama obtained 
 from the top is very fine : the great barrier of the Tih 
 bounds the view to the north, and all around are the peaks 
 of the Sinaitic mountains, only one or two of which are 
 higher than Jebel Musa. The mountain itself is composed 
 of granite, and upon the top, and at several places on the 
 way up, are churches which are made of sandstone. On 
 our descent we saw some bedan, and had a short ineffectual 
 hunt after them ; but we had no time to waste, as our 
 baggage was already miles away en route for Wadi Feiran, 
 and we had only time to say good-bye to our friends the 
 monks and follow it. They were very effusive in their 
 expressions of goodwill, loading us with mementoes 
 of our flying visit, in the shape of manna,* some 
 preserve made of dates, and several loaves of leaven 
 bread ; and, somewhat burdened, we hurried off after our 
 baggage-animals . 
 
 Colonel Warren wished to return to Wadi Sadr with 
 all speed, and make a survey of the ground ; but as we 
 were to pass through Wadi Feiran, he had promised to 
 visit Musa Nusier's encampment ; and the sheik had 
 therefore left us before we reached Sinai to make prepara- 
 tion at his tents for our reception. We reached the 
 sheik's encampment on the llth, and as we galloped up 
 
 * A sweet sort of gum which is palmed off on the long-suffering pilgrim 
 as the manna of the Bible. 
 
CHAP, ix.] Entertainment by Sheik Musa, 197 
 
 on our camels we were received by Musa and a few 
 retainers ; while the women gave us the customary salute 
 of welcome of the East, a vociferous warbling noise like 
 the cooing of doves. We were invited to a collation, 
 which we partook with some fifteen Bedouin of the 
 Towara tribe. The banquet was a solemn, dignified affair, 
 and the Bedouin tackled their portions in a very earnest 
 manner, admitting of no conversation until the talaf was 
 finished and coffee served. 
 
 Then we lit our pipes, and Musa Nusier became 
 communicative. He told us an interesting anecdote of the 
 murder of an Algerian in Wadi Sadr four years before. 
 The matter was investigated by Salami Shedid's father 
 (then the reigning chief), who at once threw the blame on 
 the Aligat section of the Towara. Ode Ismaili, the 
 Aligat sheik, and Musa Nusier were accordingly sent for 
 and thrown into prison. Fortunately for them, a man was 
 arrested in the bazaar at Suez with the purse of the 
 murdered man upon him ; and through him the murderer, 
 a Dubur, was traced and executed. The similarity of this 
 outrage with the one we were engaged in investigating 
 was very remarkable. 
 
 Fifteen years before, Musa said, the Dubur stole a 
 camel-load of spices, and the Shedid had only delivered it 
 up after being threatened with imprisonment. 
 
 Whilst the survey of Sinai was proceeding, when 
 Professor Palmer first visited the country, Musa Nusier 
 was in prison at Cairo, having refused to take part in the 
 guardianship of the Suez Canal. After prolonged litiga- 
 tion, he proved his case from the records in the 
 Government offices at Cairo, and showed that the Towara 
 had never been charged with the care of ground north of 
 the peninsula. 
 
198 Wadi Feirdn. [CHAP. ix. 
 
 It would appear that in the East both the Moslem and 
 Christian records of bygone times for several hundred years 
 back are very complete, and can be made use of to a far 
 greater extent than they can in Europe. Considerable care 
 is devoted to the conservation of documents, and there 
 appears to have been no general destruction of them as 
 was the case in England in the troublous times of the 
 Reformation. Although learning and civilisation have 
 almost departed from the East, they had their rise there, 
 and twelve hundred years ago the East was far ahead 
 of the West in these respects ; in the careful preser- 
 vation of records, the traditions of a better time 
 seem still to perpetuate themselves, and will doubtless 
 some day give valuable materials for research to our 
 Orientalists. 
 
 Musa Nusier complained to Colonel Warren of the 
 taxes the Government exacted from his people ten 
 shillings on every camel-load that they took into Suez, the 
 value of a load rarely exceeding twenty or thirty shillings. 
 He told us also of his attempts at irrigation. He had 
 once built a dam across Wadi Feiran for the purpose of 
 obtaining a supply of water for irrigation purposes. The 
 dam completed, a heavy shower of rain had fallen and 
 swept it clean away ; and the sheik, looking upon that as 
 the hand of Allah, had henceforth desisted in his attempts 
 at improved agriculture. 
 
 Next day we passed through the palm-groves of Wadi 
 Feiran, an extensive oasis numbering some 5000 date- 
 palms. The soil is very fertile, and appears to be derived 
 from an alluvial clayey deposit that once filled the valley. 
 This deposit is visible, in protected corners, at the sides of 
 the wadi, standing up sixty feet above the present level of 
 the watercourse. Professor Palmer and the survey party 
 
CHAP, ix.] Nabatliean Inscriptions. 199 
 
 in 1868 identified this spot with the Biblical battle-scene 
 of Rephidim. Doubtless the oasis has long existed, for 
 early in the Christian era this was the site of the episcopal 
 city of Paran (corrupted, probably, to the modern Feiran). 
 The ruins of the ancient city are still to be seen on the 
 rocks on either side of the wadi. 
 
 On the night of the llth we halted in Wadi Makatteb, 
 among the far-famed Sinaitic inscriptions. It is only of 
 recent years that they have been deciphered, and the 
 theory that they were the work of the Israelites during 
 the Exodus exploded. They are, it is now ascertained, of 
 later origin, about the fourth century, and are either in the 
 Greek or Nabathean language. The profusion with which 
 the peninsula supplies these inscriptions is a remarkable 
 fact, when taken with the absence of all unmistakable 
 traces of the Exodus. Even the miners carved inscriptions 
 and figures on the rocks, and yet the Israelites, who during 
 their desert wanderings must have had very little to do, 
 have left nothing as a memorial of their presence. 
 Perhaps this may be due in some measure to the course of 
 discipline and training which the forty-years' wandering 
 appears to have been designed to afford to strengthen and 
 purify the Israelites after their prolonged sojourn in the 
 morally and physically enervating atmosphere of Egypt. 
 They were to make no altars of hewn or fixed stone ; their 
 one tabernacle was a removable building, carried about 
 wherever they went ; they were fed from day to day by 
 the hand of Grod, and had no need of either cultivating 
 corn or building granaries for its storage ; while their 
 burials seem to have been but simple interments in the 
 earth, without even in the case of their leader Moses 
 any enduring memorial to mark the spot. 
 
 We visited Wadi Magara, where are several mines 
 
200 Aspect of the Peninsula. [CHAP. ix. 
 
 that once supplied work for thousands of people. Some 
 fifty years ago the mines were exploited by a Major 
 Macdonald ; but the venture was not successful, and the 
 ruins of his house are all that now remains to tell of it. 
 The country of the peninsula has an extraordinary 
 burnt-up look, as if it had only just been turned out of Dame 
 Nature's crucible. The facts of there being little or no 
 vegetation on the hills, and the atmospheric denudation 
 being slight compared to the denuding power of the torrents, 
 combined with the extraordinary medley of mountains and 
 isolated hills that form the greater part of the country, 
 result in an exposition of the geological formation of the 
 country in a manner that is rarely visible elsewhere. 
 Dykes of trap -rock lie across the trough of the loadis, 
 conspicuous in their dark homogeneous character. "Whi^- 
 ever way we turn the native rock is visible to the eye, wnn 
 the trend and contortions of the strata plainly exposed to 
 view ; and from an eminence we may mark the recurrence 
 of the beds as plainly as we could if the country had been 
 modelled, and the model was the object of our study. On 
 the sides of the wadis masses of clay left in the sheltered 
 portions, high up many feet above the bed of the valley, 
 attract the eye by their colour, contrasting with the backing 
 of sandstone, granite, or other crystalline rock which form 
 the mountains of the peninsula. Lodes and veins of 
 copper are frequently visible as one continues on one's way ; 
 and everything lies so naked before one, that it would be 
 difficult, if countries could be made to order, to construct 
 one better adapted for the illustration of geology. Used 
 as geologists are at home to look far and wide for sections 
 of ground, and then only to obtain them on a minute scale 
 in quarries, gravel-pits, railway-cuttings, &c., this peculiarity 
 cannot but be striking. 
 
FLINT-FLAKES FROM WADI KAHALI.V. 
 
CH AP. ix.] Flin t- Flakes. 2 ] 
 
 In the vicinity of Wadi Kahalin we came across some 
 mounds where the natural rock rose to the surface, the 
 desert being here covered for the most part with a gritty 
 covering of sandy soil. These mounds were covered with 
 what appeared to be ancient flint-chips. We examined 
 and collected a number of them, some with most perfect 
 chisel-points, and came to the conclusion that the peculiar 
 shape was caused by the action of the sun on the 
 rock, splitting up the matrix into flakes, which thus, in 
 many cases, resembled the arrow-heads which we are 
 accustomed to see in museums. It appears most probable 
 that the Sinaitic inscriptions were cut with implements 
 such as these, for the sharp flint-flakes have sufficient 
 hardness to indurate the soft surface of the sandstone rock 
 of the peninsula, on which rock most of the inscriptions 
 are found. It is by no means impossible that there 
 were once manufactories of flint-implements here, such 
 as are still to be seen near Cairo, and in other places in 
 the East. 
 
 The recorded observations of practical geologists in 
 Arabia Petrsea do not point to any recent changes in the 
 condition of the ground that affect the country to any 
 great extent. But there is one movement now going on, 
 the depression of the delta by the weight of the 
 successive deposits of alluvial soil, and the consequent 
 upheaval of the country south of Ismailia towards Suez 
 which is of great importance. This movement results in 
 the continual forcing back of the head of the Grulf of Suez 
 further and further to the south, and the widening of the 
 isthmus to a like extent. It is not difficult to estimate 
 that this movement is very rapid. The identification of 
 Pithom with the Heroopolis of Strabo's time leads to the 
 belief that the Grulf of Suez has receded at the rate of 
 
202 Invasion of Sand. [CHAP. ix. 
 
 a mile in every thirty years since that time ; and the 
 movement is apparently still progressing, and will soon 
 either leave the town of Suez far from the water, or leave 
 it situated on an inland lake like the Bitter Lakes or Lake 
 Timsah. 
 
 Now as a consequence of this movement we have a 
 secondary very important change going on. The area of 
 sand-hills east of the Nile, which seems to be but an 
 outpost of the Lybian desert, is increasing in extent ; and, 
 moving east and north-east with the prevailing winds, is 
 fast spreading over Arabia Petraea. The Grulf of Suez 
 and the escarpment of the Tih, with its westerly range of 
 hills, Rahah, Smar, and Bodia, have hitherto kept back 
 that sea of sand ; but with the drying up of the Nile- 
 mouth which discharged itself into the Bed Sea, and 
 the recession of the Grulf of Suez, the barriers are 
 partly withdrawn, and the western slopes of Rahah 
 are already buried in the sand. To the north of 
 these hills the whole of the country is engulfed, and 
 it is difficult to foresee where the encroachment will 
 end. Here is a great revolution slowly altering a 
 corner of two continents, and all brought about by 
 the sediment floated down in solution by the waters of 
 the Nile that great river that throughout the period 
 of history, and away back into several periods of geo- 
 logical change, can be traced busy at the work which it 
 is still doing. 
 
 We had now been fairly over the desert, had seen the 
 principal waters, and made the acquaintance of most of 
 the sheiks, except along the northern shore, The detailed 
 conclusion we had formed of the population closely coin- 
 cided with the rough estimate Colonel Warren made at 
 the onset of the work. We put down the muster of 
 
CHAP. IX.] 
 
 lighting -Strength of the Desert. 
 
 203 
 
 2,000 under Egyptian 
 rule. 
 
 fighting-men, that the desert tribes of Arabia Petrsea east 
 
 of the Canal could raise, as follows : 
 
 Towara 500 ' 
 
 Haiwatat, near Suez, ... 150 
 
 *Dubur of Wadi Sadr ... 100 
 
 Terebin of Wadi Sadr ... 100 
 
 Lehewat of Wadi Sadr 150 
 
 Tiyahah 200 
 
 Sowarki 400 
 
 Terebin of Gatie ... 400 
 
 Haiwatat of Petra ... 500 
 
 Lehewat 500 
 
 Azazimeh ... ... 800 
 
 Terebin 2,000 
 
 Total 5,800 
 
 3,800 mostly under 
 Turkish rule. 
 
 Taking the most liberal estimate, Professor Palmer's 
 figure of 50,000 men was, according to this, much too 
 great. He had never any prospect of engaging tribes 
 further to the east than those mentioned above, and it is 
 very doubtful whether had he even been supported by 
 the whole country more than one half the fighting-men 
 could have been engaged for war-purposes. The Bedoui 
 thinks first of his flocks and herds and of his tents ; and 
 in times of war he is little likely to leave them unprotected, 
 liable as they are in peace-time to occasional raids from 
 hostile tribesmen. 
 
 The Terebin in the above list figure as a very powerful 
 -body, and it is probable that they are the best disciplined 
 tribe of this part of the desert. They were able to resist 
 our operations successfully, and all but one or two men of 
 their tribe escaped justice. 
 
 * The Dubur are a family of the Haiwatat, which has been given this 
 distinctive name. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 THE IDENTIFICATION OF MOUNT SINAI. DIVISION OF THE COUNTRY 
 OF ARABIA PETR^A AND NEIGHBOURING DISTRICT. CONNEC- 
 TION BETWEEN MOUNT SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS. DIVISION 
 OF THE WILDERNESS. DISCREDITING OF THE SINAITIC MOUN- 
 TAINS AND THE COAST-LANDS AS POSSIBLE SITES OF MOUNT 
 SINAI. CONSIDERATION OF THE Tin. CENTRAL GROUP OF 
 MOUNTAINS. POSITION OF ANCIENT PEOPLES. TACTICAL 
 DETAILS GIVEN IN BOOK OF NUMBERS. IDENTIFICATION OF 
 SITES, MARCHES, &c. INDEFINITE CHARACTER OF THE HOLY 
 SCRIPTURES ON THIS QUESTION. 
 
 THE question of the position and the identification of 
 Mount Sinai has recently been eagerly debated, and a 
 large amount of intelligent criticism brought to bear upon 
 the subject. Nevertheless, among the various authorities 
 who have given forth their opinions on the subject, 
 comparatively few have been possessed of any personal 
 acquaintance with the country involved, and it may not be 
 out of place here to record the deductions which, without 
 any pretentious to Oriental scholarship or deep Biblical 
 knowledge, I have been able to draw from an ordinary 
 acquaintance with Holy Writ, combined with the ex- 
 perience of the topography of Arabia Petrsea gained 
 during the Palmer Search-Expedition. 
 
 The great difference which exists between the methods 
 adopted by the various schools, in their criticism and 
 interpretation of the Bible, makes it difficult to approach 
 this subject on grounds which will be generally conceded ; 
 but, whatever the weight given to their historical and 
 
CHAP, x.] Opinion of Experts. 205 
 
 statistical details, we must recognise that the books of the 
 Old Testament, and especially those books which are 
 commonly styled the " Books of Moses," were compiled 
 from older, and in some cases from contemporary records, 
 and compiled by a people endowed with a very intimate 
 knowledge of the countries concerned. Thus, while we 
 may perhaps be inclined to question the accuracy, or 
 exact meaning, of obscure itineraries in a country which 
 was and still remains mainly desert, we must credit 
 general topographical characteristics as given by authori- 
 ties to whom the countries concerned offered no deep 
 and insoluble problems. 
 
 Experts * have arrived at the opinion that no great 
 change has passed over the face of the country of Arabia 
 Petrsea since the time of the Exodus ; but, on the contrary, 
 the general features of the country remain the same in 
 this day as when Moses led the people out of Egypt. 
 There may indeed be a little more sand in the northern 
 portions of the district, and the Red Sea may have receded 
 somewhat from its then northern limits, but, generally speak- 
 ing, the country is little altered as far as Arabia Petraea is 
 concerned. As regards the Holy Land, and the neigh- 
 bouring ancient kingdoms of Moab and Edom, &c., great 
 difference evidently exists between their present condition 
 and what they were in the early times of history a 
 difference due probably to the diminution of the rainfall 
 caused by the destruction of trees. 
 
 Summing up what we clearly know of these countries 
 in ancient times, we may separate them into four distinct 
 divisions, as follows : 
 
 (1) Egypt, a low-lying belt of country, watered 
 
 * See Dawson's " Modern Science in Bible Lands," and Hull's " Arabia 
 Petrsea." 
 
206 Edom an Impossible Site. [CHAP. x. 
 
 by the Nile, and cultivated to a high extent by 
 irrigation. 
 
 (2) The land of Canaan, with the important division 
 of Philistia in its south-western corner. A land of hill, 
 dale, and plain, watered by a somewhat capricious rainfall. 
 
 (3) The Kingdom of Edom and the South Country, or 
 Negeb, lying to the south of Canaan. Pastoral countries 
 chiefly, but occupied by a settled population. 
 
 (4) The Wilderness, a tract of country between Phi- 
 listia, the Negeb, and Edom on the one hand, and Egypt 
 on the other. 
 
 Each of these divisions is plainly recognised in the 
 Bible, and Mount Sinai is absolutely and consistently 
 connected with the last division, viz., the Wilderness ; and 
 we are led to look upon the Mount of God as remote from 
 men, from flocks and herds, situated in the wide -spreading 
 deserts, where nothing but God's interposition could sup- 
 port a multitude like Israel at the time of the Exodus. 
 One cannot, therefore, but reject any such solution of the 
 question of the actual position of Mount Sinai which 
 places it in such a locality as Edom* (which as a geo- 
 graphical expression was distinctly recognised by the 
 writers of the Bible), as entirely opposed to the spirit of 
 
 * Mr. Baker Greene, and later, Professor Sayce, have adopted Edom 
 as the probable site of Mount Sinai, and identify Elim with Elath, on the 
 Gulf of Akabah. I notice Professor Sayce estimates that " a journey of four 
 or five days from the frontier of Egypt would have brought the Israelitish 
 caravan to the Gulf of Aqabah (Akabah)." Such a statement is remark- 
 able, and it would be interesting to know upon what known data, concerning 
 the movement of large bodies of people, the Professor bases it. Twenty 
 miles a day is pretty good going for an organised army of practised 
 marchers; but the transit of three millions of people, with their flocks, 
 herds, and impedimenta, across a desert waste two hundred miles in extent, 
 and including more than one narrow defile, at the rate of forty miles a day, 
 would be something very out of the common. 
 
The Wilderness. 207 
 
 the sacred record ; and we must look to the Wilderness, 
 and that alone, for the Mount of God. 
 
 The breadth of the Wilderness between Egypt and the 
 Negeb was roughly two hundred miles, and we are told 
 in Exodus iii., 12 and 18, that Mount Sinai was three 
 days' journey from Egypt. Amongst the Bedouin, one 
 hundred miles is about three days' journey for a man 
 on foot : taking this as an average amount, we should 
 expect to find Mount Sinai about the centre of the 
 Wilderness, half-way between Egypt and the Land of 
 Promise. 
 
 Having thus cleared the ground somewhat for the 
 examination into the issue before us, let us look at this 
 area of the Wilderness, and see what it has to say for 
 itself. We find it divided into three general districts, 
 viz. : the Sinaitic peninsula on the south, the coast-lands 
 on the north, and the central plateau of the Tih. Taking 
 these divisions seriatim we may narrow the issue yet 
 further. 
 
 (1) The peninsula of Sinai is discredited as the site of 
 the Mount of God, notwithstanding the fact that the 
 discredit is mainly of very modern growth, and is opposed 
 by testimony of the greatest weight amongst the recognised 
 experts.* Sir Richard Burton, writing in 1883, says : 
 " . . . . the so-called Sinai (Jebel Musa) is simply a 
 modern forgery, dating probably from the 2nd Century, 
 A.D. ; . . . the first Mount Sinai (Jebel Serbal) was 
 invented by the Copts, the second (Jebel Musa) by the 
 Greeks, the third (Jebel Musa) by the Moslems, and the 
 fourth (Jebel Susafeh) by Dr. Robinson . . . ." In 
 
 * Professor Palmer and Sir Charles Wilson, who were employed upon 
 the Ordnance Survey of the Siuaitic peninsula, both accepted Jebel Musa 
 as the veritable Mount Sinai. 
 
208 The Mountainous District. [CHAP, x 
 
 my opinion the peninsula is discredited mainly for the 
 following reasons : 
 
 (a) The country of the peninsula was a mining-centre, 
 garrisoned by Egyptian troops ; and no mention is made 
 in the Bible of collision with such troops, which would 
 necessarily, in the event of Moses advancing by the 
 southern route, have opposed his march. 
 
 (b) Such a detour through the desert cannot be 
 recognised as a likely operation, without strong evidence 
 to the contrary ; and no reason is given in the Bible for 
 such a detour. 
 
 (c) The mountainous district of the peninsula was 
 entirely un suited for the march of an enormous body of 
 people like Israel. The mountains lie in tangled masses, 
 through which narrow valleys wind a very devious course. 
 Granted that the people could have marched twenty 
 abreast a very liberal computation the column would 
 have extended to nearly one hundred miles from the 
 advance to the rear-guard. The arrangements for camping 
 and for the march of the Israelites from Mount Sinai, 
 detailed in the early chapters of Numbers, would be 
 entirely out of place and impossible of execution from 
 Jebel Musa owing to the lack of open ground to form up 
 upon. We are distinctly told that the northernmost of the 
 four bodies into which the armies were divided was to 
 march last from Mount Sinai ; whereas, as the direction of 
 the march must have been northward from Jebel Musa, 
 it would have been compelled to march first. 
 
 (2) The coast-lands bordering on the Mediterranean 
 are likewise discredited, although they were the ordinary 
 route from Egypt to Canaan. We are told Exodus xiii., 
 17, 18 " That God let them not go by the way of the 
 land of the Philistines, although that was near .... 
 
The Coast-Lands. 209 
 
 but God led the people about by the way of the 
 Wilderness by the Bed Sea." This disposes of the 
 coast-route leading to Philistia ; and we are left to 
 interpret the words " by the way of the Wilderness of the 
 Red Sea." These words, taken in conjunction with what 
 follows concerning Pharoah's pursuit, appear to me clearly 
 to refer to the desert tract between Egypt (the country 
 irrigated by the Nile) and the Red Sea. It lies south 
 of Wadi Tumeilat, the Goshen of the Pharaohs. This 
 (h'tottr, by " the way of the Wilderness of the Red Sea," 
 does not assist us much in the identification of Mount 
 Sinai, for it was made for a particular and announced 
 purpose, viz., that God might " get honour upon Pharaoh " : 
 but it does this much for us, that it gives us, as a starting- 
 point of the cross-desert route, some point on the eastern 
 shore of the Red Sea, probably near the Bitter Lakes. 
 
 (3) The Desert of the Tih, the remaining division of 
 the Wilderness, consists of a vast plateau of limestone, 
 sloping gently towards the north, drained by the Wadi el 
 Arish, the Scriptural " Brook of Egypt." From this 
 great plateau rises a group of mountains, of which Magura, 
 Yeleg, Hilall, and Ihkrimm are the chief. This central 
 group is the prominent feature of the Tih, and is seen 
 from great distances away the mountains invariably 
 presenting the most striking appearance, rising as they do 
 out of the monotonous, level plains around them. I well 
 remember, on the first occasion that I reached the Tih 
 from Wadi Sadr, my attention being rivetted by Jebel 
 Yeleg, some fifty miles distant, rising up like an enormous 
 barnacle ; and were this mountain invested with the halo 
 of sanctity which God's choice imposes, I am sure the 
 impression produced by it would equal the grand but 
 tumbled granite piles of the so-called Sinaitic peninsula. 
 
 p 
 
210 The Desert of the Tih. 
 
 Strangely enough, these mountains have been almost 
 unremarked by travellers ; and, except for the itineraries of 
 Mr. Holland, we should know very little about them. 
 They are formed of sandstone and igneous rock, and 
 probably projected as islands through the cretaceous sea 
 by which the plateau of the Tih was deposited. A closer 
 examination, however, than (as far as I know) has yet 
 been made, is necessary before the derivation of these 
 interesting mountains can be decided ; and it is not 
 impossible that they may be found of later origin, which 
 would have required a comparatively recent interposition 
 of volcanic agency. If so, and other conditions are 
 not traversed, it will satisfy those people who look for 
 evidence of recent volcanic activity to explain those 
 manifestations of thunder, lightning, fire, smoke, and 
 overhanging cloud which accompanied the Giving of 
 the Law. 
 
 In considering this question of the position of Mount 
 Sinai, the situation of the principal peoples of the neigh- 
 bourhood is of primary importance. The Philistines were 
 located round Gaza, in the south-west corner of the 
 Promised Land. The Edomites are tolerably clearly 
 evidenced in the Bible as being located south of Canaan, 
 stretching from the head of the Gulf of Akabah up the 
 Arabah towards the Salt Sea. Moab was east of the Salt 
 Sea and of Jordan : and the Amorites were between 
 Moab and Edom. The Amalekites were located in the 
 Wilderness, but probably had a partial hold in the Negeb, 
 or South Country. I. Samuel xxviii. 8, defines their 
 occupation as follows : " The Geshurites, and the Girzites, 
 and the Amalekites, for these nations were the inhabitants 
 of the land which were of old as thou goest to Shur even 
 unto the land of Egypt." The position of the Midianites 
 
CHAP, x.] The Country of Midian. 211 
 
 is not so clear as that of the foregoing peoples. They 
 have been placed on some maps upon the western shore 
 of the Gulf of Akabah ; but this was probably more 
 owing to the faulty assignment of Jebel Musa as Mount 
 Sinai than anything else. We find Moab and Midian 
 connected together as allies in Numbers xxii. and the 
 following chapters, and Midian is also mentioned in 
 Genesis xxxvi. as being " near the field of Moab." From 
 the description given of them they and the Amalekites 
 were doubtless pastoral peoples like the modern Bedouin ; 
 and probably they shared the Wilderness between them, 
 and kept a hold also on the South Country for agricultural 
 purposes : thus Jethro the Midianite was very likely 
 located in the Negeb. 
 
 From the account in Exodus iii. 2, the Mount of God, 
 considered with respect to Canaan for Exodus was written 
 after the Israelites reached the Holy Land was at the back 
 of the Wilderness ; and also, considered with respect to 
 Egypt, in front of Midian, for we read that Moses returned 
 unto Jethro from Mount Sinai to get leave to go back to 
 Egypt. And, again, when Moses left Sinai for Kadesh, he 
 wanted to take Hobab the Midianite with him, for he 
 could be to them " instead of eyes." Thus there is 
 nothing in the suggestion of Jebel Magara or Yeleg as 
 Mount Sinai inconsistent with the sacred record in respect 
 to the position of Midian. 
 
 The arrangements for the march of the Israelites 
 detailed in the early chapters of Numbers are also of great 
 interest in this connection. We can imagine the Israelites 
 grouped round the Mount of God, supplied with water and 
 food by God, surrounded by the hostile bands of Amalek, 
 who, though defeated in pitched battles, pursued the chosen 
 people with relentless vigour. " Remember what Amalek 
 
 p 2 
 
212 Tactical Arrangements for the March, 
 
 did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of 
 Egypt, how he met thee by the way and smote the 
 hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee 
 when thou wast faint and weary. Therefore, it shall be 
 that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from 
 under heaven ; thou shalt not forget it." Deuteronomy 
 xxv. 18, 19. The detail for the march is as follows : Four 
 armies were formed to take up their position north, east, 
 south, and west. On the east was the strongest body, con- 
 taining 186,400 men, facing in the direction in which the 
 main advance was to be made ; in rear, to the west, was the 
 smallest body, 108,100 men; facing the north, towards 
 the dreaded power of Philistia and the populous district of 
 the Negeb, was the second strongest body, 157,600 men ; 
 while on the south was another 151,000 strong. In the 
 interval between the four armies were the Tabernacle and 
 the Levites, round which, doubtless, were grouped that 
 mixed multitude, and the women and the children, who, 
 with the flocks and herds, made up the vast concourse of 
 Israel. An assembly such as this could not have covered less 
 than twenty-five square miles in camp, or nine square miles 
 on the march ; and the difficulty of commanding such a body 
 is recognised in the Book of Numbers, in the minute detail 
 of the orders for the advance. When leaving Mount 
 Sinai the eastern army was to start first, followed by the 
 southern army, as if the direction of march was easterly, or 
 east by south ; and the remainder of the Israelites would 
 follow, the last to move being the northern force. For such 
 tactical arrangements the open tableland of the Tih would 
 have been most suitable nay, in few other places would 
 it have been possible to carry out such arrangements. 
 
 The group of mountains, Magara, Yeleg, Hilall, and 
 Ihkrimm, appear to me to fulfil all the primary conditions 
 
CHAP, x.] Desirability of Making a Survey. 213 
 
 which are forced upon us by the Scriptural account of the 
 Exodus ; and it is a matter of wonder to me that they 
 have not ere this been appropriated as the first favourites 
 for the honours of the Sacred Mount. Now that we have 
 some special status in the country, it appears most 
 desirable that an accurate and exhaustive examination 
 should be made into their topographical features. As far 
 as it is known the topography of the country does not 
 clash with the details of the Biblical narrative. For 
 instance, take the journey of over two months from 
 Barneses, which was situated in Wadi Tumeilat, to Sinai. 
 Taking the shortest line of route, such a march could 
 not have averaged more than two miles a day a much 
 smaller record than is generally considered a fair allowance. 
 When, however, one thinks seriously of the matter, what 
 a difficulty the moving of a heterogenous medley of 
 enslaved people would constitute, with only one leader (or 
 at most two) to look up to, one cannot wonder at their 
 moving so slowly ; in fact, the only thing to wonder at is 
 that they could be moved at all as one body. 
 
 I regret to have no identification of sites to urge as 
 marking the probable positions of Marah, Elim, &c., but, with 
 our present knowledge of the country, such indentification 
 is but idle imagining ; and it is very questionable whether 
 the great lapse of time, 3,000 years and more since the 
 Exodus, does not render the identification of places of such 
 little importance a hopeless task. There are, however, two 
 points to notice : one, in respect to the Wilderness of Sin 
 (Clay). In some parts of the Tih and close beside 
 Jebel Yeleg I recollect one very remarkable instance 
 the plain is composed of one smooth, level expanse of 
 clay, hard enough to walk upon, leaving just the slightest 
 print of the boot, and so level that comparison with a billiard- 
 
214 From Mount Sinai to Kadesh. [CHAP. x. 
 
 board would be more appropriate than with a tennis-court. 
 The Wilderness of Clay would, it appears, be a singularly 
 appropriate name for much of this country, the marly nature 
 of the surface-soil of which is everywhere apparent. The 
 other point is in reference to the " Holy Wadi of Towa," 
 mentioned in the Koran in connection with Mount Sinai. 
 The similarity of this name and Wadi el Dow, near Jebel 
 Magara, is worthy of note. 
 
 The progress of the Israelites from Mount Sinai to 
 Kadesh offers no particular difficulties. The identification 
 by Professor Palmer of Ain Gadis as the site of Kadesh, 
 has generally been accepted, and fits in conveniently with 
 most theories. Although the Book of Numbers gives 
 only three camping-grounds between Mount Sinai and 
 Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Paran which would agree 
 very well with a march direct upon Kadesh from the 
 mountains of the central group Deuteronomy opens by 
 telling us that it was ' eleven days' journey from Horeb 
 by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh -barnea." What 
 " by the way of Mount Seir " means is very uncertain, 
 for Mount Seir is generally applied en bloc on what 
 grounds I have failed to ascertain to the Edomite high- 
 lands east of the Arabah ; but as the following verse to 
 the above dates from the eleventh month of the fortieth 
 year of the wanderings, the above statement, having nothing 
 to do with the context, is doubly difficult to understand. 
 If, however, it is competent to assume that the eleven 
 days' journey means that it took the Israelites eleven 
 days to accomplish the distance from Jebel Magara to 
 Kadesh, no difficulty results. 
 
 Again, the description given of Elijah's journey from 
 a point a day's journey beyond Beersheba identified by 
 Palmer as Bir Sebi presents no difficulty. The Bible 
 
CHAP, x.] The Bible and Mount Sinai. 215 
 
 says that he went thence forty days before reaching Mount 
 Sinai. But it does not say that he did anything but 
 wander aimlessly about in the Wilderness until forty days 
 afterwards, when he found himself in a cave in Horeb. 
 It is interesting to notice in this connection that Jebel 
 Magara means " Mountain of the Cave " ;* and although 
 the name could very reasonably be applied to many of 
 the Arabian hills, popular notions concerning the per- 
 sistence of local names in the East direct attention to 
 the circumstance. 
 
 One thing cannot fail to strike the Bible reader inte- 
 rested in this question, namely, the absence in the 
 Scriptures of all signs of interest about the locality of 
 Mount Sinai. One would have thought a people who set 
 such store on their high places would have cherished the 
 recollection of the place where their nation was literally 
 raised out of death into a new life, and would have done 
 all to perpetuate its memory. It may be, however, that 
 the enforcing of the sense of God's holiness which 
 appears to have been one of the chief results of God's 
 teaching at Mount Sinai was so complete, that the sacred 
 mountain was looked upon with dread rather than with 
 love ; as a place to be avoided and left entirely to God, lest, 
 by touching the Mount even, God's wrath should be 
 brought down upon them to consume them in his anger. 
 For many generations after the Giving of the Law Israel 
 was busily engaged in the very practical pursuit of killing 
 their enemies, of conquering the Land of Promise, or 
 bearing the yoke of their periodical enslavements ; it is, 
 then, little wonder that they lacked the time or inclination 
 to give play to that predisposition to pilgrimage which 
 
 * One authority states that Jebel Magara means " Mount of the Yisit," 
 a title equally suggestive. 
 
216 Interest in the Mount of the Law [CHAP. 
 
 appears to be a pretty general characteristic of the human 
 race. To whatever cause this neglect of the great spiritual 
 birthplace of their nation may be attributed, it is 
 sufficiently remarkable, the more so as in the Psalms 
 Mount Sinai is frequently referred to ; and we find it left 
 to a latter-day people, a people of another creed and 
 another race, to revive the interest in God's Mount. At 
 least we must be grateful to the monks and anchorites of 
 old for creating and keeping alive even by such illicit 
 methods as the mock identification of sites the interest 
 in these holy places, the position of which is still of 
 absorbing interest. 
 
 NOTE. Since putting together this chapter I have seen a statement in 
 Sir Richard Burton's report on the Search for Palmer, that " learned Jews 
 now incline to the belief that the real Tor Sina lay somewhere in the Tih, 
 north of the great Pilgrimage Line." This belief supports my suggestion as 
 to the position of Mount Sinai, the group of mountains in question lying 
 north of the Hadj route from Suez to Akabah, about midway between these 
 two places. 
 
CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 RECONNAISSANCE OF WADI SADE. ME. AND Miss CHAEEINGTON 
 VISIT THE SCENE OF MUEDEE. BUILDING COMMEMORATIVE 
 CAIEN. RETURN TO SUEZ. AEEANGEMENTS FOE THE TEIAL. 
 AEEIVAL AT CAIEO. TANTA. THE COMMISSION OF INQUIET. 
 COUET-MAETIAL AT ALEXANDRIA. SENTENCE OF COUET. 
 CRITICISM OF HOME PEESS. 
 
 FROM information derived from Bedouin whom we had 
 met on our march we now knew that Salami Shedid had 
 left Wadi Sadr, and had gone north to Jebel Magara in 
 order to make some more arrests. We were thus free to 
 visit Wadi Sadr again, and make our final examination of 
 the ground. It was also desirable that Miss Charrington 
 and Mr. Spencer Charrington, who had been now some 
 time in Egypt, should visit the scene of their brother's 
 death. Our party was consequently split up, Lieutenant 
 Burton going into Suez to escort the Charringtons to the 
 wadi, while Colonel Warren and I went there direct. 
 
 We visited Wadi Silfeh, where Palmer's camels that 
 were stolen from his camp at Wadi Kahalin in order to 
 delay his march were recovered. We had taken several 
 of Palmer's old camel-drivers with us to tend our camels, 
 and thus had them always handy to give any evidence 
 when required. The wadi was sketched as marking one of 
 the incidents of the tragedy. We here first made the 
 acquaintance of the khamsin wind, which blows from the 
 
218 Survey of Wadi Sadr. CHAP. [XL 
 
 west in this part of the country ; it is a warm, stifling 
 wind, full of fine dust which dries up one's skin, and is 
 very unpleasant. Cooking was a difficulty as long as this 
 wind blew, and having sent our cook away, as a useless, 
 troublesome encumbrance, our amateur efforts were rather 
 handicapped. 
 
 On January 17th we commenced a compass -survey of 
 Wadi Sadr, making at the same time a careful examina- 
 tion of the ground, which resulted in the discovery of 
 many mementoes of the murdered men. It appears that 
 after the baggage had been looted the bandits assembled 
 at a spot in the wadi, where Hassan Ibn Mershed, a Terebin 
 petty sheik, spread a carpet and invited the men to put 
 their spoil upon it, that a general division might be made. 
 But, like David's young men after the pursuit of the 
 Amalekites, the Bedouin objected to a general division of 
 the spoil, and finally each kept what he had possessed 
 himself of. This place was found, and near it we dis- 
 covered a quantity of paper, including some official 
 correspondence of Captain Gill, and part of his journal 
 completed up to August 8th, two days before the party 
 were made prisoners. Five months had elapsed since the 
 attack, and yet here were the papers scattered about just 
 as if they had been turned adrift a few days previously. 
 During those five months a good deal of rain had fallen, 
 and that this made no difference was probably owing to 
 the purity of the desert air. The location of the 
 actual site of the ambush was fixed by the finding of a 
 stain of blood on the road which led up to the wadi. It 
 seems that one shot at least was fired at the attack, and 
 a camel was wounded and subsequently killed ; but though 
 rumour had indicated this from the first, there was always 
 an unaccountable difficulty in getting evidence on the 
 
CHAP, xi.] Place where the Ambush was Laid. 219 
 
 point. Further down the wadi we found a leaf of a note- 
 book of Professor Palmer's, which he probably had with 
 him when attacked ; for close to the place of attack we 
 found, some days later, the cover of the book caught in a 
 bush. 
 
 On the surrender of Palmer and his companions, the 
 Bedouin immediately stripped them of their clothes, leaving 
 on them only their under-garments. Professor Palmer 
 and his companions wore the Bedoui dress in more or 
 less completeness ; and it is somewhat remarkable that 
 these clothes were, on their capture, at once stripped off. 
 Palmer took pride in being a Bedoui amongst Bedouin, 
 and doubtless carried off the character well; but it is 
 questionable whether this facilitated the work he had in 
 hand. By judicious driving you can work wonders with the 
 so-called wild sons of the desert ; but they are too acutely 
 on the watch, how best to serve their own turn, to do 
 much for a Christian on the score of friendship. They 
 appear even to have taken umbrage at Palmer's Bedoui 
 dress, and at once reduced him and his companions to 
 those clothes which did not savour of a Mohammedan 
 personality. 
 
 Close to the place of attack there is a sudden drop 
 down of eight feet at the head of a nullah. Here the 
 prisoners were lodged under guard, whilst their captors 
 went to loot the baggage some miles down the wadi. We 
 searched this vicinity carefully, hoping to find some 
 scratchings on the rock, or some such token, which 
 the unfortunate men might have left ; but we found 
 nothing to reward our search. It was here that 
 Metter Abu Sofia discovered the doomed men when he 
 returned with his sons after his precipitate flight. Finding 
 them under the guard of but two Bedouin, he might 
 
220 
 
 Metier Sofia's Treachery. 
 
 [CHAP. XI. 
 
 
 easily have overpowered these with his people, and carried 
 Palmer away to his camp ; but no, the old villain must 
 waste time in palavering, in covering Palmer with his own 
 abba, and perhaps in an altercation with the man whom 
 
 he had brought into 
 such extremis. What 
 actually passed be- 
 tween Professor Pal- 
 mer and Metter on 
 this occasion never 
 fully transpired. 
 Metter in evidence 
 said that Palmer spoke 
 , only once to him, and 
 then to say, " Metter ! 
 Metter ! " but it is 
 unlikely that this is 
 all that was said 
 between them. Palmer knew that Metter, or his nephew, 
 was in possession of the money ; that he was the friend 
 of the powerful sheiks of the interior ; and that, 
 by Bedoui law, he was alone responsible for the safety 
 of the party. Nothing had occurred to free his guide 
 from that responsibility ; and Palmer doubtless would 
 have had a good deal to say to him, unless he was by this 
 time fully persuaded that Metter was his betrayer, and 
 would do nothing to aid them. 
 
 From the place of attack a camel-track was found to 
 run off from the road down to the gully where the murder 
 took place. The distance was a little over a mile, and, 
 though very rough, our loaded camels were able to follow 
 it. Down here our unfortunate countrymen were driven 
 in the heat of an August noon. Without boots on their 
 
 ONE OF METTER'S SONS. 
 

 THE SCENE OF THE MURDER IN WADI SADR. 
 
CHAP, xr.j Noon-day Heat. 221 
 
 feet, without hats, and, except for their under-clothes, 
 without any shelter from the burning rays of the sun, they 
 must have reached the scene of their death in a sorry 
 plight ; and even if they were conscious of what was 
 occurring, their senses must have been blunted so that they 
 were but half -alive to their impending fate. Those who 
 have experienced the penetrating fierceness of noon-day 
 heat in Arabia, even when protected by all that clothes 
 can do to preserve the skin from its scorching effect, know 
 something of the swimming headiness that is sometimes 
 experienced under these conditions. Wantonly exposed as 
 were Palmer and his companions, the sun must have 
 deadened their feelings and assuaged the pangs of death ; 
 and as a man tormented by sea-sickness is said to view 
 approaching shipwreck with equanimity, so it may have 
 been a welcome blow that put an end to suffering that 
 stupefied in its intensity, and which they were powerless 
 to alleviate. 
 
 Searching the bottom of the gully, we found no trace 
 of the tragedy, for the waters had been down since our 
 former visit, and besides sweeping the torrent-bed clean, 
 had left numerous pools in the holes at the bottom, thus 
 narrowing our search. On the cliffs above we examined 
 the fire where a pair of trousers that we had found 
 on our first visit had been burnt ; we found several 
 buttons which had belonged to the trousers, and were 
 now all that remained distinguishable amongst the 
 ashes. A few days later, when Miss Charrington visited 
 the spot, she was able to say that these buttons were 
 marked with the name of her deceased brother's tailor. 
 We visited the Bedoui camps at Rahah. At the summit 
 of the pass we came upon a long strip of ploughed land, 
 about fifteen to twenty acres in extent, close to where Abu 
 
222 Arrival of the CUarringtons. [CHAP. xi. 
 
 Telhaideh and Ibn Mershed had had their camp. We found 
 also a broken portmanteau, part of a map, pieces of 
 newspaper, and some empty cartridge-cases for a fowling- 
 piece. 
 
 On January 22nd Miss Charrington and her brother 
 arrived. We met them at Ain Abu Jerad, and were able 
 to show them there a Sinaitic inscription. It was carved 
 on a large rock, situated some distance above the water, 
 where a bye road converged upon the wadi. The characters 
 
 MEMORIAL CAIRN. 
 
 were apparently Phoenician, and an impress was taken, as 
 well as a few spare sheets of blotting-paper that we had 
 with us would allow. It is probable that the inscription 
 draws attention to the spring amongst the rocks below, 
 for there being no verdure round it, as there usually is, to 
 mark the vicinity of water, the spring was difficult to find ; 
 but I am not aware that it has ever been deciphered. 
 
 On the 23rd we arrived at the scene of the murder, and 
 there Colonel Warren read the funeral-service, and, to the 
 amazement of the Bedouin, we fired three volleys of ball- 
 
CHAP. XI.] 
 
 Memorial Cairn. 
 
 223 
 
 cartridge into the opposite cliff. Above the gully, on the 
 north side, was a prominent flat-topped hill, and here Miss 
 Charrington selected a site for a cairn of stones. The 
 cairn was seventeen feet in diameter, with sides nearly 
 perpendicular for four and a half feet, then sloping inwards 
 to the apex, which was thirteen feet high. Into the centre 
 was built an oaken cross, on which was cut the following 
 inscription: 
 
 PROF. E. PALMER, CAPTAIN GILL, R.E. 
 LIEUT. HAROLD CHARRINGTON, R.N., 
 
 WERE 
 
 KILLED 
 
 BY THE 
 
 BEDOUIN 
 
 WHILST ON 
 
 A SPECIAL 
 
 MISSION 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE BRITISH 
 GOVERN- 
 MENT. 
 
 On the back of the cross was carved the names of Harold 
 Charrington, his brother Spencer, and his sister Minnie. 
 A soda-water bottle, with date, &c., was buried in the 
 cairn, and a consecration service was held when it was 
 completed. 
 
224 Bedoui Hiding-place. [CHAP. xi. 
 
 The Bedouin were much impressed by our proceedings, 
 and could not understand all the trouble taken on account 
 of men dead and gone. Whether they have respected the 
 monument or no I cannot say, but we did all we could to 
 endow it with sanctity in their eyes. An old Bedoui, 
 who was lying- sick in our camp with congestion of the 
 lungs, contributed considerably to the sanctity of the cairn. 
 He gave out one morning that he had dreamed a dream 
 during his sleep, and in his dream he had seen the star 
 Smaiyeh descend from heaven to the gully where the 
 murder was committed, and gathering up the souls of the 
 five men carry them up to the cross. After consecrating 
 the monument, Smaiyeh had taken the souls back to the 
 wadi, and returned to its place in the heavens. 
 
 The Bedouin with us worked wonderfully well at the 
 cairn. All the stones had to be quarried from the side of 
 the hill and carried up to the top, and we had very few 
 tools to work with. It had been our wish to have an 
 inscription cut in the face of the stone-scarp overlooking 
 the gully a form of monument more difficult for time or 
 the Bedouin to destroy, than a cairn of loose stones ; 
 however, we were unable to arrange for the cutting of 
 the inscription at this time, and, though the proposal 
 was subsequently revived, it has never been put into 
 execution. 
 
 Whilst the building of the cairn was proceeding, a 
 Bedoui hiding-place was discovered in a neighbouring 
 wadi. Under a cliff a cave had been formed with its 
 mouth built up with stones, so that it served as a store. 
 The entrance was marked by a large square stone, which, 
 on being removed, disclosed a deep cavity in rear. We 
 had some burning bushes thrown in to light up the 
 interior, and saw to our surprise some shining weapons 
 
CHAP. XL] Return to Suez. 225 
 
 there. Entering, we found two naval swords, some 
 fragments of clothing which had belonged to Palmer's 
 party, and various other articles. The swords were 
 evidently of a number that Palmer had taken with him 
 into the desert, in order to present them to the Bedoui 
 sheiks he was on his way to meet. 
 
 On the 27th we returned to Suez. Salami Shedid 
 was there, looking all the better for his desert excursions. 
 He said he saw no prospect of getting more men for the 
 present, but wanted to wait for a month until the desert 
 got quieter, and the Bedouin returned to their accustomed 
 haunts. He had been unable to do anything with the 
 Terebin, who had retired to Jebel Hilall, and refused to 
 give up the men of their tribe implicated. He expressed 
 himself as confident of being able to capture the remainder 
 of the men required in time, if they were given the chance 
 to return to their old haunts near Wadi Sadr ; he proposed 
 meanwhile to go to Cairo and obtain fresh Bedouin to 
 return with him to the desert. Colonel Warren gave 
 Salami a pass, and congratulated him on the increase of 
 energy he had shown during the later portion of his 
 participation in the Search. 
 
 The whole of our prisoners had now assembled at Suez. 
 They comprised twelve persons implicated in the attack, 
 the ex-Governor of Nackl, and numerous witnesses. 
 There were several new men who had to be examined, and 
 many points, which had cropped up since our minute 
 examination and survey of the ground, had to be inquired 
 into afresh. 
 
 Arrangements for the trial of the prisoners had been 
 the subject of correspondence for some time past, and it 
 was now decided that our prisoners should go to Cairo, 
 where the subsequent steps could be arranged. Our 
 
 Q 
 
226 Egyptian Prisons. 
 
 band of witnesses were thinned down to twenty-five, some 
 twenty others being released, and sent back to the desert 
 to aid in the search for, and capture of, the men still 
 required. Some of our Bedouin had been in detention at 
 Suez for four months, and were much reduced by the 
 unwholesome life of an Egyptian prison. It is a curious 
 and very trying custom that incarcerates in the same 
 prison the willing witness on behalf of the law and the 
 hardened offender awaiting trial. Working, as Colonel 
 Warren always had to do, entirely through the Egyptian 
 officials, there was no option but to have our witnesses 
 imprisoned in the ordinary way ; but it nevertheless 
 had a very bad effect on them, enabling them to talk 
 the matter over very thoroughly amongst themselves 
 before they were examined, so that they were prepared to 
 tell us as little as possible. At times, when particular men 
 were brought in, we had to appeal to the Senior British 
 Naval Officer at Suez to be our jailor, so as to avoid their 
 mixing with the other prisoners. 
 
 Before leaving Suez, whither we did not expect to 
 return, we had a somewhat lengthy settling up with the 
 numerous individuals we had employed during the progress 
 of the inquiry, and who one and all had the most high- 
 flown expectations of remuneration for their services. We 
 said good-bye to Sheik Musa Nusier with the regret that 
 accompanies a parting between firm and tried friends. 
 Musa had throughout behaved towards us with exem- 
 plary probity and straightforwardness. In his excellent 
 judgment we could always rely ; while his calm suavity 
 and respected personality smoothed over many difficulties, 
 which would, without him, have proved considerable 
 hindrances to our progress. He wanted to accompany 
 Colonel Warren to Cairo ; but the Crown Prince of Prussia 
 
CHAP. xi] Massacre of Christians at Tanta. 'I'll 
 
 was intending to make the journey from Tor to Mount 
 Sinai about this time, and it was most desirable that Musa 
 Nusier should accompany him. So we declined his offer, 
 and with mutual and sincere expressions of goodwill we 
 separated, Sheik Musa to return to his peaceful and 
 healthy desert life, we to go to Cairo and fatten on the 
 flesh-pots of the Pharaohs. 
 
 On February 3rd we arrived at Cairo, and the next few 
 days were occupied in making arrangements for the trial. 
 It had been decided that the prisoners should be brought 
 before the Tanta Commission, a native court, one of 
 several that had been established in the country for the 
 purpose of trying cases of outrage, &c., which were enacted 
 during the war. At Tanta, which is one of the centres of 
 fanaticism in Egypt, there had been a massacre of 
 Christians during the war, ninety-seven losing their lives. 
 The massacre had been economical, as well as fanatical. 
 Money-lending Greeks and Levantines were murdered 
 to free their debtors, the insolvent Fellahin. Three 
 Arab butchers slaughtered a Christian butcher who had 
 been guilty of underselling them. The unfortunate 
 victims were hounded about the streets by crowds of 
 turbulent Arabs, and killed in a very brutal manner. Some 
 attempted to take refuge in the mosque, but the doors 
 were shut, and they were murdered on the threshold. 
 Hardly any of the better class of Christians in the place 
 were interfered with by the people, but panic reigned 
 supreme, and, immediately the massacre had been stopped 
 by the supine authorities, most of the surviving Christians 
 were despatched by train to a safer place. It was said that 
 one of these trains was stopped by the Arabs, and the 
 fugitives taken out and laid on the rails, the train being 
 driven over them. 
 
228 The Toivn of Tanta. CCHAP.XI. 
 
 Such acts of savagery, appalling as they are to us, are 
 little regarded by Easterns. In their opinion, the circum- 
 stances of death may well be utilised to alleviate the 
 dulness of life. As in the Roman shows, it mattered 
 little how the captives died, so long as their death 
 contributed to the public amusement ; so with the Egyptians, 
 the chasing of a Christian through the streets to his death 
 calls forth merely the same feelings with which the average 
 Englishman regards the hunted fox. Retribution, however, 
 was being exacted. On the day we arrived at Tanta five 
 unfortunate wretches were hanged in the streets for 
 participation in the massacres ; and while these were by no 
 means the first of the victims of justice, eighty prisoners 
 still remained in prison awaiting trial. 
 
 Tanta is a town of about 60,000 people. It lies about 
 the centre of the delta, midway between the Rosetta and 
 Damietta branches of the Nile. There is a fine mosque 
 there dedicated to Seyyid el Bedoui, a popular Moslem 
 saint of the twelfth century. The mosque consists of a 
 large square building of about forty yards a side, open to 
 the sky for the central fifteen yards square. The roof 
 over the remainder rests on pillars, and is prettily 
 decorated in the oriental style. The minarets are about 
 300 feet high, and from the galleries one gets a fine view 
 of the country round the town. We visited the mosque 
 under a guard of zaptiehs, who were very necessary, as 
 several of the more fervid religionists in the place com- 
 menced expectorating and cursing at us, and had to be 
 hustled by the zaptiehs before they would desist. How 
 long the British troops remained here I do not know, 
 but, although the government of the Khedive was re-estab- 
 lished, Tanta, to judge from the demeanour of its people, 
 had little conception that the English were masters of the 
 
CHAP. XI.] 
 
 British Troops at Tanta. 
 
 229 
 
 country ; and the presence of a British garrison there 
 would have been a good ocular demonstration of the new 
 order of things, and had a wholesome effect. 
 
 This was one of the few places in Egypt where any 
 trouble was experienced by the Expeditionary Force after 
 the action of Tel el Kebir. On September 1 7th, four days 
 
 MOSQUE AT TANTA. 
 
 after Arabi Pasha's crushing defeat, General Sir Archibald 
 Alison and three hundred of the Gordon Highlanders were 
 despatched by train to Tanta, there being some apprehen- 
 sion that Moslem fanaticism might there break out into 
 renewed disturbance, unless the people were overawed by 
 the presence of British troops. Sir Archibald, the official 
 account tells us, was received at the station of Tanta by 
 the Arabist Governor, who assured him that all was quiet 
 
230 Sir Archibald Alison. [CHAP. xi. 
 
 in the town, and he proceeded with his staff and an escort 
 of twelve men to arrange for the disposition of his force. 
 Passing through the town the English General was con- 
 ducted to a large open square, where he found himself in the 
 presence of a large force of Arabi's army which had not yet 
 surrendered. The force amounted to some two thousand 
 infantry, four batteries of artillery, and three squadrons of 
 cavalry, all fully equipped ; and all round, in the avenues 
 of approach and open spaces, thronged a crowd of excited 
 townspeople. The General sent back to the station for 
 his men, and meanwhile addressed the Egyptian soldiers 
 near him. These knew little of the defeat of Arabi's 
 forces, although presumably the higher officers were well 
 aware of it ; and it was all that the twelve Highlanders 
 forming his escort could do to keep the crowd clear of the 
 Greneral and his staff. Whilst Sir Archibald was still 
 speaking, the three companies of Highlanders moved into 
 the square, making their way steadily through the crowd. 
 With the precision and nonchalance of the barrack -square 
 " each company in turn came up and took position, forming 
 three sides of a square, with the Greneral in the centre." 
 The men ordered arms, fixed bayonets, and stood at ease. 
 The condition of affairs being further explained, the whole 
 Egyptian force was induced to lay down their arms to 
 the little band of red-coats in their midst. 
 
 Outside the Muderia, where we were accommodated with 
 rooms, the people demonstrated a somewhat truculent air. 
 We had to get our meals at a Greek restaurant in the 
 town, and invariably wore oui uniform and carried arms, 
 on our way backwards and forwards a precaution which 
 was not unnecessary, for when walking behind Colonel 
 Warren I once noticed a stone, of the size of half a brick, 
 drop on the ground behind his feet. 
 
CHAP xi.i Preparations for t/ie Trial. 231 
 
 Some days elapsed and several journeys were taken 
 backwards and forwards to Cairo before the arrangements 
 for the trial could be completed. Something in the air of 
 the East seems to sap the energies out of a man, and 
 renders him casual and unbusinesslike. Our experience led 
 us to the conclusion that it was useless to expect anything 
 to be done at the specified time, unless we were there to 
 see it done ourselves ; the arrangements might be made 
 with a care that should have triumphed over all mishaps, 
 and the most unlikely contingencies provided for, but still 
 something would occur to upset everything. When we 
 first left Cairo for Tanta, every necessary official had been 
 interviewed, and all arrangements we imagined were 
 complete. When we arrived at Tanta, and Colonel Warren 
 presented himself before the Commission, the President 
 professed utter ignorance of our mission there. If we had 
 prisoners they could come on for trial in the ordinary 
 course ; but the prisons were full of people who had a 
 prior claim to the attention of the law. This, however, 
 would not do, and with the aid of Major Macdonald,* an 
 attache of the Consul-General's, the President was brought 
 to his bearings, and the trial arranged for next day. Next 
 day, before anything could be done, a telegram arrived 
 relieving the President of his duties, and suspending the 
 Commission until the appointment of a successor. Colonel 
 Warren had seen enough of Egyptian officialdom to know 
 the futility of waiting events at Tanta, and repaired at 
 once to Cairo, returning next morning with a new President, 
 Zekki Pasha. Now we expected to be able to proceed, but 
 our expectations were doomed to disappointment. In 
 settling the legal preliminaries it was found that Colonel 
 
 * Now Sir Claud Macdonald, H.M. Commissioner for the Oil Rivers 
 Territory, West Coast of Africa. 
 
232 Methods of the Tanta Commission. 
 
 Warren, having conducted the preliminary inquiry, was 
 ineligible for the position of prosecutor, which it had been 
 the wish of the English Government that he should occupy ; 
 Burton was accordingly appointed in his place, while 
 Colonel Warren watched the case on behalf of the English 
 Government. Finally, when all else was ready one of the 
 members was found to have repaired to Cairo, and Burton 
 had to be sent after him to bring him back. 
 
 The Tanta Commission consisted of a President and two 
 Members. It was the business of the Commission to take 
 the evidence of the witnesses, in fact, do all but proceed to 
 sentence, this being reserved for the mixed Court-martial 
 sitting at Alexandria a method of safeguarding the unfor- 
 tunate Fellah from the too drastic methods of justice in 
 vogue in the East. Egyptian law is based on the Code Napo- 
 leon, and its methods are much less ponderous than English 
 legal procedure. The method of taking the evidence was 
 something as follows : A witness would be brought before 
 the Court and questioned by the President in a few pre- 
 liminary queries to mark the individuality of the witness. 
 This part generally gave rise to some amusement, for a 
 Bedoui never by any chance knew his age, and when asked 
 his trade had nothing to say but that he wandered about 
 from place to place, when the President would grunt out 
 " Ah ! Vagrant ! Pig ! " The witness would then be told 
 to say all he knew about the matter in hand ; after which 
 the President would address a few questions. In the case 
 of the accused, the procedure was the same, except that, at 
 the end of the questioning, the President would generally 
 address to the accused some such speech as the following : 
 " Now it appears that you have told a great many lies, in 
 fact, you are about the biggest scoundrel I ever came 
 across. What have you got to say to that ? " However, 
 
CHAP. XI.] 
 
 Confessions before the Court. 
 
 233 
 
 these denunciations were little noticed, being apparently 
 the expected mode of address, from one so immaculate and 
 unapproachable as the little judge, towards one of the 
 children of Ishmael. In the case of a prisoner who had 
 previously made a regularly attested confession, he wus 
 merely called into Court and his confession read out. If 
 he assented to it, it was recorded as evidence without 
 further delay. If, however, the confession included 
 avowal of murder, or any crime 
 which would entail capital punish- 
 ment, the President asked the 
 prisoner three times whether he 
 was guilty of the crime stated or 
 not, before the confession could be 
 accepted by the Court as valid. 
 Colonel Warren, who was allowed 
 to make suggestions to the judge 
 during the progress of the Court, 
 managed to get the bare confes- 
 sions of the prisoners supplemented by the evidence of 
 the witnesses we had brought with us, so as to make sure 
 of the part taken by each delinquent, and satisfy the more 
 exacting ideas of law inherent in English minds. 
 
 The province of the Tanta Commission being to report 
 to the Court-martial, on the strength of which report the 
 Court would proceed to its sentence, it was necessary that the 
 evidence of the numerous witnesses we had collected should 
 all be recorded, thus representing the case somewhat in 
 the clearness and detail evolved during the preliminary 
 inquiry. As it was, five days were found sufficient to 
 dispose of the whole case, including charges against 
 thirteen prisoners implicated more or less in the outrage, 
 and the names, in various grades of complicity, of twelve 
 
 MEBCEH EL EASHDEH ONE 
 OF THE MURDERERS. 
 
234 Sentence of the Court Martial. [CHAP. xi. 
 
 other men who were still at large, but concerning whom it 
 was desirable to record evidence while the witnesses were 
 at hand. After the fifth day the Commission was closed 
 to prepare their report and deliberate on their recommen- 
 dations to the superior tribunal. 
 
 On the 18th of February, at Alexandria, whither we 
 had meanwhile removed with the prisoners, the case was 
 brought on before the Court Martial. The Court was 
 composed of six or eight members, in the fashion of the 
 mixed tribunals Egypt has so long had to put up with. 
 There was considerable interest evinced in the case, 
 amongst the spectators being General Harman, the general 
 in command of H.M. troops at Alexandria, and Captain 
 Fitzroy, E.N., the Senior Naval Officer. 
 
 Chefik Bey, one of the two members of the Tanta Com- 
 mission, acted as prosecutor, and in a lucid speech disclosed 
 the salient features of the case and the charges which were 
 brought against each of the prisoners. The latter were 
 then duly arraigned. The Court, after a short discussion, 
 proceeded to pass sentence on the prisoners as follows : 
 Salem Sheyk ...\ 
 
 Salami Abu Telhaideh 
 
 Salem Abu Telhaideh ^ Sentenced to death. 
 AH Shwair ... ... 
 
 Merceh el Eashdeh ... 1 
 Salami Ibn Aid (Metter's 
 
 nephew) ... ... Sentenced 1 5 years' imprisonment 
 
 Mohammed Arthun ... ,, 10 ,, ,, 
 
 Murshed Ibn Said ... \ 
 Aid Ibn Salem M'Haisen ! 
 
 I K 
 
 Salami Abu Owardeh... i 
 Aid Aba Eigal .-..-) 
 
 Salim Sulman . . 3 
 
CHAP, xi.j Confiscation of the Sofia Property. 
 
 235 
 
 All Effendi, the ex-Governor of Nackl, was sentenced to 
 be discharged from the service and to suffer a year's 
 imprisonment with hard labour. The property of the 
 Sofia family was also confiscated to the State, to make good 
 the money stolen from Professor Palmer. 
 
 This confiscation of property was justified by the 
 facts of the case, but I do not know if any refund of 
 money has been made 
 to the national coffers 
 thereby. If not, it 
 is most probable that 
 the sentence of the 
 Court has been uti- 
 lized by the sheiks 
 to plunder Metter 
 Sofia's family, and 
 thus compensate 
 themselves for their 
 out-of-pocket ex- 
 penses connected 
 with the Inquiry. 
 
 The Bedouin sen- 
 tenced to death were 
 
 sent to Zagazig, where they were to be executed in 
 the presence of a sheik and two Bedouin from every 
 tribe in lower Egypt, some thirty-three in all. It 
 was arranged with the Egyptian Government that they 
 should not be executed until we returned from El 
 Arish, whither Colonel Warren now proposed to go, 
 to endeavour to open up personal communication with 
 the Terebin sheiks of the desert, and to inquire into the 
 conduct of the ex-Governor Said Effendi, a noted Arabist. 
 There had been rumours of the latter's participation 
 
 SALAMI IBN AID (METTER'S NEPHEW), WHO 
 ESCAPED WITH PALMEK'S MONET. 
 
236 Criticism of Home Press. [CHAP.XI. 
 
 in Palmer's capture and death, and that he sent out 
 a party of Sowarki horsemen to make him prisoner. 
 He had consequently been held over, at the time of the 
 trial of the rebel leaders at Cairo, so that his complicity in 
 Palmer's death might be inquired into. 
 
 The work of the Palmer Search-Expedition being now 
 to a great extent finished, it could not be but that com- 
 ments, which up to that time had been generally laudatory 
 to the methods employed by, and the success achieved by 
 Colonel Warren, now changed to criticism and depreciation 
 of the value of the work done. The case had been imper- 
 fectly elucidated, said the comfortably-chaired, home critic. 
 The witnesses had been bullied in an unfeeling way ; men 
 had been condemned on their own confession ; and lastly, 
 Shedid had escaped. To all of which criticism one must 
 give a qualified assent. It is in the nature of human 
 affairs to be imperfect. But it is questionable whether the 
 critic, or anyone else, could have done the work better, and 
 have taken greater pains and care to elucidate the facts of 
 the mystery in which the fate of Professor Palmer and his 
 companions were involved than Colonel Warren did. 
 
 The accusation of bullying and unfeeling treatment 
 of our prisoners is on a par with the petitions for 
 pardon that follow many of the condemnations of 
 notorious criminals in our Courts at home. The 
 Bedouin themselves were well assured of Colonel Warren's 
 probity and straight dealing, and recognised in that the 
 truest tenderness ; and to the end, their demeanour 
 towards us, even of those accused of the capital crime, was 
 never that of men suffering any hardship at our hands, but 
 rather as if we were the only people in the world to whom 
 their welfare was of any importance. Colonel Warren 
 never treated the Bedouin with undue harshness ; and 
 
CHAP, xi.] Some Answers to the Criticism. 237 
 
 although he had frequently to be severe with the sheiks, 
 and often found it necessary to wound their somewhat 
 over-refined susceptibilities in order to get them to do 
 what they were told, in the peculiar nature of the work 
 this could not be avoided. Above all else he had to 
 impress on everyone he came in contact with his absolute 
 sincerity and determination that the perpetrators of the 
 crime, and they only, should suffer punishment ; although, 
 as a matter of fact, all the Bedouin of the desert were 
 accessories to the murder after the act, and deserved little 
 consideration at the hands of Englishmen. 
 
 To the contention that these men were condemned 011 
 their own confession, one may answer that such is the 
 Mohammedan law, which exacts that no man shall be 
 executed until he confesses the crime for which he is 
 condemned : besides the confessions were but the result of 
 the previous inquiry, which had established the guilt of 
 the culprits beyond all doubt, and in far greater elabora- 
 tion than the Egyptian laws either required, or were 
 accustomed to. 
 
 That Shedid was not implicated by the inquiry one 
 cannot but rejoice at, for there was no case against him. 
 On the contrary, the evidence all went to show that 
 Shedid was too astute and too little tarred with the brush 
 of fanaticism to have compassed intentionally, when to no 
 purpose, the massacre of Christians. The order Shedid 
 issued, under Arabi's command, to make prisoners of all 
 Christians who should enter the desert, may be construed 
 as a mere act of the rebel-party in Egypt, on a par with 
 any other measure they took to forward their cause by 
 force of arms ; and although to charge them with not 
 preventing the murder committed by their tribesmen might 
 pass current in Turkey, it would be little in accordance 
 
238 Shedid Acquitted by the Evidence. [CHAP. xi. 
 
 with English notions of right and wrong. Besides, 
 whereas Ibrahim Shedid was the he ad -sheik during the 
 war, he died before our inquiry took active shape ; and 
 we had to deal with his son, Salami Shedid, who could 
 scarcely have been made responsible for his father's 
 misdeeds, even had those misdeeds been established. 
 
CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 MISSION TO EL ARISH. DEPARTURE FROM ALEXANDRIA IN H.M.S. 
 "DECOY." LANDING AT EL ARISH. THE WADI, TOWN, AND 
 POPULATION OF EL ARISH. SITUATION OF AFFAIRS WHEN WE 
 ARRIVED. CASE OF RACHEED HADDID. GOVERNMENT VESTED 
 IN BEKKA EFFENDI. INQUIRING INTO CASES OF BASTINADOING, 
 &c. THE SOWARKI SHEIKS. INIQUITIES OF MUSTAPHA MAM- 
 NOON'S GOVERNMENT. His ORDER FOR OUR DETENTION. THE 
 SUSPENSION OF THE GOVERNOR. ENDEAVOURS TO APPROACH 
 THE TEREBIN SHEIKS. DEPARTURE FROM EL ARISH. WADI EL 
 ARISH. GATIE. THE SAND-HILL COUNTRY. ARRIVAL AT EL 
 KANTARA. 
 
 LEAVING the criminals in Government custody, with orders 
 that capital punishment should not be proceeded with 
 until further orders, Colonel Warren turned his attention 
 to El Arish. 
 
 Early in the year there had been received from the 
 Governor of El Arish a watch and chain of Professor 
 Palmer's, and a pair of boots supposed to be the property 
 of one of his party which articles had been obtained 
 from the Bedouin in that vicinity. El Arish had hitherto 
 not been reached by the Search-Expedition, and it was felt 
 that something 1 further might be done from that point. 
 It had been a place of considerable importance during the 
 war, being a transmitting station of the telegraph-line 
 between El Kantara on the Canal and Gaza in Syria ; and, 
 being held by a warm adherent of Arabi, who had spared 
 
240 El Arish dtiriny ike War. [CHAP. xn. 
 
 no pains in stirring- up a feeling of enmity to Christians 
 amongst the Bedouin, it had played no inconsiderable part 
 in the desert. But it was as a medium of intelligence, via 
 the telegraph-line to Europe, that El Arish had its chief 
 effect during the war; and Captain Gill, R.E., when he 
 went with Palmer on his fatal expedition, had as his 
 primary object to sever this line of communication, and 
 took with him explosives for the demolition of the line, 
 intending to cut it at some distance from the Canal. 
 Gill's mission remained unfulfilled, and on August 19th, 
 
 O ' 
 
 the day the Canal-plant was taken in charge by the Navy, 
 the wire was cut near El Kantara. This cut, however, 
 was insufficient to completely sever this line of communica- 
 tion, for the Bedouin could cross the Canal pretty much as 
 they pleased during the war, and intelligence could be 
 forwarded from El Arish ; and on September 10th, Colonel 
 Warren, then at Tor, had suggested the occupation of 
 the place by a small party. Notwithstanding this, it 
 remained unoccupied, even after the collapse of Arabi, 
 although the Governor was relieved and succeeded by 
 Mustapha Mamnoon, an adherent of the Khedive ; the 
 ex-Governor being detained in prison at Cairo, until he 
 should be cleared of certain charges made against him 
 of complicity in the attack upon, and subsequent murder 
 of, Palmer and his companions. 
 
 El Arish is situated in the country of the Sowarki 
 Bedouin, of whom Arabi Pasha was said to have 
 requisitioned four thousand to five thousand men during 
 the war; therefore this tribe was presumably of con- 
 siderable importance in the question of coercing the 
 Terebin, who were still, from their fastness of Jebel 
 Hilall, defying our endeavours at arresting the guilty 
 parties of their tribe. The idea that the Sowarki could 
 
CHAP, xii.] Departure from Alexandria. 241 
 
 supply such a number of fighting-men was, however, 
 purely apocryphal ; and, with further experience of that 
 tribe, we found no reason to alter our estimate (vide p. 203), 
 which gave the Sowarki tribe ac a strength of four 
 hundred fighting-men. 
 
 We embarked at Alexandria on board H.M.S. Decoy, 
 on the afternoon of the 23rd. We were equipped with 
 stores for a six weeks' expedition into the desert, for 
 Colonel Warren could not be sure into what action the 
 departure might lead us. We took with us Selim Mosalli, 
 our interpreter, and three Bedouin as servants, intending 
 to get camels and an escort at El Arish, for any desert 
 journeys that were necessary. The gunboat had some 
 difficulty in passing the bar of Alexandria harbour, but 
 this was accomplished before dark, and we were soon 
 steaming along to the eastward, a heavy north-west wind 
 blowing, which helped us along, although it made the 
 Decoy dance, much to the discomfort of some of its 
 occupants. 
 
 As long as the wind blew from the north-west it would 
 be impossible to land at El Arish, as being on the open 
 beach the surf would be too high ; however, early in the 
 morning of the 25th the wind shifted to the south, and 
 after some little trouble the point of disembarkation was 
 found, and we prepared to land. This was the first visit 
 paid by one of our ships to El Arish since the outbreak of 
 the war, and it is to some extent a matter for legitimate 
 surprise why it should not have been visited before, and 
 the inhabitants given an ocular demonstration of the 
 power of the Khedive's supporters. But the coast is an 
 inhospitable one, consisting of a shallow, shelving foreshore, 
 keeping vessels at a distance; and a screen of sand-hills, 
 palms and scrub, effectually hides the town from the 
 
 R 
 
242 Landing at El Arisli. [CHAP.XII. 
 
 sea. The exaggerated estimate of the power of the 
 Bedouin possibly contributed also to prevent the com- 
 mitting of small bodies of blue- jackets to independent 
 action ashore, except where definite results were to be 
 obtained thereby. 
 
 As our projected landing proceeded and the boats 
 neared the shore, considerable stir was created amongst the 
 Arabs on the beach, and they lined a trench which we 
 subsequently found had been prepared with the intention 
 
 THE SHORE NEAR EL ARISH, WHERE WE LANDED. 
 
 of resisting a landing. The surf was running high, the 
 waves breaking far out from shore, leaving within them a 
 broad belt of comparatively smooth water, in which the 
 boats could easily float. We all got ducked, the boats 
 themselves narrowly escaping capsize ; but after several 
 attempts we got safe through the breakers into the smooth 
 water within, where we lay, and hailed the Arabs on 
 shore. They showed little desire for closer intercourse, 
 but after some time they took courage, and came down the 
 beach into the water, gradually drawing closer and closer ; 
 when they learnt that seven of us wished to land and visit 
 
CHAP, xii.] Getting our Bay (/aye Ashore. ~1 l-.'i 
 
 El Arish, they came up to the boats and carried us on 
 their backs to the shore. On shore we were at once 
 surrounded by a crowd of unruly Arabs, who, filled with 
 curiosity at our appearance, were with difficulty made to 
 keep their distance. Colonel Warren spoke to them, 
 endeavouring to instil some confidence as to our intentions, 
 and urged them to go back into the water to the boats and 
 fetch our baggage. This, however, they refused to do, and 
 matters were at a dead lock, when an individual in uniform, 
 who turned out to be a minor official of the garrison, 
 arrived. Colonel Warren tackled him at once, and ordered 
 him to send for the Governor, and get the Arabs to 
 bring our things ashore. A messenger was accordingly 
 despatched to the town, and, after a great deal of gesticu- 
 lation and excited dialogue between this official and the 
 Arabs, our stores were brought ashore from the boats. 
 
 It had been necessary for us to wear our uniforms for 
 landing to ensure recognition of our status ; and our kit 
 was none the better for the ducking we had received. 
 Spread upon the dry sand, under the hot mid-day sun, our 
 clothes were soon dry, however, and a little trouble made 
 our weapons serviceable again. When our trunks and 
 store-cases came ashore these had to be turned out and 
 emptied of salt water, a quantity of the stores being 
 destroyed in the ducking they had experienced. After 
 about an hour a number of officials arrived from the town, 
 and every one seeming to be amiably inclined, we sent a 
 message to the Decoy not to wait for us any longer, 
 and set about getting transport to convey our things to the 
 town of El Arish. Camels for the baggage and riding- 
 horses were soon obtained, and we started off. 
 
 Our way lay through the garden-lands, with which 
 Wadi el Arish is covered at its mouth. No water was 
 
244 El Arish. [CHAP. xn. 
 
 seen here at the surface, but it is found a few feet down ; 
 and numerous shallow wells with shadoofs were dotted 
 about, reminding one of the delta of Egypt. The sand- 
 hills impinge upon the wadi on its western side, and are 
 slowly straitening the limits of the cultivated portion. 
 The fort and town of El Arish lie upon some elevated 
 ground between one and two miles from the sea. The 
 town is a collection of clay-huts, housing some three or 
 four thousand people, and is entirely dominated by the 
 fort an imposing structure (though somewhat dilapidated) 
 some eighty-yards square, with walls some twenty-feet 
 high, loopholed, and provided with a cliemin-de-fer for 
 firing through their crenelated tops. The government 
 rests in a governor, who is assisted by a bash-cateb and 
 several clerks. There is also a quarantine establishment. 
 The garrison of the fort is composed of thirty regular 
 soldiers under two officers of the Egyptian Artillery, and 
 twenty camel-men under a sheik. These latter are 
 permanencies, but the regulars are periodically relieved. 
 
 The people of El Arish are of a veiy distinctive type. 
 They have light-brown hair, blue eyes, and an open, fair 
 countenance, contrasting with the dark, lowering faces of 
 the Egyptians. They are said to be of Bosnian extraction, 
 and were planted here by Mohammed Ali, probably to 
 strengthen this his frontier-depot : one cannot but think, 
 however, that these fine, stalwart descendants of the 
 Bosnian mountaineers are wasted at El Arish, as they 
 could not easily be wasted elsewhere. Until recent years 
 El Arish, as the chief station on the trade-route between 
 Syria and Egypt, had considerable importance, and the 
 people owned a great number of camels for transport- 
 running. But now trade prefers the sea-route from Jaffa 
 to Port Said, and the overland route, and with it El Arish 
 
CHAP, xii.] Governor Mwtapha Mamnoon. 245 
 
 has dwindled in importance. The town is now painfully 
 isolated, and separated from Syria by forty miles of desert, 
 from Egypt by a hundred miles, is solely important as a 
 transmitting-station of the telegraph-line, and as a point 
 of civilisation and government in the desert. The popula- 
 tion is divided into families or groups, each under a sheik, 
 and over them all is a head-sheik. Religion and civil 
 justice is personified in the person of the Cadi, a man of 
 great reputed sanctity and learning. The people are quiet 
 and unfanatical, and refused to molest the Christians living 
 in the town during the war, though constantly egged on 
 to do so by the governor and his officers. They trade in 
 the produce of their gardens and orchards, for calico, &c., 
 and apparently are a very contented people, living except 
 for the presence of government officials in their midst 
 a contented, Utopian existence. In ordinary times they 
 pay no regular taxes, but, doubtless, have their full 
 share of extraordinary requisitions to fulfil according 
 as the governor and his subordinates are pleased to 
 
 demand. 
 
 i 
 
 At the time of our arrival affairs were in a most 
 complicated condition at El Arish. The new Turkish 
 governor, Mustapha Mamnoon, who had been roughly 
 treated in Egypt during the ascendancy of Arabi, had 
 taken advantage of his isolated position at El Arish to 
 institute a perfect reign of terror in the place. Of this we 
 knew nothing at the time of our arrival, but Colonel 
 Warren, always preferring, if practicable, to take these 
 places by surprise, chose to go to El Arish by sea, so as to 
 come unawares on the people without preparations being 
 made for his reception. Unfortunately for the governor, 
 he had chosen this very time to leave the place ; and 
 thus his delinquencies were exposed, though he had 
 
24G Turkish Methods of Government. [CHAP. xn. 
 
 taken all precaution to secure his own position and a 
 continuance of his policy during his absence by placing his 
 son in command of the fort in his place. This he 
 did, notwithstanding the fact that the Dukolia (the Depart- 
 ment in which El Arish is situated) had refused to accept 
 his son as acting-governor, and had sent A., a lieutenant of 
 artillery, to take command as wakil during his absence. 
 However, Mamnoon ignored these instructions, and wrote 
 to say that nothing had been heard of A., though he had 
 actually arrived and had been placed in a subordinate 
 position as third lieutenant of the fort. Thus, when we 
 arrived, Hassan Effendi, the son of Mustapha Mamnoon, 
 was fraudulently acting as governor, while the real acting- 
 governor, who was quite unaware of his position as ivakil, 
 was acting as third officer of the fort. 
 
 The first act of Mustapha Mamnoon on arrival at the 
 fort as governor had been to state that he was irresponsible, 
 and that he had an agreement with H.H. the Khedive and 
 the Dukolia to act exactly as he thought fit ; he proceeded 
 accordingly to rule with the most barbarous severity, taking 
 measures to make it almost impossible that his unlawful 
 acts should become known to the administration. He 
 administered the bastinado freely in the Queen's name, 
 which so embittered and alarmed the people against the 
 English, that on our arrival w r e were treated as enemies, 
 and the women actually dug holes in their gardens and hid 
 all their ornaments, so much alarmed were they at the 
 arrival of three British officers. It was impossible for us 
 to avoid noticing that there was some peculiarity about the 
 people of the placa in their relation to us, but we could not 
 tell what it signified ; it only appeared as though there 
 was a very intense feeling against us among all. The 
 acting-governor, Hassan Effendi, insisted upon our 
 
CHAP, xii.] Introduction of Racheed Haddid. 247 
 
 coming to stay in the fort, and, taking us over it, pointed 
 out where our tents were to be and the rooms where we 
 might live ; but Colonel Warren had no idea of being 
 quietly made prisoner of in this manner, and ordered our 
 tent to be put up some four hundred yards outside the 
 walls on the north side, and requested a guard of three 
 soldiers for the night. 
 
 The acting-governor paid us a visit in the evening and 
 inquired what our mission was. We had no credentials 
 or papers to show who we were, but he appeared to be 
 well disposed, and, at Colonel Warren's instance, a summons 
 was sent to the Sowarki sheiks ordering them to come to 
 El Arish to confer with Colonel Warren. A severe gale was 
 now blowing, and the tents were with great difficulty kept 
 standing. Our dinner was a very gritty one, the air being 
 thick with sand, and we took it in the lulls of the storm 
 when the tent did not require holding up. About 8 p.m., 
 as we were occupied struggling with the tent-pole and guy- 
 ropes, wondering how long we could stand this kind of 
 work, our tent was invaded by a young man who seemed 
 in the last stage of desperation, and begged and entreated 
 for assistance in Arabic, English, and Trench. We were 
 not aware that anyone in the place could talk English, 
 thus his appearance was a complete surprise, and it was 
 some time before we could make out who he could be. 
 He turned out to be the telegraph-clerk, a Syrian, named 
 Racheed Haddid. He had been severely beaten on our 
 landing by the acting-governor's servant, because he had 
 not given notice of our coming which, of course, he 
 was unable to do as he had received no notice himself. 
 Such action on the part of the servant could only have 
 sprung from the master, and occurring at this moment, 
 it was a very serious act of intimidation, and showed 
 
248 Reception at the Fort. [CHAP. xn. 
 
 that Hassan Effendi was not disposed to be on straight 
 terms. Colonel Warren feeling it all the more necessary 
 to endeavour to patch up the matter, made light of 
 it, and suggested that the governor could not possibly 
 be aware of his servant's act, and would, doubtless, 
 take early steps to settle the matter. The boy Racheed 
 our visitor did not appear more than a boy showed 
 several severe contusions on his body which had all the 
 appearance of fresh wounds ; and from his tremulous, 
 excited state it was evident that he had been severely 
 handled. 
 
 Next morning, February 26th, we were much fatigued 
 by our efforts to defeat the wind during the night. 
 Colonel Warren sent up to the governor and asked 
 what steps he had taken with reference to the case 
 of Racheed, the beating of whom had come to his 
 notice. A courteous reply was received, saying that 
 the matter would be fully inquired into, which reply 
 was accompanied with an invitation to dinner at the 
 fort. Colonel Warren accepted the invitation, and arming 
 carefully, we went up to the fort, Colonel Warren 
 instructing us not to lose sight of our weapons, as 
 he had suspicions that all was not correct at El Arish. 
 On our arrival at the fort the guard turned out under the 
 command of the acting-governor, and presented arms, 
 while Bekka Effendi, the second officer, received us and 
 took us into the fort. Here we were well received, the 
 resources of the culinary department being strained by the 
 provision of a very oily repast in our honour. 
 
 The gale here on shore called the khamsin wind 
 blew stronger and stronger, and during the morning there 
 came reports that the Decoy had been seen off the 
 shore in distress. This was incorrect, as we ascertained 
 
CHAP. xii. j Racheed's Case Disposed of. 249 
 
 afterwards, for she ran before the gale to Cyprus and took 
 shelter behind the island ; but it is the style of thing that 
 does in lieu of news in the East. In the evening we 
 pitched our tent anew under shelter of a sand-bank, as it 
 was blowing a hurricane. 
 
 We went to see Eacheed early in the morning of the 
 27th, and found him lying in bed, suffering from the effects 
 of the ill-treatment he had received. As nothing had been 
 done to compensate him or deal with the case in any way, 
 Colonel Warren determined to report the matter to Sir 
 Edward Malet. We got Racheed up to send the telegram, 
 Colonel Warren being particularly anxious to send it 
 before he paid the acting-governor a visit, for Hassan 
 Effendi would probably appeal to his clemency, in order 
 to prevent the matter going any further, and it would 
 save trouble to clinch matters at once by making a 
 report to head-quarters. Subsequently we paid a visit 
 to the fort to make a formal inquiry into the action of the 
 acting-governor in Racheed's case. It was found that the 
 man who had committed the assault was in prison, but the 
 case had not been investigated. Hassan Effendi pleaded 
 that he had not power to dispose of such cases, and this one 
 must wait until his father returned to his government. 
 However, finally he came to his senses, apologised for his 
 inaction, which he attributed to lack of experience, and 
 promised to investigate the case at the earliest opportunity. 
 These good intentions resulted in the culprit getting a 
 severe flogging for the trouble he had occasioned his 
 master. 
 
 The continuance of the hurricane forced us to strike 
 our camp during the day and take refuge in the town in 
 Bekka Effendi's house, which he kindly placed at our 
 disposal. We were here better able to get on with our 
 
250 Governor Said Effendi. [CHAP. xn. 
 
 inquiry as to the action of Said Effendi, the Arabist 
 governor, during the war. Colonel Warren's persistent 
 and successful demand for justice in the case of the assault 
 on Racheed had an excellent effect on the various people of 
 the town whom we examined ; and as these gained con- 
 fidence we discovered, little by little, that the existing 
 state of affairs, under Mustapha Mairmoon Bey, was far 
 worse than anything which existed prior to his arrival. 
 Said Effendi had, indeed, been an energetic and fanatical 
 supporter of Arabi, but the Christians in the town were 
 not ill-treated by him, beyond being put under contribution 
 as he thought they were squeezable. But Mustapha 
 Mamnoon far exceeded Said in general and systematical 
 oppression. Many cases of gross tyranny and cruelty were 
 daily discovered, and in all these Bekka Effendi, now our 
 host, must have played a consenting, if not an active, 
 part. 
 
 Next day, the gale still continuing, confined us to the 
 house and town. Telegraphic communication with El 
 Kantara, which had been interrupted the previous after- 
 noon, was reopened, and an order came for the governor's 
 son, Hassan Effendi, to at once surrender the government 
 into the hands of Bekka Effendi, the senior officer of the 
 fort. This latter, an alert, bright-eyed, little soldier, who, 
 being unable to read and write, had before been considered 
 ineligible to hold the command of the fort, had now the 
 task of resisting Colonel Warren's inquiry into several 
 alleged cases of tyranny, illegal bastinadoing and flogging, 
 during the last few months. He did his duty to his absent 
 master well ; and, though he allowed that the governor 
 might have playfully flicked with his cane a few culprits 
 who had been brought before him, he insisted that such a 
 direct transgression of the Khedive's decree as bastinadoing 
 
CHAP, xii.] The use of the Kourbash. 251 
 
 never for a moment would have been allowed under so 
 exact and punctilious a regime as that of Mustapha 
 Mamnoon. 
 
 We investigated a great number of allegations, and 
 were often foiled in endeavouring to drive our case home ; 
 but one morning in the Makafza Colonel Warren sent for 
 two clerks whom we had ascertained had lately been 
 bastinadoed, and examined the soles of their feet. The 
 skin was marked and scarred, as by a severe bastinadoing 
 recently administered ; but, on being questioned, they 
 insisted they knew nothing of being bastinadoed. Colonel 
 Warren turned to one of the attendant soldiers and told 
 him to fetch the tourniquet, an instrument by which the 
 feet of the subject to be bastinadoed are secured. The 
 man thinking apparently that another castigation was to 
 take place, and eager for the fun, hurried away before 
 Bekka Effendi could interfere, and immediately returned 
 with the instrument of torture: Colonel Warren roughly 
 ordered one of the clerks to be seized and put on the 
 ground for a bastinadoing, and the kourbash to be brought. 
 Bekka, somewhat mystified, gave the necessary orders, and 
 the clerk was soon on his stomach with his feet held up 
 by two soldiers, while another stood by with the kourbash 
 ready to administer correction at the Colonel's command. 
 On these occasions, in the event of the subject struggling 
 violently, another man sits on his back and pinions his 
 arms. All details of the barbarous punishment were 
 explained and exemplified, except the actual castigation, 
 and the clerk was then released, to his own relief certainly, 
 but to the evident disappointment of the soldiers. Colonel 
 Warren then turning to Bekka Effendi congratulated him 
 on the perfection of drill shown by his subordinates, and 
 expressed surprise that a soldier of his standing should 
 
252 The Sowdrki Sheiks. [CHAP. xn. 
 
 continue to place himself in a false position for the sake of 
 defending Mustapha Mamnoon, who had illegally abused 
 his power as governor to such an unjustifiable extent. 
 From this moment Colonel Warren was virtually governor 
 of El Arish, and Bekka Effendi realised that he must give 
 assistance in our inquiries, or he too would he liable to 
 get into trouble. 
 
 There was little to be done in respect to the particular 
 business of the Palmer Search -Expedition, for the Sowarki 
 sheiks had not yet arrived ; it was, moreover, particularly 
 important that El Arish should be put in a satisfactory 
 state, so that it could be used as a safe base for the 
 operations which Colonel Warren wished to initiate against 
 the Terebin. We heard that the Terebin, who had been 
 gathered at Jebel Hilall while we were at Nackl, had now 
 dispersed, going to their ploughing-lands in Syria ; and it 
 was quite probable that after placing things at El Arish 
 on a satisfactory basis we would go to Syria and visit 
 Colonel Warren's old friend Yusuf Effendi, the Turkish 
 Governor of Gaza, so as to obtain his assistance. 
 
 On March 3rd, the gale having abated, we pitched our 
 tents again, and moved into them, very glad to be able to 
 vacate the stifling, dark habitation we had been living in. 
 The Sowarki sheiks arrived, and were interviewed by the 
 Colonel. They were stupid old men, and had nothing to 
 suggest as to our going to Jebel Hilall. They rode 
 charming little Arab horses, and their get up, as the first 
 Bedoui tribe we had met that used horses, was interesting. 
 They were told of the matter we had come about, of their 
 complicity as desert Bedouin in the crime of their neigh- 
 bouring tribesmen, and of the obligation that lay upon 
 them to do all to assist us in our search. Escorts would 
 be required of them, &c. To all this they could do 
 
CHAP, xii.] A Reign of Terror at El A risk. 253 
 
 nothing but shake their heads, talking and gesticulating 
 now and then in an entirely irrelevant manner, like 
 tremulous but obstinate old ladies, oppressed by the idea 
 that they are being done. There was nothing possible but 
 to chaff them, and unlike most Bedouin, who are quick to 
 recognise humour, this only made them the more stupid ; so 
 inquiries were made whether some younger and more active 
 head-men could not be produced, with whom some action 
 might be arranged. This request subsequently produced 
 Salami Aradi, a fine, lithe, active fellow, thoroughly 
 typical of competent Bedoui rascality, and a good fellow 
 to boot. He accompanied us when we left El Arish, and 
 thoroughly redeemed the character of the Sowarki tribes- 
 men in our opinion. 
 
 Evidence had been meanwhile accumulating against 
 Mustapha Mamnoon. We found that he had been 
 systematically oppressing the people in a thoroughly 
 Turkish style ; and this all in the name of Her Majesty 
 the Queen, whom he represented as the rapacious con- 
 queror of a down-trodden people. Bastinadoing had been 
 constantly used contrary to the law, and no entries or 
 reports made to proper authority. People had been 
 imprisoned to suit the governor's pleasure, forbidden to 
 meet to read the Koran, for the ceremonies of marriage, 
 circumcision, or burial, or even for social purposes in their 
 own houses. The governor had spies all over the town, 
 and often, without any warning, people would be seized, 
 and taken before him to account for some trivial offence 
 or crime hatched against them in the fertile brain of the 
 governor or his subordinates. The soldiers were encour- 
 aged to behave so that they were a terror to the people ; 
 and, in short, this little township, which had of itself all 
 the elements which should have- secured to it a happy 
 
254 Mustapha Mamnoon at El Kant a r a. [CHAP. xn. 
 
 hum-drum existence, was cursed by all the hideous charac- 
 teristics of a reign of terror. In the intervals when the 
 line was open (for the storm constantly interrupted 
 telegraphic communication) Colonel Warren forwarded to 
 Cairo the more important details as they came to light. 
 As Mamnoon was at the time at Cairo, it was probable that 
 these reports would be referred to him, or reach his ears 
 in some manner. Thus it was likely that he would shortly 
 return to his government, to stop the revelations into his 
 administration ; and on March 3rd, whilst we were in the 
 telegraph-office of El Arish, a message arrived from 
 Mamnoon, from El Kantara, the next station towards 
 Egypt, for his son to go to our end of the wire to speak to 
 him. A reply was sent, by Colonel Warren's instructions, 
 to the effect that this could not be allowed. 
 
 The near approach of the governor had, however, a 
 great effect on the demeanour of the garrison and people 
 of the town. They evidently had a lively imagination of 
 Mamnoon's vengeance when he should regain his govern- 
 ment, and be able, untrammelled, to work his will upon 
 them. We were somewhat apprehensive ourselves how 
 far matters were likely to go on the return of Mamnoon. 
 He was evidently a man of courage, determination, and 
 brutality, and would stop at nothing for the furtherance of 
 his own ends j and with full control over the telegraph 
 office, the transport of the district, guides, supplies, &c., 
 and with unlimited (in comparison with our small party) 
 physical force to serve his ends, it was more than possible 
 that we might come off second best. 
 
 These feelings were intensified in the evening by a 
 statement by Bekka Effendi, who was dining with us, 
 that telegraphic orders had that day arrived from 
 Mamnoon at El Kantara to the acting-governor, to the 
 
CHAP. xii.] An Awkward Situation. 255 
 
 effect that we were to be detained until lie arrived at 
 El Arish, to which he was coming as quickly as 
 his camels could carry him. Such an order was tanta- 
 mount to making prisoners of us, and we observed that 
 the guard of soldiers that had that evening again mounted 
 over our tents was unwontedly vigilant, and suspicious 
 of our movements. Bekka Effendi, too, appeared to be 
 much concerned for his own prospects, when the governor 
 should return and find his subordinate had failed in 
 efficiently defending his superior's interests ; and evidently 
 was regretting that he had identified himself with our 
 proceedings in any way. 
 
 After Bekka Effendi had retired, we held council 
 together as to how we could give Mamnoon the slip and 
 escape on foot to Gaza ; but we soon saw that this would 
 be impracticable, as it was certain that the Bedouin in 
 Mustapha Mamnoon's pay could catch us up before we 
 were many miles away. Moreover, there was the difficulty 
 about Eacheed Haddid ; it was certain death to him if 
 we left him behind, and yet we could not take him with 
 us without disorganizing the telegraphic communication 
 between Egypt and Europe. Besides this there was the 
 possibility that Mustapha Mamnoon had sent the tele- 
 gram for the very purpose of putting us into a false 
 position. He evidently meant mischief, as his whole 
 prospects in life were at stake, and from his unscrupulous 
 character it was clear he would stop at nothing to gain his 
 ends. Colonel Warren looked upon the situation in a very 
 serious light, for if he once arrived and took over the 
 command, Mustapha Mamnoon would be able to get us 
 into some difficulty which he could easily do by means 
 of either the soldiers of the fort or the Bedouin and 
 then, when we were in extremis, he could appear as our 
 
25(5 Colonel Warren tries Conclusions. [CHAP.XII. 
 
 deliverer and help us out on condition that we should 
 condone his offences, and our condition might be such that 
 we would be glad to do so. Our investigation of Mam- 
 noon's methods of government made us determined never 
 to place ourselves in his power ; a determination which now 
 found its only action in the careful overhauling of our 
 revolvers and rifles, which were very foul from the sand of 
 the recent storm. 
 
 Next morning, March 4th, a messenger was sent early 
 to the fort to ascertain whether there was any news of 
 Mustapha Mamnoon, and it was elicited that he was 
 expected about mid-day on the 5th. It soon became 
 evident, from the way in which we were shadowed by the 
 soldiers, that we were prisoners, and some sharp action was 
 necessary or we should surrender our liberty. When this 
 was quite clear, Colonel Warren thought it time to act, 
 and sent up an order to the fort to say he would inspect 
 the garrison, which was to be ready to receive him, at 
 10 a.m. At the time appointed we went up to the fort in 
 uniform and fully armed. The soldiers turned out, and 
 Colonel Warren inspected them with all ceremony. This 
 done, he told Bekka Effendi to assemble all the officials 
 and sheiks of the town. Taken somewhat by surprise, 
 Bekka Effendi complied, although with some show of 
 reluctance. But there was a further surprise in store. 
 Colonel Warren, in a very loud voice, which could be 
 heard in the village, addressed the officials and sheiks 
 with reference to the administration of the governor, 
 assuring them that it was not in accordance with the 
 wishes of the English Government. By this means he 
 attracted the attention of the townspeople, of whose 
 support he was pretty certain, and drew them near to the 
 fort : the market-square soon became crowded, the people 
 
CHAP. xii.] Suspension of The Governor. 257 
 
 thronging the gateway of the fort, and Colonel Warren 
 ordered Bekka Effendi to admit all the principal men. 
 Gradually they filtered in and came among the soldiers, 
 crowding round them until there was not room for them 
 to use their bayonets. 
 
 We did not understand what all this meant, but it 
 appears that Colonel Warren intended, in case his procla- 
 mation did not take effect, to call upon the people to seize 
 the soldiers, and at the same time we would seize upon 
 Bekka Effendi and the chief officials, and he would take 
 possession of the fort in his own person in the name of 
 the Khedive. But we were not driven to this. When 
 all was considered ready, Colonel Warren produced a 
 sheet of paper, from which he read : That finding the 
 governor, Mustapha Mamnoon, was endangering the 
 peace of the country, and there could be no question but 
 that his re-assumption of the government would lead to 
 bloodshed, therefore, in the name of H.H. the Khedive, 
 he (Colonel Warren) declared him temporarily suspended 
 from his functions as governor, until the pleasure of His 
 Highness might be made known ; and at the same time he 
 directed Bekka Effendi to continue to act as governor until 
 instructions should be received from the Dukolia. 
 
 At first this was received somewhat dubiously, and 
 Bekka Effendi appeared irresolute, but Colonel Warren 
 did not leave him time to think. Easterns can make no 
 way against constant action. After speaking to the 
 officials and sheiks, Colonel Warren made a speech outside 
 the fort to the townspeople of El Arish. He told them 
 that all the restrictions that had been put upon them 
 were removed ; that they might visit each other in their 
 houses, and speak to each other in the streets ; and that 
 when they were punished or imprisoned entries would 
 
 s 
 
258 Colonel Warrens Coup Successful. 
 
 be put in the offence-book and sent to the Dukolia, accord- 
 ing to law. He also released the head-sheik of the village, 
 who, we now discovered, had been imprisoned in his own 
 house for several months. Though somewhat doubtful 
 at first, the people received all this with subdued joy, 
 but as they still looked with terror upon the soldiers, 
 Colonel Warren ordered these latter into the fort : then 
 the general enthusiasm knew no bounds, and the air 
 was filled with that peculiar, thrilling noise made by Arab 
 women when they rejoice. 
 
 We next re-entered the fort and examined the books 
 and official records, and had certified extracts made there- 
 from to support certain charges that Colonel Warren had 
 made against the governor. These .extracts were written 
 out in duplicate by the bash-cateb and signed by Bekka 
 Effendi ; one set was ordered to be sent up direct to the 
 Dukolia, while we kept the other ourselves, and a precis 
 of the charges brought against the governor was forwarded 
 by telegraph to Sir Edward Malet, with a report of the 
 morning's doings. Next day orders arrived from Cairo, 
 authorising Bekka Effendi to continue to act as governor, 
 and instructing him to send Mustapha Mamnoon to Cairo 
 immediately, without permitting him to enter El Arish. 
 A party of soldiers were consequently despatched to 
 arrest the governor, and turn him back to El Kantara, 
 
 So Colonel Warren's coup d'etat was entirely successful. 
 Once the people realised that Mustapha Mamnoon was 
 deposed, there was abundance of evidence immediately 
 forthcoming to supplement the charges we had already 
 made against him ; and when subsequently at Cairo he 
 pleaded not guilty, we were able to produce the proof of 
 his cruelty and injustice, so that he was turned out of bis 
 command and never reinstated as governor at El Arish. 
 
CHAP, xii.] Operations Against the Terebin. 259 
 
 We were now free to turn our attention elsewhere. 
 With reference to the Terebin of Jebel Hilall, it was 
 ascertained that the incapacity or treachery of Mustapha 
 Mamnoon had prevented any combined action between him 
 and the Turkish governor of Graza to compel this tribe to 
 give up their guilty tribesmen. Some time previously a 
 meeting of the two governors had been arranged to take 
 place on the frontier at Kan-Yunis, in order to confer 
 about the matter, but the governor of El Arish had not 
 kept the appointment, so Yusuf Effendi, after a bootless 
 journey, returned to Gaza without doing anything. 
 
 It is very doubtful, however, whether anything in the 
 shape of active operations against the Terebin were possible. 
 Certainly, on the Egyptian side, there was not the 
 necessary force. For many years a blood-feud had been 
 raging between the Sowarki and Terebin, with such dire 
 results to the Sowarki that their tribe had diminished 
 considerably in numbers, and were now unable alone to 
 undertake active operations against their enemies. They 
 were, however, eager to promote a scheme Colonel 
 Warren had proposed for a joint expedition of Tiyahah, 
 Lehewat, and Sowarki against the Terebin, though even 
 then the odds would have been heavily in favour of the 
 Terebin. But whenever we proposed to undertake with 
 them a tentative expedition towards Jebel Hilall, the 
 Sowarki sheiks would shake their old heads and talk in a 
 wild way, as only Bedouin can, of the steep mountains 
 and rugged precipices in the Terebin country, of their 
 enemies' enormous numbers, and how they gave the 
 Sowarki such a thrashing a few years back, when five 
 hundred of their young men were killed. On such occa- 
 sions statistics are a Bedoui's strong point ; he revels in 
 numbers with perfect nonchalance ; and without much 
 
 s 2 
 
260 Execution of the Murderers. [CHAP. xn. 
 
 conception of the meaning of the figures he quotes, trusts 
 them to prove his point with the fact-loving Frank. 
 
 During our stay at El Arish we received intelligence 
 that the five men condemned by the Court-martial at 
 Alexandria had been executed at Zagazig. This was in 
 direct contravention of the arrangement we had made with 
 the Egyptian Government, and considerably militated 
 against our chances of making any more captures in the 
 desert. So with the approval of the authorities at head- 
 quarters Colonel Warren decided to return to Egypt. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM EL ARISH. WADI EL ARISH. G-ATIE. THE 
 SAND-HILL COUNTRY. ARRIVAL AT EL KANTARA. EECALL TO 
 ENGLAND. THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AND THE EXPEDITION. 
 THE CRITICAL INSANITY OF IRRESPONSIBLE POLITICIANS. 
 RESULTS OF SEARCH -EXPEDITION. CAUSES WHICH LED TO 
 PALMER'S MURDER. SELECTION OF PALMER FOR THE MISSION 
 TO THE DESERT. His INSTRUCTIONS AND ACTION. INTERMENT 
 OF REMAINS IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 
 
 WE left El Arish on March 5th under escort of Salami 
 Aradi, the young Sowarki chieftain, and Hamdam, sheik of 
 the fort camel-men, with several Bedouin and soldiers. As 
 we left the town the whole population men, women, and 
 children turned out and followed us some way on our road ; 
 and then, ascending a hill, they stood watching us till the 
 yellow hill could only he identified in the distance by the 
 black cap of living creatures which surmounted it. The 
 four old Sowarki sheiks accompanied us on horseback some 
 miles, and treated us to some horse -play, galloping their 
 horses at full speed round us. The gaily caparisoned little 
 animals pranced about, entering fully into the excitement 
 of their masters, who, wildly waving their long muskets in 
 the air, disposed of their imaginary foes, emitting all the 
 while sharp, barking sounds. 
 
 Our course lay southwards for some miles along Wadi 
 El Arish. The wadi is here from one to one and a half 
 
262 Wadi El Arisli. [CHAP. xm. 
 
 miles broad, is almost flat, fully cultivated, and irrigated 
 with furrows. The bed of the gully, through which the 
 water flows (when there is any), is about one hundred yards 
 broad ; it is thickly dotted with tamarisk bushes and desert 
 scrub, and is eight or ten feet below the cultivated 
 portion. The gully runs mostly on the western side of 
 the wadi, and up to it the sand-hills have crept, but can 
 go no further for the time. The cereal crops were just 
 showing above ground, and all around and in the desert 
 beyond the ground sparkled with a carpet of beautiful 
 little flowers. These spring up and flourish in this country 
 for some days in the spring time, turning the arid desert 
 into a bright and welcoming country of delight. Amongst 
 these flowers we saw the dandelion, poppy, chickweed, 
 asphodel, and many others that are familiar to us at home. 
 
 After some twelve miles we turned west, ascending a 
 range of small hills, from the summit of which the desert, 
 as far as Jebels Hilall, Yeleg, and Magara, lay stretched out 
 before us. We were here able to check the position of these 
 mountains on our map, and we then set our faces steadily 
 westward, making for El Kantara. 
 
 Our journey westward was through a country of 
 interminable sand-hills, everywhere moving on slowly 
 eastwards with the prevailing wind. The western face of 
 these hills is very gradually inclined, and up this face the 
 sand is blown by the wind till it falls down from the crest 
 on the east side in a steep slope of 30 or 32. At the foot 
 of this slope is sometimes found grass and scrub, and 
 sometimes date-palms, with their trunks half-buried 
 perhaps by the advancing slope of sand. There appear to 
 be a good many minor waters amongst these hills, and we 
 saw a good number of sheep and goats. A few tortoises 
 were also seen, and one was carried off, and subsequently, 
 
CHAP. XIII.] 
 
 Gatie. 263 
 
 after a six weeks' sojourn in a portmanteau, lived through 
 a severe winter at home out of doors, became thoroughly 
 domesticated, and then died. 
 
 On March 8th we arrived at Gatie, where is a con- 
 siderable oasis of (it is said) seventy thousand palm-trees. 
 We did not count them, but undoubtedly they are very 
 numerous and cover a large area. Each tree, or group of 
 trees, has a particular owner ; and, although there are no 
 caretakers domiciled there, the owners assemble in the date 
 season, coming from all parts of the Egyptian desert, to 
 claim their own. There is a fine brick-well at Gatie, 
 twelve feet in diameter ; the water stood at about twenty 
 feet below the surface when we were there. Attached to 
 it is a shallow reservoir, forty yards long by two wide, such 
 as could be used for watering a large number of animals. 
 
 When Napoleon Bonaparte marched his army from 
 Egypt into Syria, he formed depots at Belbeis, Salahia, 
 Gatie, and El Arish. In those days, Gatie boasted of a 
 collection of mud-huts, and was a depot of great import- 
 ance. Doubtless Mohammed Ali, in his campaigns, used 
 the same places as depots ; and Gatie probably owes this 
 reservoir and well to either of these two generals. These 
 desert depots were important places to a commander 
 trusting for his line of communication to the land ; 
 and on his retreat from Syria in 1799 Bonaparte arranged 
 for fresh works of defence at El Arish. What has become 
 of them we do not know ; but they were of no avail, for 
 the place was taken by the Turks the same year, when, it 
 is said, three hundred French soldiers were butchered in 
 cold blood. 
 
 A severe khamsin was blowing again, and we pursued 
 our way on camel-back, facing our animals' tails, with the 
 hoods of our abbas drawn well over our heads. But even 
 
264 Effects of ff/f> Khamsin Wind. [CHAP. xm. 
 
 this was of no avail to keep off the sand, and, eddying round 
 our hoods, it filled our eyes and nostrils, and even the pores 
 of the skin, which burnt with the heated dryness of the 
 air ; while to turn round and face the wind, was as 
 formidable as to face a stiff south-easter in the streets of 
 Cape Town, compared to which a fougasse is mildness 
 itself. From Gatie our road followed the telegraph-line, 
 and it was amusing to see the curious results produced by 
 the late gales. Owing to the strong wind that had now 
 been blowing from one direction for a considerable time, 
 the hills had travelled onwards, and in places we saw the 
 wires running into sand-hills, whereas in others the poles, 
 though not exactly suspended in the air, were only kept 
 from falling by the wires. 
 
 On approaching the Suez Canal, and about ten miles 
 distant from it, the sand-hills ceased, and their place was 
 taken by a flat plain covered with scrub and verdure ; 
 while in the distance, as a fringe along the horizon, showed 
 the masts of Port Said and the ships passing along the 
 Canal. The question naturally occurred to us whence 
 this quantity of sand we had been passing through ? 
 Could it be that the Canal was an effectual barrier to it ; 
 and that what had passed before the Canal was made had 
 now travelled on and was some ten miles away from it, 
 leaving bare a comparatively fertile tract ? 
 
 This sand-hill area, except for the intervening Suez 
 Canal and a few other minor gaps, is in shape like a dog- 
 fish with its snout at Cairo, one gill at Suez, the other at 
 the ancient Tanis, and its tail winding round past El Arish, 
 up the coast of Palestine towards Jaffa. Throughout this 
 area the parent rock is, to a great extent, covered by the 
 nomadic sand ; but the impression we got in travelling 
 through this country was that of a comparatively fertile 
 
CHAP, xiii.] A Sea of Sand. 265 
 
 land recently covered up by the sand-hills, and here and 
 there at the base of these hills the fertility of the native 
 soil is laid open to view, and grass and palm-trees flourish. 
 There is also historical evidence both in the previous 
 fertility of the country occupied by the warlike and pros- 
 perous Philistines, now to a great extent a barren waste of 
 shifting sand, and also in the closer connection between 
 Syria and Egypt in ancient times compared to what now 
 exists that this tract of now shifting sand-hills, which 
 separates Egypt from Syria by near two hundred miles of 
 sand, is of comparatively modern growth. 
 
 Whence this great sea of sand ? Is it a limb of the 
 Libyan Desert, which has escaped across the delta in the 
 khamsin winds, and is perpetually being added to and 
 added to ; or is it the waste of the native rock of these 
 areas ; or is it a portion of the Nile silt cast up by the 
 Mediterranean Sea ? 
 
 It seems improbable that this sand comes, to any 
 considerable extent, from the sea, for just where the sand 
 belt is widest the land is protected from the sea by the 
 delta and the lagoons of Menzaleh and Sirbonis, than 
 which no better barriers against sand could be devised ; 
 besides, the prevalent winds are westerly, and except in 
 Palestine these could not blow the sand inland from the 
 Mediterranean shore. Neither can we attribute it to the 
 waste of the native rock ; for, though in Philistia the 
 calcareous sandstone by disintegrating produces a vast 
 amount of sand, this same strata is not found elsewhere 
 in the sand-hill area ; nor is there any other rock that is 
 known to disintegrate to a similar extent, and which could 
 give origin to the sand in question. The shape of this 
 tract of country seems to suggest that it has its starting- 
 point and origin in its south-western extremity, where just 
 
266 Spread of Sand-hill Area. [CHAP. xm. 
 
 south of Cairo it almost touches the Libyan Desert, and the 
 broad cultivated-area of the delta gives place to the narrow 
 strip of cultivation bordering the Nile of Upper Egypt. 
 There are also indications that the cultivated area of Egypt 
 is not so extensive as it used to be under the vast 
 irrigation-system of the ancient Egyptians, and it thus 
 presents less of a barrier to the wind-blown sand of the 
 Libyan Desert than it used to do. If, then, we have to 
 look for the origin and the modern expansion of this sand- 
 hill area to the Libyan Desert, we cannot avoid seeking 
 some means whereby this inroad may be mitigated. Under 
 the improved irrigation which our engineers have intro- 
 duced into Lower Egypt, and hope likewise to apply to 
 Upper Egypt, the efficacy of the Nile to resist the onward 
 march of the Libyan sands may be largely increased. 
 Elsewhere, too, much might be done. The area through 
 which the Sweet- Water Canal to Suez passes imght be 
 made another barrier to the march of the sand a gradually 
 spreading oasis, not only barring the march of the sand- 
 hills, but absolutely spreading into the sand, reducing it to 
 a productive soil and making the desert to blossom once 
 more as the field. Instead of levying a tax of charcoal 
 on the Bedouin, a tax of dates might be required in its 
 place ; which would foster the growth of trees instead of 
 destroying them wholesale, and would lead to the expan- 
 sion of such oases as Gatie, El Arish, and many others of 
 minor degree. 
 
 We arrived at El Kantara at eleven o'clock at night on 
 the 6th March, after rather a long day's march. We 
 promptly called on the governor, who invited us into a bed- 
 room while he retired to dress himself. Somewhat wearied 
 by our unpleasant journey, we threw ourselves down to rest, 
 and speculated on the frame of mind of Governor Mustapha 
 
CHAP, xiii] Meeting with Mtistapha Mammon. 207 
 
 Mamnoon, who we had ascertained had arrived, some two 
 hours before us, with his son, Hassan Effendi, whom we 
 had left in prison at El Arish. Whilst we were discussing 
 this uninteresting topic the curtains of the bed rolled 
 aside, and a big, loutish-looking Turk tumbled out and 
 introduced himself - as Mustapha Mamnoon. The con- 
 versation that ensued was not relieved by any great 
 vivacity. We talked about the khamsin and the vileness 
 of the road, and soon the governor of El Kantara 
 returned. As the latter appeared rather put out at the 
 meeting of his two batches of guests, and first impressions 
 left no desire to improve our acquaintance with Mamnoon, 
 we left the house, Colonel Warren first arranging one little 
 detail for Hassan Effendi's benefit an arrangement which 
 resulted in that gentleman being placed in irons and sent 
 back to El Arish, to stand his trial for the cruelties com- 
 mitted during his short and unlawful term of governorship. 
 
 Mr. Turner, of the Egyptian telegraph-service, kindly 
 took us into his house and gave us a refreshing cup of tea; 
 and we left at 3 a.m. in the Canal-boat for Cairo, where 
 we arrived on the evening of the 9th. 
 
 For the purposes of the Palmer Search-Expedition our 
 journey to El Arish effected little, except the release of 
 the Arabist governor of El Arish, Said Effendi, who was 
 still detained at Cairo pending the results of our inquiry. 
 We had nothing to urge against him, except that he 
 appeared to be only a little more energetic than the usual 
 laixcrfaire style of Egyptian officials, and he was therefore 
 liberated forthwith. 
 
 There being little prospect of any further progress in 
 capturing the culprits who were still at large without 
 operations on a much more formidable scale than had so 
 far been necessary, and the Bedouin having been already 
 
20^ Attack in the House of Common*. 
 
 taught a salutary lesson by the measures of the Search- 
 Expedition, we were ordered to return to England, to 
 resume our ordinary duties. 
 
 On March 6th there had been a debate in the House of 
 Commons, when certain members of the irreconcilable party 
 had attacked the Government on their conduct of the 
 matters which had resulted in Professor Palmer's death, 
 and the subsequent Search-Expedition. Colonel Warren 
 had not escaped the flattering attention of these gentlemen, 
 who did not hesitate to challenge his integrity in the 
 conduct of the investigation, and in the words of one of 
 their number, " Colonel Warren had not scrupled, by the 
 use of duplicity, force, or torture, to extort confessions, or 
 pseudo-confessions, from those incriminated persons." 
 
 The eagerness with which people at home adopt and 
 make public the gravest and most discreditable charges 
 against their countrymen beyond the seas, where they are 
 unable effectually to defend their own conduct, occasions 
 some of the saddest moments in the lives of those whose 
 duty it is to serve their country in foreign lands. We have 
 lately had an instance of this in the charges that were 
 brought against Captain Lugard by the French priests, and 
 which were fulminated, scattered broad-cast, and believed 
 in to a great extent by the public, without the subject of 
 these infamous charges having the opportunity, until 
 months had elapsed, of refuting them. Captain Lugard, 
 D.S.O., has told us how Lord Salisbury's emphatic refusal 
 to accept unproved so infamous an indictment gave him 
 fresh heart, after the disgust which had filled him when 
 he received intelligence of the enormities which had been 
 falsely laid to his charge. 
 
 The attack upon the Search-Expedition and its chief 
 was not the subject of a similar rebuff by the responsible 
 
CHAP, xiii.] Lord Northbrook's Opinion. 269 
 
 Minister in the House of Commons ; and we had to wait 
 till the llth to receive justice at the hands of the Govern- 
 ment. Then, in the House of Lords, Lord Northbrook, 
 the First Lord of the Admiralty, gave expression to these 
 words : " I wish to take this opportunity of also clearing 
 up a point with reference to a very gallant officer who has 
 done most excellent service for the protection of the Canal ; 
 I mean Colonel Warren. Colonel Warren, as soon as it 
 was rumoured that Professor Palmer and his party were 
 missing, volunteered at once to go out and assist in the 
 search. He has pursued that search with gallantry, deter- 
 mination, good judgment, and a perfectly judicial mind. 
 He has taken the greatest care to ascertain who were 
 the really guilty parties, and I must protest against the 
 inference .... that in prosecuting the murderers for I 
 can find no other term for them there has been anything 
 whatever done of which an Englishman can be for a 
 moment ashamed. The inquiry has been conducted with 
 the greatest care, and I am as certain as I am that I am 
 now addressing the House, that the men who were hanged 
 deserved their fate." 
 
 But it was not only in a personal attack on Colonel 
 Warren that the opponents of the Government spent their 
 energies ; they went to work on other and broader grounds, 
 and indulged in wilder and more insane criticism. The 
 " sending of Professor Palmer and Captain Gill, H.E., into 
 the desert, not only to seduce the Bedouin from helping 
 Arabi, but also to seduce them into cutting the telegraph 
 wires of their liege lord the Sultan of Turkey, the ally of 
 the English Government," was characterised as " such 
 double-dyed treason and trickery as never was exceeded in 
 the whole history of tortuous transactions." The ambush 
 by which Professor Palmer was captured was explained as 
 
270 Party -Politics v. Common Sense. [CHAP. xin. 
 
 " national resistance to the invasion and spydom, and 
 bribery and treachery of the (Palmer's) Mission." The 
 murder of Professor Palmer and his companions was 
 characterised in the English Parliament as the justifiable 
 exaction of the penalties of war upon spies, and the 
 proceedings of the Government in demanding and carrying 
 out justice against these murderers resulted in what was 
 termed " the bloody judicial murder carried out with the 
 connivance of the Government." 
 
 Englishmen are now tolerably used to the libellous 
 embroidery with which some modern politicians adorn their 
 attacks on their political opponents, and in the case of men 
 whose sole trade is talk, and whose future is bound up in 
 the virulence of the language they can fabricate and employ, 
 one need not be surprised at a little unnecessary piquancy 
 of expression. There are, however, some questions which 
 are above the treatment of party-politics, and the careful 
 moderation with which, in this case, Her Majesty's 
 Government had pursued its task of defending the interests 
 of the Empire and the lives of our countrymen abroad 
 should have relieved it from being made the subject of 
 such a hysterical series of unjustifiable misstatements. 
 
 It is perhaps idle to refer, at this late day, to such 
 blatant rubbish, which could only find a footing in minds 
 saturated with the belief that in rebellion a people finds its 
 most fitting attitude, and that the overturning of con- 
 stituted authority is everywhere a desirable consummation. 
 One might go further, and attribute to the orator who 
 gave utterance to the above-quoted criticisms the desire to 
 foster and perpetuate the spirit and effects of fanaticism, 
 and to officially establish that the duty of the Mohammedan 
 to kill the Christian is one which, as good Christians, we 
 cannot deny to the faithful Moslem : but, doubtless, it 
 
CHAP, xiii.] A " Bloody Judicial Murder." 271 
 
 would be paying unnecessary attention to matter which, at 
 best, probably only represents the seizing of an occasion 
 for hampering a Ministry and weakening the government 
 of the country a part which would appear in this nine- 
 teenth century to be developing into a public duty 
 incumbent upon all citizens. However, let it be granted for 
 one moment that, having captured Palmer, Charrington, 
 Gill, and their two attendants, the Arabs felt justified in 
 shooting them as spies ; was it not still necessary for the 
 victors to exact punishment notwithstanding ? What would 
 be the ordinary course in such a case ? Would it not be to 
 organise a punitive expedition, and send men to take 
 indiscriminate vengeance on the people and authorities 
 amongst whom the justification for shooting three English- 
 men in cold blood were possible ? And yet what do the 
 Government do ? Initiate an inquiry which works away 
 amongst the Bedouin for some months, slowly unravelling 
 the details of the crime and apprehending the guilty 
 persons ; instilling into the hearts of the Bedouin a venera- 
 tion for a conquering nation whose love of justice can 
 control its power of revenge ; and finally, only proceeding to 
 punishment after scrupulously satisfying both the law of 
 the land and the justice -loving instincts of the English 
 people. 
 
 The characterising of our work as culminating in a 
 " bloody judicial murder " derives little support from the 
 complete pacification of the desert which resulted from 
 the Expedition, and the establishment of a confidence 
 towards the Government which had never before been 
 exhibited by the sons of the desert. As the Bedouin 
 frequently informed us, they now recognised that it was a 
 love of justice that had enabled the English to become so 
 great a nation ; and whilst Colonel Warren displayed a 
 
272 Complete Pacification of t/ie Desert. [CHAP. xm. 
 
 constant solicitude for their general welfare, and left no stone 
 unturned to ensure that those only who were guilty should 
 suffer punishment, they, on their part, quietly acquiesced 
 in our endeavours, and displayed no hostility towards 
 us although our lives were constantly in their power. Our 
 inquiry aroused no angry feelings amongst the tribesmen, 
 but, with the exaction of punishment for crime, left the 
 desert in a perfectly secure condition. Confidence in the 
 Government was largely stimulated, and, unless the last ten 
 years has strangely belied the promise that the desert 
 held out to us in 1883, the safety of, and facilities 
 for, travelling through it were considerably augmented. 
 Colonel Kitchener, who visited the country subsequently, 
 gives some testimony on this point in " Seir and Moab." 
 He says : " Colonel Sir Charles Warren's energetic 
 action in the capture and bringing to justice of the 
 perpetrators of the crime has created a deep impression, and 
 I consider the whole peninsula is now, for foreign travellers, 
 as safe as, if not safer than, it was previously." 
 
 Much as been said as to the reasons of Palmer's murder. 
 Why were he and his companions murdered ? As we have 
 already indicated, our inquiry did not decide this ; but the 
 evidence of the Bedouin generally pointed to the disappoint- 
 ment of the Arabs at losing the money Palmer had brought 
 with him, and the murder of the captives followed in a 
 spirit of wanton vengeance, strengthened by the considera- 
 tion that dead men tell no tales. 
 
 Colonel Kitchener relates that the murder took place 
 owing to the order of Arabi to the Governor of Nackl ; 
 and he gives the following interesting Bedoui account of 
 the matter : " The Arab sheiks who had come with the 
 party (Palmer's Expedition) ran away with the money. 
 The Arabs did not know Sheik Abdullah, and did not 
 
CHAP, xiii.] Causes of ihe Murder. 273 
 
 believe his statement, and when he offered money his own 
 sheik would not give it ; so they believed that the party 
 were running away from Suez, and they finished them 
 there. Afterwards the great colonel came and caught 
 them, and they were finished off at Zag es Zig. May 
 their graves be defiled." And he also says : " While on 
 this subject I may mention that I found Professor Palmer's 
 death everywhere regretted deeply by the people, and his 
 memory still warm in the hearts of his Arab friends in 
 this country. Many of them came unsolicited to ask me 
 if I had known him, and to express their sorrow at his 
 loss." 
 
 As the only evidence on the subject since the termina- 
 tion of our inquiry these statements are particularly 
 interesting, but they attribute the murder to the following 
 three distinct causes : 
 
 (1) The Bedouin did not believe what Palmer said, but 
 thought that the party of Franks were escaping from Suez. 
 
 (2) When Palmer offered them money, Metter Sofia 
 would not give it up, although he had possession of it. 
 
 (3) The murder took place owing to the order of 
 Arabi to the Governor of Nackl. 
 
 The first cause I do not think possible, because amongst 
 the Bedouin were men who had spied upon Palmer's move- 
 ments from the start, and were perfectly well acquainted 
 with the position of affairs at Suez. The second cause is 
 entirely in accordance with the evidence we received. The 
 third cause opens up the question of the instigators of the 
 murder, a matter upon which our inquiry was unsatis- 
 factory, owing to causes easily determined. 
 
 The government of the Bedouin, as has been explained, 
 was vested solely in the sheiks ; and, as in the instances 
 quoted in Chapter IX., p. 197, the sheiks were held 
 
 T 
 
274 Drift of Our Endeavours. [CHAP. xni. 
 
 personally responsible whenever a crime was committed of 
 sufficient importance to warrant the interference of the 
 Government. Thus, if in ordinary times Palmer had been 
 murdered and the public money stolen, the sheik of the 
 country, and perhaps Shedid, would have been thrown into 
 prison and kept there until the crime had been expiated by 
 the surrender of the culprits and the restoration of the 
 money. Such methods of government are, however, 
 entirely opposed to Western ideals, and could not for one 
 moment have been permitted after England's assumption 
 of control in Egypt ; and rightly so, for the system is 
 demoralising in the extreme, tending to the destruction of 
 any sense of individuality amongst the Bedouin by the 
 concentration of all authority and responsibility in the 
 hands of the head-men. We had therefore to proceed on 
 a different system : we had to hold the individual by whom 
 the crime had been committed responsible for his misdeeds, 
 and the law of blood for blood had to be rigorously 
 enforced, and penalties exacted, not from the tribes in the 
 way of a blood-tax, but from the actual murderers. In 
 this way, our efforts being mainly directed to the punishing 
 of the murderers, the Bedouin, true to their sheiks, 
 studiously withheld from us all information concerning the 
 attitude of their leaders during the war, and only told us 
 those incidents that tended to their credit. Thus we 
 were constantly informed that Shedid had sent word to the 
 desert that any Christians captured were to be sent to 
 Cairo unhurt. This feature of the evidence was perhaps 
 consequent on our employment of the sheiks in the search 
 for, and arrest of, the guilty parties ; but it is probable 
 that if we had proceeded further in our inquiry, and had 
 succeeded in arresting the Terebin culprits, we should then 
 have obtained the evidence of men removed from the 
 
CHAP, xiii.] Explanation of tie Crime, .^/o 
 
 influence of the Shedids, and doubtless mutual recrimina- 
 tions would have followed and have led to important 
 results. 
 
 Looking back, after the interval of time that has 
 elapsed, at the facts of Palmer's murder, the explanation 
 of the crime that we offered ten years ago does not now 
 seem to me complete. The following are important facts 
 connected with this question :- 
 
 (1) When Palmer tried to return to the desert he 
 experienced opposition from the Towara, who said that the 
 desert was not safe. 
 
 (2) On being captured he and his companions were 
 stripped and treated in a manner that would only have 
 been meted out to them if death was to follow. 
 
 (3) There appears to have been but little disposition to 
 ransom the captives. 
 
 These facts appear to me to point to the conclusion 
 that the murder was but little due to the circumstances 
 of the capture, the escape of the guide with the 
 money, &c., but must be attributed to weightier and more 
 deep-seated reasons. 
 
 Palmer, as doubtless was well-known in the desert, had 
 been endeavouring with some success to secure the attach- 
 ment of the Bedouin to the Khedive. During his first 
 journey through the desert the true issues at stake were 
 not apparent to the Bedouin, for it was not until July '27 
 that Arabi Pasha issued proclamations denouncing the 
 Khedive, after which for the Arabs to side with the 
 Khedive was to range them with unbelievers against 
 the newly-found prophet of Islam. Covetftous as the 
 Bedouin are, no amount of gold could neutralise their 
 inborn fanaticism once it were aroused from its normal, 
 dormant condition, and when the bombardment of Alex- 
 
 T 2 
 
276 Fanaticism the Main Factor. [CHAP. xm. 
 
 andria and the burning and pillaging of the city which 
 ensued were followed by the preaching of the Jihdd and 
 the denunciation of the Khedive as the traitor of his 
 country, the flame of fanaticism burst out and swept over 
 Egypt, reaching far and wide over the East, and converted 
 the customary covetjlousness of the Bedouin into a quantite 
 negligeable by comparison. 
 
 Thus Palmer's death was, in the main, merely one of 
 those dastardly outrages upon Christians which followed 
 upon Arabi's revolt, and were due to his efforts to stir 
 up the religious fanaticism of the Arabs. Doubtless the 
 disappointment at the loss of the gold helped to bring 
 matters to their rapid conclusion, but the chief responsibility 
 r for the murder must lie upon Arabi Pasha and those 
 educated men around him who deliberately chose to sound 
 the war-note of the Jilidd, well knowing the horrors that 
 were bound to ensue. 
 
 In their evidence the Bedouin, as might be expected, 
 never referred to the effect of their fanatical frenzy, and 
 never took up the line of the religious martyr to openly 
 glory in the destruction of the unbelievers ; and as they 
 constantly referred to their disappointment at losing the 
 money taken by Metter Sofia, in assigning reasons for the 
 murder we dwelt chiefly upon the cause concerning which 
 we had direct evidence. 
 
 The circumstances which surrounded Palmer's untimely 
 death seem to suggest some error of judgment in his 
 selection for the work to be done in the desert. It is 
 useless now to seek to apportion any blame in this matter, 
 and Captain Gill, who was mainly instrumental in bringing 
 Palmer upon the platform in connection with the war, paid 
 the penalty for error of judgment, if error of judgment 
 there were, with his life. Mr. Walter Besant refers 
 
CHAP, xiii.] Waste of a Valuable Life. 277 
 
 to this matter in his Memoir on Palmer. He says : 
 " Yet Palmer ought not to have been allowed to go. 
 On this point there seems no doubt or dispute whatever. 
 So long as there was a single soldier in Her Majesty's 
 dominion who could be entrusted with the work this 
 scholar should have been spared." The loss to Oriental 
 scholarship in his death was incalculable, and it is 
 doubtful whether, even with his personal knowledge 
 of the country, he was quite fitted for the mission he 
 undertook, and did not to a great extent compass his own 
 death. His very trustfulness in human nature, and in his 
 own personal ascendancy over the Arabs, seem to have 
 warped his judgment for times like these, when the bitterest 
 and most deep-seated animosities were rife ; and his excep- 
 tional intellectual activity and sanguine nature seem to 
 have carried him further, in judging of the instructions of 
 his superiors and the intentions of the Bedouin, than their 
 respective words and actions implied. 
 
 We have Lord Northbrook's absolutely definite state- 
 ment that he sent Palmer out to obtain information about 
 the Bedouin ; and Palmer knew this was so at first, for 
 we find in a letter of his, written at Jaffa, between the 5th 
 and llth July, "There is going to be an English occupa- 
 tion of Egypt. That seems pretty clear, and this journey 
 I make to see liow the Arabs are, but afterwards I shall have 
 all the troops and war-ships at hand to back me up, and 
 be in constant communication with head-quarters. . . ." 
 What was in his mind when he penned the latter part of 
 this sentence has not been made clear ; but in his diary of 
 the 19th he says : " I. have got hold of some of the very 
 men whom Arabi Pasha has been trying to get over to his 
 side, and when they are wanted I can have every Bedoui 
 at my call from Suez to Gaza." And again on the 20th 
 
278 Palmer s View of tie Mission. [CHAP.XIII. 
 
 he says : "In fact, I have already done the most difficult 
 part of my task, and as soon as I get precise instructions 
 the thing is done, and a thing which Arabi Pasha failed to 
 do, and on which the safety of the road to India depends." 
 And again on the 21st: "I am anxious to get to Suez, 
 because I have done all I wanted by way of preliminaries, 
 and as soon as I get precise instructions I can settle with 
 the Arabs in a fortnight or three weeks, and get the whole 
 thing over. As it is, the Bedouin keep quite quiet, and 
 will not join Arabi, but will wait for me to give them the 
 word what to do." And on the 22nd he says : " I am 
 very glad that the war has actually come to a crisis, 
 because now I shall really have to do my big task, and I 
 am certain of success." 
 
 The conflict between Lord Northbrook's instructions 
 and the view Professor Palmer took of his duty is clearly 
 defined, and has led to the impression that the Government 
 withheld some important information from the public when 
 it was given out that Palmer had been sent into the desert 
 to obtain information. There appears, however, little 
 ground for this reproach against the Government. When 
 Palmer left England for the desert, a fortnight before the 
 bombardment of Alexandria, it is difficult to imagine how 
 he could be instructed to do anything else except ascertain 
 whether or not the Bedouin were loyal to the Khedive. If 
 he found them loyal, and civil-war broke out, of course the 
 next step would have been to use the Bedouin against the 
 rebels. This was apparently his view of matters when 
 at Jaffa he penned the letter, of which an extract is given 
 above. During his visit to the Mediterranean Meet we 
 may well imagine that Palmer imbibed to some extent 
 the war-fever that is always more or less dominant 
 amongst sailors and soldiers when there is a chance of war ; 
 
CHAP. XQI.] Courageous Assumption of Responsibility. 279 
 
 and after the bombardment of Alexandria occurred we find 
 him definitely striving to secure the one end which was 
 the natural sequel to his mission, viz., the raising of the 
 Bedouin against the rebels. In so doing it is impossible 
 to blame Professor Palmer. He did what any Englishman 
 worth his salt would have done under the circumstances ; 
 recognising his unique position for striking a blow for Old 
 England, he struck with might and main, and with 
 remarkable effect. 
 
 One cannot but admire the calm, trusting intrepidity of 
 the scholar who, to serve his country, placed himself in 
 situations of the greatest peril. Who, seeing an oppor- 
 tunity of helping England's fighting-men, did not scruple 
 to abandon the role of simple traveller, and take up that 
 of an accredited agent of the anti-popular party, well 
 knowing that by so doing he increased ten-fold the risk 
 he was running by being in the desert at all at such a 
 time. And finally, when he re-entered the desert with 
 only a limited sum for buying camels, without any imme- 
 diate prospect of employment for the Bedouin whom he 
 had urged to remain on the side of the Khedive, he went 
 as unprotected as before, when he was uncompromised, 
 and could make use of the inherent cupidity of the Arabs 
 in order to attain his ends. 
 
 On March 1 6th we transferred the remains of Professor 
 Palmer and his companions to one of H.M. ships at 
 Alexandria to be conveyed to England ; and on April 6th 
 they were carried to their last resting-place beneath the 
 dome of England's great cathedral. There, hard by the 
 remains of our national heroes, Nelson, Wellington, and 
 the rest, may be seen the memorial to our gallant country- 
 men, Palmer, Gill, and Charrington, who died in the service 
 of their country eight months previous to interment. The 
 
280 Funeral in St. Paul's Cathedral. [CHAP. XIIL 
 
 funeral was an impressive spectacle, and, taking part in the 
 ceremony with the numerous assembly of England's living, 
 who had come to honour England's dead, one's thoughts 
 went back to that other memorial, that cairn of stones 
 holding aloft the cross in the " Desert of the Wanderings," 
 and the terrible scene that had been enacted there ; and as 
 the choir chanted the pilgrims' hymn, " My Grod, my 
 Father, while I stray," one could not but ponder over the 
 oft-recurring words " Thy will be done." 
 
IN MEMORY OF THREE BRAVE MEK 
 PROFESSOR EDWARD HENRY PALMER, 
 FELLOW OF S.JOHNS COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE, 
 LORD ALMONER'S READER IN ARABIC AND 
 A SCHOLAR AND LINGUIST OF RARE GENIUS: 
 
 CAPTAIN WILLIAM JOHN GILL, R.E. 
 AN ARDENT AND ACCOMPLISHED SOLDIER 
 AND A DISTINGUISHED EXPLORER; 
 
 LIEUTENANT HAROLD CHARRINGTON. 
 R.N. OF H.M.S. EURYALUS, A YOUNG 
 OFFICER OF HIGH PROMISE; 
 
 WHO WHEN TRAVELLING ON PUBLIC DUTY 
 INTO THE SlNAI ])ESERT WERE TREACHEROUSLY 
 AND CRUELLY SLAIN IN THE WADY SADR 
 AUGUST ivf MDCCCLXXXll 
 
 THEIR REMAINS AFTER THE LAPSE OF 
 MANY WEEKS, HAVING BEEN PART1ALIY 
 RECOVERED AND BROUGHT TO ENGLAND, 
 WERE DEPOSITED HERE WITH CHRISTIAN 
 RlTEa APRIL em MDCCCLXXX111. 
 
 THIS TABLET HAS BEEN ERECTED BY 
 THE COUNTRY IN WHOSE SERVICE THEY 
 PERISHED, TO COMMEMORATE THEIR NAMES. 
 THEIR WORTH AND THEIR FATE. 
 
 THAT TRAGIC FATE WAS SHARED BY TWO 
 FAITHFUL, ATTENDANTS, THE SYRIAN KHAIJL 
 ATIK AND THE HEBREW BAKHOR HASSAN, 
 WHOSE REMAINS LIE WITH THEIRS. 
 
 "Our Bones lie scattered before the Pit. 
 as u>hen one breaketh and cleaoeth 
 Wood upon the Earth, but our eyes 
 look unto Thee O Lord God!" Pa cxu. 
 
 MEMORIAL IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 NOTES BY SIR CHARLES WARREN ON HIS CONNECTION 
 WITH THE PALMER SEARCH-EXPEDITION, &c. 
 
 ON July 24th, 1882, when employed at Chatham as Instructor 
 in Surveying, in consequence of a General Order on the subject 
 permitting it, I volunteered for active service in the approaching 
 Egyptian Campaign, and forwarded a memorandum relative to 
 arranging for large working- parties and establishing discipline 
 among Bedouin and Arabs, pointing out that I had passed ten 
 summers in the Mediterranean and had extensive experience in 
 such matters. 
 
 I was then directed to draw up a detailed report on the 
 subject, and accordingly considered the question of dealing with 
 the Bedouin for the safety of the Suez Canal, which at that time 
 was the absorbing centre of interest to all. At this time I was 
 not aware that Professor Palmer was actually in the desert 
 preparing to report on subjects akin to this. All that 
 transpired in the public journals about his journey at the time 
 was that he had started off to the western coast of the Ked 
 Sea; no reterence was made to his employment on the Suez 
 Canal, and the general impression was that he was out on the 
 staff of a newsp.aper. 
 
 I was engaged some days on my report, and by a somewhat 
 singular coincidence i completed and signed it at midnight on 
 August 10th, just about the time when the party was waylaid 
 and taken prisoners. I mention it as a coincidence because in 
 this report I entered into the question of a successful entry 
 among the tribes of the desert to the following effect : " It will 
 be necessary to make a secure entry among them. It will be 
 
28:2 Notes on f/te 
 
 [App. A. 
 
 seen that there are Turkish garrisons in Gaza and Kerak, and 
 it is known that at the present time these Turks are intensely 
 jealous of the movements of English persons in Syria ; it there- 
 fore would appear to be now too late to enter through Palestine 
 and pass down by Hebron into the desert with any chance of 
 success. Again, there is probably an Egyptian governor at El 
 Arish, and Egyptians are on the coast along the caravan- route; 
 it is, therefore, doubtful whether a successful entry could be 
 made between Gaza and Port Said. On the Suez Canal itself 
 foreign jealousy would probably retard a successful entry. The 
 best course, I think, would be to pass down the Suez Canal and 
 effect a landing about forty miles south of Suez, on the east 
 coast of the Red Sea. I would send a trusty messenger from 
 Suez to the Sheik of the Tiyahah Bedouin, requesting him to 
 meet me there and to bring other sheiks. Care would have to 
 be taken to avoid Nackl, where there is an Egyptian garrison." 
 I then, after describing the Egyptian and Turkish system of 
 government of the Bedouin, proceeded to point out the dangers 
 and difficulties to which the mission I proposed would be sub- 
 jected. " It would not, I think, be desirable to introduce British 
 troops among the Bedouin. I would propose trusting entirely to 
 the Bedouin, and forming my escort from them. The principal 
 risks to be run, otherwise than those incidental to engaging the 
 enemy, would be : 
 
 a. Murder while sleeping, 
 
 b. Poisoning, 
 
 by emissai-ies of Arabi or the Egyptians. 
 
 Poisoning may be guarded against in a variety of ways, but 
 murder during sleep can only effectually be guarded against by 
 having sufficient Europeans for one always to be awake on watch. 
 The person employed to murder in sleep would probably be some 
 camp-attendant, and I would avoid this difficulty by having no 
 camp-followers, and living among and eating among the 
 Bedouin ; but I would propose to have three assistants and a 
 clerk. In a mission of this nature it is essential that these 
 assistants should be men I should knoAv sufficiently to be able 
 to rely upon ." 
 
API-. A.] 1'f/fincr Search" Expedition. 283 
 
 On August 12th I received an intimation that Professor 
 Palmer was engaged on government service, and had occupied 
 the ground I had reported on with his base at Gaza, and that 
 there was no present prospect of my services being required. 
 All prospects of proceeding on this service ceased until 
 August 24th, when I received a telegram from the Admiralty 
 indicating that I might be required immediately to proceed to 
 the seat of war, and stating that my services had been asked for 
 from the War Office, in order that I might join the Admiral in 
 the Canal. I waited on Lord Northbrook that afternoon, and 
 learnt from him the position of affairs regarding Professor 
 Palmer's party so far as was known that they had entered 
 the desert again, and that there were rumours that they had 
 been robbed and were thus prevented carrying out their 
 instructions and I was directed to proceed at once to the Suez 
 Canal to report myself for duty to the Admiral Commandiiig-in- 
 Chief. 
 
 My mission in general was to proceed among the Bedouin for 
 any duty that might be required. On account of the particular 
 nature of these services I was permitted to recommend the 
 names of two officers to accompany me, and I submitted those of 
 Lieutenant K. M. Burton, R.E., and Lieutenant A. E. Haynes, R.E., 
 and also that of Quarter-Master-Sergeant E. Kennedy, H.E., 
 as clerk and store-keeper, the latter having accompanied me to 
 South Africa in a former expedition. Owing to the active 
 measures taken by Sir Andrew Clarke, Commandant S.M.E., 1 
 was enabled to conclude all arrangements that night, and left 
 London on the following day at 7.30 p.m. for the Suez Canal, 
 with Lieutenant Haynes and Quarter-Master-Sergeant Kennedy; 
 Sir John Stokes, the Deputy- Adjutant-General, having arranged 
 that Lieutenant Burton, who was in Ireland, should follow by 
 the next overland mail. 
 
 Although no linguist, and having but a limited knowledge of 
 the Arabic language, I had an intimate acquaintance with Arabs, 
 and had lived a good deal among half -civilised tribes. Having 
 been quartered for seven years at Gibraltar I had had ample 
 opportunity of observing the Moors of North Africa ; and 
 
284 Notes on the 
 
 [APP. A. 
 
 subsequently during three and a half years in Syria I became well 
 acquainted with the Arabs, and particularly the Bedouin ; at one 
 time I was travelling with the latter when they were fighting 
 with Turkish troops. Consequently, when making my report on 
 the desert, I was speaking on a subject completely familiar to me. 
 
 It will be observed that my views differed somewhat from 
 those of Professor Palmer on several points. First, as to the 
 desirability of entering the desert from Gaza. I represented 
 the undesirability of endeavouring to enter the desert from the 
 direction of Syria, owing to the ill-will that the Turkish officials 
 bore towards us at that time, and the jealousy with which they 
 watched all movements of Englishmen. The correctness of 
 this view, though a mere matter of opinion, was accentuated by 
 the fact that Professor Palmer afterwards stated that he made 
 his entry there only at the imminent risk of his life. Secondly, I 
 differed as to the number of Bedouin available in Arabia Petrasa. 
 Palmer and Gill estimated the number at fifty thousand, but I 
 can find no reason to alter my estimate made on August 10, 1882, 
 that there were but five thousand available, while five thousand 
 would be required among the tribes for local protection, making 
 in all but ten thousand. Thirdly, I differed as to the fort of 
 Nackl; the fort was made by Palmer the rendezvous of the 
 assembled sheiks, whereas I laid stress upon the point that this 
 fort should be particularly avoided, being the residence of an 
 Egyptian or Turkish governor devoted to Arabi Pasha. 
 
 With regard to the relative influence and importance of the 
 various desert tribes, the views of Palmer and Gill, as judged by 
 after events, required very great modification ; and I think it 
 probable that the fact of a war between Moslems and Christians 
 being at hand was not sufficiently taken into account. For 
 example, it was asserted that the Towara of the Sinaitic Peninsula 
 were a powerful tribe, but as a matter of fact this was only so in 
 peace time, as in war they count as nothing. It was supposed 
 that the Tiyahah and Towara were the most powerful tribes on 
 the Canal, whereas the Terebin and Haiwatat are the principal 
 tribes ; and moreover, owing to a similarity of names, the 
 Lehewat and Haiwatat were confused together. 
 
AFP. A.] Palmer Search -Expedition. 285 
 
 It may truly be said that for war purposes scarcely anything 1 
 was known of the Bedoui tribes about the Canal. Whether it 
 was practicable before the war to obtain this kn- wledge I cannot 
 say, because my more exact information was arrived at under 
 most peculiar circumstances when travelling with a miscellaneous 
 number of men, out of every important tribe in the district, to whom 
 we could instantly refer, and pit one against the other as to the 
 truth of their statements. What I particularly wish to lay stress 
 upon is the fact that the relative importance of the tribes in the 
 desert was quite unknown when Palmer travelled through them, 
 and there was complete ignorance of the places they located. 
 It is to be recollected that tribes move on like the billows of 
 sand in the desert ; that it was twelve years since Palmer had 
 travelled through on a previous occasion, and consequently most 
 important changes had taken place. In fact, the first point that 
 struck me on arrival on the Canal was the reiterated caution 
 I received from old Syrian friends : " Everything has changed 
 in the desert since you were in Syria." A keen observer will 
 notice most marked changes in the sea-shore after every tide 
 has left the coast ; and so it is with the tribes of the desert, 
 every season leaves its distinct traces and brings about a change. 
 If Palmer had had sufficient time he could have made an 
 admirable report upon the desert tribes, but he had to plunge 
 into the desert at a time when everything was in process of 
 change from peace to war (for the bombardment of Alexandria 
 took place while he was in the desert), and the fact that there 
 were portions of the two tribes he most dreaded, the Terebin 
 and Haiwatat, in the very wadi he passed through to his death 
 was not only unknown to himself, but to the people who had 
 dwelt at Suez for years past. 
 
 I must make another observation. Many years ago, when 
 visiting Eastern magnates, I noticed that those Europeans wha 
 seemed to get on best with the Turks and Arabs always employed 
 interpreters, even when they knew the language intimately. 
 They had many reasons for this custom, some of etiquette, others 
 of expediency ; but the most cogent reason was, that however 
 well you may speak the language of another person, you are- 
 
286 Notes on the Palmer Search- Expedition. [.\PP.A. 
 
 always at a disadvantage, being never quite perfect in it ; while 
 with an interpreter you have a distinct advantage, as you 
 hear the reply in two languages, and get your own idea of it 
 and that of the interpreter. Experience has taught me that 
 a man who knows a little of a language and employs an inter- 
 preter, is better placed than one who knows a language pretty 
 well and uses no interpreter. In fact, I put very little faith 
 in the results of interviews where a good interpreter is not 
 employed. In all my own dealings with Easterns I employed 
 an interpreter as a matter of course. 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 ABBREVIATED ACCOUNT OF PROFESSOR PALMER'S 
 MISSION, BY SIR CHARLES WARREN. 
 
 PROPESSOE PALMER arrived at Jaffa on July 9th, proceeded along 
 the coast to Gaza, and left Gaza for Suez about July 14tli in 
 company with Hamdan and five other Tiyahah. Passing near 
 Minieh, he met Sheik Misleh of the Tiyahah and Metter Sofia at 
 Boweteh. Metter was introduced to him as the head-sheik of 
 the Lehewat, occupying all the country south-east of Suez. He 
 kept up this deception all through his journey with Professor 
 Palmer, and it was principally owing to the difficulties arising 
 from this mistake that Professor Palmer fell into the hands of 
 the Bedouin who subsequently murdered him and his party. 
 Metter Sofia was not a sheik of the Lehewat, and the Lehewat 
 as a tribe do not live to the south-east of Suez. The sheik of 
 the Lehewat is Aleyan, and the tribe live between the Azazimeh 
 and Tiyahah, to the south of Hebron. Metter Sofia was simply 
 the head of a family, who had left their tribe and gone to live 
 ne,ar Suez : he had collected there two or three families acting 
 as his partisans, and which he chose to call the Sofia tribe, but 
 he was without any power or influence whatever, and, in fact, 
 having broken with his tribe, was a most undesirable person 
 to act as escort to travellers. 
 
 Professor Palmer sent Metter Sofia with a letter to Suez, and 
 proceeded with Misleh to Jebel Magara, where he stayed until 
 the return of Metter on July 26th. He then took leave of 
 Misleh and proceeded to Suez with Metter Sofia and his cook 
 Bochor, arriving there on August 1st. Here he remained for 
 
288 Professor Palmer's Mission. [APP. B. 
 
 some days. He was joined by Captain Gill from England on 
 August 6th. In the meantime, Metter Sofia had gone to his 
 tents at Tusset Sadr, and on August 6th he received a letter 
 from Professor Palmer telling him to bring down twenty armed 
 men to escort him to Nackl. He was unable to read this letter, 
 and came at once into Ayun Musa, where he arrived on the 
 evening of August 7th with his nephew, Salami Ibn Aid. He 
 came into Suez on the evening of August 7th and was presented 
 to the admiral, and received from him a naval officer's sword. 
 That night he stopped at M. Zahr's house, and left the sword 
 with him ; and it has been suggested by some that this act was 
 an indication of his subsequent conduct. 
 
 On August 8th, Professor Palmer, after all his expenses in 
 Suez had been defrayed by the Admiralty, received in a bag 
 3000 to take into the desert, each thousand in a separate small 
 bag. In the afternoon, the party, consisting of Professor 
 Palmer, Captain Gill, the dragoman, Khalil Atek, Lieutenant 
 Charrington, and Bochor, the cook, proceeded to Ayun Musa by 
 sea. They slept at Ayun Musa, and started thence for Nackl, 
 via Wadi Sadr, on the morning of August 9th. Their party 
 consisted of Metter Sofia and his nephew, Salami Ibn Aid, 
 Sualem N'Mair, a Lehewat from Suez, seven Aligat, and one 
 M'Saineh, cameleers. The camels were : two belonging to 
 Metter Sofia and his nephew, ten of Professor Palmer's, and 
 four hired from the Aligat. 
 
 The party lunched at Wadi Lahasa, and while they were 
 there two Haiwatat came up to them on camels, Ibn Subheh 
 and Muslem Abu Nar. These two had considerable conversation 
 with Metter Sofia, and Muslem received two pounds from 
 Metter and proceeded towards Marbook ; while Ibn Subheh 
 accompanied the party to Wadi Kahalin, where they encamped 
 for the night. 
 
 About sunset, arrived from Ayun Musa, Musleh Ooudah, a 
 Haiwatat, Salim Sulman, an Aligat, and Saad M'said, a Genouneh. 
 During the evening Ibn Subheh was seen to have frequent 
 private conversation with Salim Sulman, and it is surmised that 
 Ibn Subheh persuaded him to steal two of Professor Palmer's 
 
A PP. B.; Professor Palmers Mission. ;2S!) 
 
 camels during the night, to delay the party several hoars, and 
 give the attacking party time to come down to attack them. 
 That same evening Ali Shwair, a Terebin, living at Ayun Musa, 
 arrived at Ain Abu Jerad, a spring at the mouth of Wadi Sadr, 
 an hour and a half's journey beyond Wadi Kahalin, having been 
 sent, according to his own statement, by Ibn Subheh for the 
 purpose of bringing down the Terebin and Dubur of Wadi 
 Sadr to attack Professor Palmer's party, and here, he and 
 Salem Sheyk, a Haiwatat, slept that night. 
 
 On the morning of August 10th, it was found that the three 
 Bedouin had left Professor Palmer's camp during the night, 
 and that two of his camels had also disappeared. It was at 
 once concluded that the men had stolen the camels, and Salami 
 Ibn Aid, M'dnckle, and two others, were at once sent in search. 
 They pursued them for about eighteen miles, crossing Wadi 
 Sadr to a water beyond Halifeh, and then rescued them from 
 Salim Salman, who was driving them off. They returned to 
 Wadi Kahalm with the stolen camels about 3 p.m., and reported 
 to Professor Palmer the facts of the case. Anxiety was at once 
 felt owing to this very unusual occurrence, and, on being 
 strongly urged by Metter Sofia to do so, it was determined to 
 allow the baggage to come on quietly with the tired animals, 
 while the party proceeded direct to Metter Sofia's camp at 
 Tusset Sadr, carrying the money with them. It is difficult to 
 understand Metter Sofia's precise object in this arrangement, 
 for had he really hurried the party on they might easily have 
 been out of Wadi Sadr before the attacking party came down; 
 as it was they seem to have proceeded at a very leisurely pace. 
 The baggage left about an hour after the party, and unloaded 
 near Ain Abu Jerad shortly after sunset. 
 
 Professor Palmer's party, consisting of himself, Captain Gill, 
 Lieutenant Charrington, Kalil Atek, Metter Sofia, and Salami 
 Ibn Aid, proceeded up the wadi, and, passing Ibn Subheh and 
 Salem Sheyk asleep on the road, arrived at a place called 
 Muhareb after midnight. Here they were met by a party of 
 Dubur and Terebin, who had come down a few minutes before 
 from their camp at the mazeira (corn ground) at Rahah. They 
 
 u 
 
290 Professor Palmers Mission. [APP. B. 
 
 had been informed of the coming of the party in the evening 
 by Ali Shwair, who had started from Ain Abu Jerad after an 
 interview with Ibn Subheh, who joined him therefrom the camp 
 at Wadi Kahalin. 
 
 When an attack appeared imminent the camels of Professor 
 Palmer's party knelt down, and, apparently, at this time the 
 camel of Salami Ibn Aid, on which Captain Gill was riding, was 
 shot in the head and incapacitated. Professor Palmer was 
 riding the camel of Metter Sofia with Salami Ibn Aid, and in 
 its huradje was his despatch-box and the bag containing three 
 thousand pounds. There was a report that immediately on the 
 attack Salami Ibn Aid threw Professor Palmer off the camel and 
 decamped with the money. Salami himself stated that Professor 
 Palmer ordered him to ride off with it. He got safely down the 
 wadi, and in the early morning passed within a few feet of the 
 cameleers, who were sleeping with the baggage, but he did not 
 speak to them, though had he done so the life of Bochor, the 
 cook, might have been saved. He gave no warning at Ayun 
 Musa, but made a great circuit round by Wadi el Hadj, and 
 secreting the money in the ground came to his uncle's camp at 
 Tusset Sadr on the evening of the 12th. 
 
 To return to Professor Palmer's party. Metter Sofia was 
 
 riding a camel carrying some boxes and a tent, which Captain 
 
 Grill was going to take into the desert, and he managed to elude 
 
 the attacking party and rode up the wadi to his camp at Drieseh, 
 
 beyond Tusset Sadr. The party was thus reduced to three 
 
 Englishmen and one Syrian. Outnumbered and overpowered, 
 
 they were forced to submit ; their clothes were torn from them ; 
 
 they were stripped naked all but their underclothes, and were 
 
 put down for safe keeping in a sheltered nook in the rocks, 
 
 close to the place of attack. It does not appear, at this time, 
 
 that there was any idea of murdering them; on the contrary, it 
 
 seems that the Bedouin said they would send the party into 
 
 Suez as soon as they had got their money. After leaving the 
 
 four in safe-keeping, the Dubur and Terebin proceeded quickly 
 
 down the wadi in search of Salami Ibn Aid and the baggage. 
 
 Meeting the latter coming up the wadi they asked where the 
 
APP. B.] Professor Palmer's Mission. 291 
 
 money was, and ransacked the baggage in search of it ; they 
 were greatly incensed at not finding it, and carried off all they 
 could find, but returned to the Aligat cameleers the camels that 
 belonged to them, and also four camels of Professor Palmer's, 
 which were sworn to as their own by three of the Aligat came- 
 leers. On account of this the three Aligat were subsequently 
 charged with the theft of them. 
 
 With two exceptions, the whole attacking party proceeded 
 back up the wadi, and arrived about eleven or twelve o'clock 
 at the place where they had left the captives; when they 
 arrived there they found Metter Sofia, with about ten men, 
 engaged in conversation with the captives. It appears that 
 Metter Sofia, after reaching his camp, had collected all the 
 men he could find to come down with him to assist the captives ; 
 and from the evidence of Metter Sofia it would appear that 
 though some of them were willing to protect the party to their 
 utmost, he preferred to negotiate, and offered to give thirty 
 camels as ransom, but no money. It would appear that 
 Professor Palmer offered all the money he had brought with 
 him that their lives should be spared. The Bedouin looked 
 upon this offering of thirty camels by Metter Sofia as merely a 
 farce, because he might get them back again in accordance 
 with tribal law ; and the murderers asserted that had he offered 
 them money they would have spared the lives of the prisoners. 
 However this may be, it appears that Metter Sofia did not offer 
 to produce the money brought into the desert by Professor 
 Palmer, and the Bedouin, in a spirit of retaliation, determined 
 to kill all the prisoners, even the cook, who, though a Jew, was 
 supposed by the Bedouin to be a real Moslem. When -the 
 negotiations failed Metter Sofia and his party turned towards 
 Tusset Sadr. 
 
 Professor Palmer, Captain Gill, Lieutenant Charrington, 
 Khalil Atek, and Bochor were driven by the Dubur and Terebin 
 by a rough path down to Wadi Sadr. The chief men of the 
 attacking party who decided on the murder were Salim Ibn 
 Subheh and Salem Sheyk, of the Haiwatat; Salami Abu 
 Telhaideh, of the Dubur; Hassan Ibn Mershed and Zaid el 
 
 u 2 
 
292 Professor Palmers Mission. [APP. B. 
 
 Ourdi, of the Terebin. It was arranged on the way down that 
 two should be killed by the Dubur, and three by tbe Terebin, 
 because the latter were more numerous. On arrival at the 
 wadi, Professor Palmer and his companions were driven to the 
 edge of a steep ravine overhanging the water, and the men told 
 off to murder them were placed behind them. They appear to 
 have been : for the Dubur, Salami Abu Telhaideh and Salim Abu 
 M'Haisin, but the latter paid Merceh el Rashdeh, a lad, to do 
 the work for him ; for the Terebin, Zaid el Ourdy, Harash, and 
 Ali Shwair. In driving the party towards the cliff for execu- 
 tion, it appears that the gnn of one of the men was fired 
 prematurely, and Professor Palmer was killed. It was said by 
 the Bedouin that it was the gun of Salem Abu Telhaideh, but 
 he denied it, and said it was that of Merceh el Rashdeh, who, 
 on the other hand, said it was the gun of Salem Abu Telhaideh. 
 On Professor Palmer being shot it appears there was a general 
 rush, the captives either threw themselves or were pushed over 
 the cliffs, and were shot at and killed not only by those who 
 were told off to do the work, but also by others. Khalil Atek 
 ran for some distance, and was pursued and slain by Salami 
 Abu Telhaideh and Salem Sheyk. Among others who went 
 down to despatch the party at the bottom of the cliff were Ali 
 Shwair, Zaid el Ourdy, Ahzam, Salami Abu Telhaideh, and 
 Salem Sheyk. 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM SOME NOTES* ON ARABIA PETR^EA 
 AND THE COUNTRY LYING BETWEEN EGYPT AND 
 PALESTINE, BY SIR CHARLES WARREN. 
 
 1 . Between the cultivated lands of the Egyptian delta and 
 the hill country of Palestine extends an arid wilderness, part of 
 which is known as Arabia Petrsea ; it is also known under the 
 name of the Desert of the Exodus. 
 
 2. It is bounded on the north by the Mediteranean Sea, on 
 the south-west by the Gulf of Suez, and on the south-east by 
 the Gulf of Akabah and Wadi Arabah. It is thinly inhabited 
 by nomadic tribes of Arabs, who, according to their traditions, 
 have come from the south, from Mecca, and who are slowly 
 migrating onward into Africa. 
 
 3. The country may roughly be divided, for general descrip- 
 tions, into four portions : 
 
 a. The semi-fertile portions about the southern end of 
 Palestine, which have once been cultivated but 
 are now lying waste. 
 
 6. The arid table-lands of the Tih. 
 
 c. The sandy dunes about the coast of the Mediter- 
 
 ranean and Suez Canal. 
 
 d. The mountainous district of the Peninsula of Sinai. 
 
 a. This is commonly called the South Country, and of it 
 Professor Palmer remarks (page 297, "The Desert of the 
 Exodus"): "Half the desert owes its existence to him (the 
 
 * These notes were originally printed in the Professional Papers of the 
 Royal Engineers. 
 
294 Arabia Petrcea. LAPP. c. 
 
 Bedoui), and many a fertile plain, from which he has driven 
 its useful and industrious inhabitants, becomes, in his hands, 
 like the South Country, a parched and barren wilderness." 
 This South Country, or Negeb, is wholly in Turkish territory ; 
 it is the home of the Lehewat, the Amarin, the Azazimeh, 
 the Jehalin, and part of the Tiyahah. It was once a well- 
 cultivated land, and the ruins of the vineyards and terraces 
 on the slope of the hills are still visible. This country is an 
 artificial desert ; it was not visited, and will not be further 
 referred to. 
 
 6. The desert of the Tih is a limestone plateau, and is 
 described in general terms in the " Desert of the Exodus." 
 
 c. The sand district about the sea-coast and Suez does not 
 appear to be anywhere described in detail. It is for the most 
 part an undulating waste, covered with blown sand from the sea- 
 shore or from the disintegration of sandstone rocks. Its sands are 
 constantly, but slowly, in motion. In some portions the natural 
 features of the country are very thickly covered with these 
 sands, and only crop out at intervals. 
 
 d. The Peninsula of Sinai is described in a variety of works, 
 including " Ordnance Survey of Sinai " and Professor Palmer's 
 " Desert of the Exodus." 
 
 ***** 
 
 5. The desert territorially may be divided into three 
 portions : 
 
 A. Turkish territory. 
 
 B. Egyptian territory east of the Suez Canal. 
 
 C. Egyptian territory west of the Suez Canal. 
 
 6. The portion visited lies almost wholly between the Suez 
 Canal and the eastern Egyptian boundary. This boundary does 
 not appear to have been clearly defined by treaty or otherwise. 
 Several charts show it as a straight line drawn from El Arish 
 (on the Mediterranean) to Akabah ; but, on the one hand, the 
 Porte appears to assume a nominal control over some tribes of 
 Bedouin to the west of this line (in Jebel Hilall, for example), 
 while, on the other hand, the Egyptian territory on the coast of 
 
APP.C.] Arabia Petrcea. 295 
 
 the Mediterranean extends up to Rafia, midway between El 
 Arish and Gaza. It seems probable that the boundary inland 
 has never yet been demarked, and this uncertainty may at some 
 future period be a source of difficulty, leading to a conflict of 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 7. The tribes are located according to the lettering : 
 
 Terebin, A.B.C. Ayeideh, B.C. 
 
 Haiwatat, A.B.C. Towara, B. 
 
 Tiyahah, A.B. Sowarki, A.B. 
 
 Azazimeh, A. M'said, B.C. 
 
 Alawin, A. Tumeilat, C. 
 
 Lehewat, A.B. Maaseh, C. 
 Bili ben Ali, B.C. 
 
 8. The Terebin comprise a very powerful series of tribes 
 principally living about Gaza, where they are said to number 
 two thousand fighting-men. 
 
 Other detached minor tribes live near the Suez Canal, and a 
 powerful tribe lives in the Gizeh district, near Cairo ; these 
 tribes are closely connected, but the Egyptian Terebin have, in 
 many instances, almost become Fellahm. Those who live in 
 Syria are extremely turbulent and fanatical, and are always 
 hostile to Franks. They are said to be very untrustworthy and 
 deceitful. They have a large number of horses and camels, grow 
 corn, and are very wealthy. The Turkish troops quarter them- 
 selves among them during harvest-time for the purpose of 
 collecting taxes, but are frequently driven out. The Turks 
 generally keep some of their sheiks in prison as hostages. 
 
 The Haiwatdt comprise also a very powerful series of tribes. 
 Under the name of Alawin they inhabit a large tract of country, 
 east of the Gulf of Akabah and Wadi Arabah. They are 
 found in the country between Suez and Akabah, but only in 
 detachments. They occupy the country between Suez and Cairo 
 in great force, and also about Zagazig. During the late war 
 they were ordered to furnish a contingent of two thousand men 
 to save Cairo from an attack from the direction of Suez. Sheik 
 Ibn Shedid belongs to a Haiwatat family living close to Cairo, 
 
290 Arabia Petrcea. [APP. c. 
 
 who, from their wealth and influence, having obtained the ear of 
 the Egyptian Government, assume a kind of control over all the 
 other Egyptian Bedouin. In the neighbourhood of Wadi Sadr 
 there is a minor division of the Haiwatat tribe called Dubur. 
 
 The Azdzimeh live wholly in Turkish territory, to the west of 
 Wadi Arabah. They are a turbulent tribe, constantly at war 
 with their neighbours. They have been seldom visited by 
 travellers. 
 
 The Alawin are a branch of the Haiwatat, and live in Wadi 
 Arabah. 
 
 The Lehewat live near the Azazimeh; they do not appear to 
 be a formidable tribe. Metter Sofia, the guide to Professor 
 Palmer's party, belonged to this tribe, but had ceased to live 
 among them. 
 
 The Bili ben AH live almost wholly west of the Suez Canal, 
 but there are a few families about El Arish. 
 
 The Ayeideh live almost wholly west of the Suez Canal, 
 where they have been driven during the last few years by the 
 Terebin, with whom they still have a blood-feud; their lands 
 formerly extended between Jebel Magara and Ismailia. 
 
 The Towdra inhabit the desert of Sinai, and keep themselves 
 aloof from other Bedouin ; they are very poor, owing to the 
 drying up of the peninsula in recent years, caused by cutting 
 down the timber ; they are divided into several minor tribes not 
 necessary to mention, as the whole of the fighting-men would 
 not number more than six hundred. 
 
 The Sowarki are said to be a powerful tribe ; they live about 
 El Arish, and have horses. To all appearances they are a poor 
 tribe. They carried on a successful war for many years with 
 the Terebin, with whom they have a blood-feud. 
 
 The M'said are a poor tribe inhabiting the Suez Canal on 
 both sides, near El Kantara ; they are a branch of the Lehewat. 
 
 The Tumeilat live on the west of the Canal, about the W r adi 
 Tumeilat.. Their sheik, Ibrahim, is a man of some weight 
 among the Bedouin, though his tribe is not of much account. 
 
 The Madsi live in the mountains west of Suez; they are 
 'well-known marauders, and often travel several hundred miles 
 
APP. c.] Arabia Petrtea. 297 
 
 in their looting-expeditions. They are the finest of the Egyptian 
 Bedouin, and would make magnificent soldiers if brought into 
 tolerable discipline. 
 
 The T-iyahah are a powerful tribe inhabiting the Desert of 
 the Tih and South Country; they are a very warlike tribe, 
 and are, in many cases, well disposed towards Franks ; they 
 have been in the habit of conducting tourists through their 
 country from Nackl to Gaza. 
 
 THE PENINSULA OP SINAI. 
 
 14. The peninsula is principally inhabited by Towara, but 
 there are also a few families of Terebin, Haiwatat, Dubur, and 
 Genounheh. They are all very poor. The Towara are indus- 
 trious, and are so poor that they have to eke out their living by 
 driving camels for hire, and go into Egypt to act as servants in 
 gardens. They have much work in connection with the Convent 
 of Sinai, and see so much of tourists in the peninsula that they 
 have less active prejudices against Franks than other Bedouin, 
 and consequently are looked upon with doubt and suspicion by 
 their neighbours. 
 
 In time of war they are not in the least likely to side with 
 Christians, unless they are sure they are likely to be their future 
 masters. The remark of the Bedoui is a very natural one ; it 
 is, " If I do anything for you openly, what is to become of me 
 when I lose your protection ? " The Towara are not a warlike 
 race, but they would defeud their own mountain passes against 
 great odds, or they might fight in the open in a fit of enthusiasm. 
 
 ^ jf. ^ *(C ?JC 
 
 15. Musa Nusier is the hereditary chief of a tribe, and 
 is also sheik of all the sheiks of the Towara, but he is not 
 the sheik of all the Towara. There is none ! He has 
 very little active power among the Bedouin, but he is a 
 singularly upright and honest man, and exercises a strong moral 
 influence upon the people by his good example and straight- 
 forwardness. It is often stated in books that Musa Nusier is 
 
298 Arabia Petraea. [A PP . c. 
 
 the chief sheik in the desert ; this is a very grave error. He 
 has no power whatever among the Terebin, Haiwatat, Tiyahah, 
 &c., though his opinion as a councillor in the assembly of sheiks 
 would be very highly esteemed. Personal influence goes a great 
 way among these people, but intrigue counteracts it. In such a 
 case as the recent war, when sentiment ruled the Bedouin, the 
 common-sense arguments of Musa Nusier would be voted as 
 ridiculous and out of place. 
 
 He is said during the war to have exercised some considerable 
 control over the Towara, and to have prevented their breaking 
 out and sacking Tor. It is probable that his arguments among 
 his own particular tribe may have acted as a wholesome check, 
 but there is little doubt that Tor would have been sacked by the 
 Towara had not preparations been made for the defence at the 
 proper time. Many of the Towara took more heed of the 
 messages of Arabi, sent through the Haiwatat, than of the 
 arguments of Musa Nusier. 
 
 THE Tin. 
 
 16. The plateau of the Tih, or Desert of the Wanderings, 
 rises to a height of four thousand feet above the sea at its 
 southern end, and slopes down gently towards the north until it 
 is lost in the sandy dunes fringing the Mediterranean coast. 
 
 The Tih consists of one vast plain, intersected towards the 
 south by deep fissures, and is broken in places with mountain 
 ranges, the principal of which are Jebels Rahah, Bodia, Magara, 
 Yeleg, and Hilall. 
 
 17. The soil and vegetation of the Tih is very variable. 
 There are many places where, for eight or ten miles at a stretch, 
 the ground is hard like rock, and covered with pieces of broken 
 flint, without a scrap of vegetation of any kind. In other places 
 the ground is for miles as smooth as a bowling-alley, with a 
 hard, compact, white surface, with no place for vegetation. In 
 other parts there are stretches of hard sand, with scanty shrubs 
 here and there. 
 
 But traversing all these there are to be found, at intervals, 
 broad, shallow water-courses called sells. These are, in many 
 
APP. co Arabia Petraea. 299 
 
 cases, a hundred yards or more wide, and in them are to be 
 found shrubs all the year round, and after heavy rains the grass 
 springs up in them, and there is good pasture for several weeks 
 for camels, sheep, and goats. These sells are very slightly 
 depressed below the general surface of the ground, and when 
 the rain falls they present the appearance of broad rivers, a 
 hundred yards across, and from one to four feet deep. These 
 waters might be run into dams, as is done in South Africa, and 
 kept for summer use. 
 
 18. The so-called Brook of Egypt, or Wadi el Arish, is a large 
 seil commencing at the southern end of the Tih, and running 
 a course of about a hundred and fifty miles before it enters the 
 Mediterranean near El Arish. This river is, as a rule, a dry and 
 shallow water-course, but at times, for a few hours, it is quite full 
 of water to a depth of three to four feet. The beds of the large 
 seils are very uneven, and the water will lie in the pot-holes for 
 some weeks after heavy rains. Generally in January and 
 February there is plenty of rain over the Tih so much so that 
 water for drinking, both for man and for herds, can be found 
 every few miles in the plain, and all over the hills. During 
 November, December, and March, there are often dense 
 mists, moist fogs, and heavy dews, which saturate the 
 shrubs with moisture, and even deposit moisture among the 
 rocks, so that flocks do not require to go to water. These 
 mists depend upon the wind, and often alternate with intense 
 droughts. 
 
 19. The rainfall may, perhaps, be roughly estimated at 
 twelve inches per annum, and appears to be considerably in 
 excess of many of the pasture-lands of South Africa. In fact, 
 a great portion even of the desert proper only differs in degree 
 from the sheep-farms of South Africa. It will always remain 
 more or less a desert at certain times of the year, but it is a 
 desert which might, with advantage, be inhabited by farmers 
 with settled homes. 
 
 20. There are very few springs in the Tih, and during the 
 summer the Bedouin are often in great straits for water. The 
 principal permanent springs may be enumerated : 
 
300 Arabia Petrtea. 
 
 Along the western edge of the Tih platform, Marbook, Ayun. 
 Musa, Wadi Sadr, Elifi, and Ghurundel. 
 
 In the Sinaitic Peninsula, the springs about Jebel Musa, 
 Wadi Feiran, Wadi Hebran, and Tor. 
 
 On the Tih, the springs in the Wadi el Arish, springs at 
 Magara, and in the sand-dunes about Mahada and Gratie where 
 there is fresh water near the surface over a stretch of several 
 square miles. 
 
 21. As it is known that there are not only goats, but also a 
 great number of sheep in the desert, it is obvious that thei-e 
 must be food for them. Sheep do not thrive during the hot 
 weather, and at that time are not found to be such good mutton 
 as goat. These sheep are of a very hardy nature, and ewes 
 great with young have been known to travel thirty miles a day 
 for four days without injury. When on the line of march they 
 generally first suffer from abrasion of their heavy tails. 
 
 The price asked for a sheep in the desert is four times that 
 asked in the Jordan Valley, and they often cannot be obtained 
 under twenty -five to thirty shillings. This excessive price 
 indicates that there is a difficulty in rearing them. During the 
 time we were in the desert, from September to March, we were 
 not able to obtain any milk from the goats or sheep, except 
 during the last mouth. In Palestine, the sheep give milk during 
 the winter. 
 
 There are no cattle of any kind in the desert. The only 
 domestic animals seeu were sheep, goats, dogs, donkeys, camels, 
 and horses. The latter are only found in the pasture-lands 
 between El Arish and Gaza, and towards the South Country. 
 Horses can be taken all over the desert, provided camels are 
 taken with them with a supply of water. 
 
 22. The Bedouin congregate together during the summer and 
 autumn near the springs of water and palm-groves. In the 
 spring, they have grass and water everywhere, and are free to go 
 where they like. In the winter, they are in great straits, for they 
 have to go where they can find herbage, and yet they have to 
 drive their flocks to water, sometimes a distance of twenty or 
 more miles. This they do about twice a week, sending the 
 
AW. c.] Arabia Pctrcea. 301 
 
 camels for water for their camp when their supply has quite 
 run out. 
 
 When visiting camps it was not unusual for Bedouin to show 
 that they had not a drop of water, even for making coffee, until 
 the arrival of their camels; and I have sometimes found it 
 necessary to provide the water for making their coffee, which, 
 however, they have always scrupulously offered to return as soon 
 as they have been enabled to do so. 
 
 23. It is quite a mistake to suppose that the Bedouin of this 
 desert do not grow corn. Each tribe has its cultivated land (as 
 well as its palm-groves), and they grow as much corn as they 
 require for their sustenance. There are extensive mazeira in 
 Wadi er Raj, on the Tih itself, and in various out-of-the-way 
 places which travellers do not see. Near Wadi Sadr, on the 
 summit of Jebel Rahah, at a height of 2290 feet, is a large tract 
 of mazeira, on which the Dubur and Terebm grow their corn. 
 This spot is chosen both because the soil is fertile and because 
 the sea-breezes, charged with moisture, deposit water, in the 
 form of rain or mists, on the high grounds early in the morning. 
 In other cases, the Bedouin have joint lands with the Fellahin 
 living on the outskirts of the occupied lands of Egypt and 
 Palestine. A family or portion of a family of Bedouin will go a 
 hundred miles or more, quite beyond their tribe, to cultivate land 
 for corn. 
 
 The connection of the tribes one with another is difficult for 
 Europeans to comprehend ; it seems so contrary to the whole 
 rules of Bedoui life as usually laid dowc. All the desert tribes 
 have their allies or relations among the Bedouin or Fellahin in 
 the cultivated portions of Palestine and Egypt. For example, 
 the Aligat tribe of the Towara are allied by marriage with the 
 Nofiat of the Nile. No doubt this was at first dictated by policy 
 in order to secure themselves friends respectively in the desert 
 or cultivated country ; but it cuts both ways, and anybody who 
 takes the trouble to investigate and understand these relation- 
 ships will find it comparatively easy to make arrangements with 
 tribes in the desert, however far they may be. In fact, with a 
 reliable government in Egypt and Palestine, the desert ought to 
 
30.2 Arabia Petraa. 
 
 [App. C. 
 
 be a safer place for life or property than any large European 
 town possibly can be. 
 
 THE SANDY DUNES ABOUT THE COAST or THE MEDITERRANEAN 
 AND SUEZ CANAL. 
 
 24. These dunes are gradually sweeping onwards, and have 
 already engulphed the old pasture-lands of Goshen. They are 
 caused, for the most part, by the blown sands of the sea-shore, 
 which are constantly moved inland by the prevailing wind. 
 The process is as follows : The sand, when blown inland from 
 the sea-shore, moves forward slowly in a succession of small waves, 
 about one-and-a-half inches from crest to crest. Each wave 
 has a gentle slop of about ten degrees towards the direction 
 of the wind, while on the lee side it has an abrupt slope 
 of about thirty degrees. Each grain of sand is blown up 
 the gentle slope, and falls by its own weight down the 
 steep slope; thus the waves themselves have a small pro- 
 gressive motion. These small waves, from one cause or another, 
 accumulate into large waves, which in some instances rise to 
 the height of three hundred to four hundred feet. These large 
 waves, like the small ones, have a gentle slope towards the 
 wind, and a steep slope away from the wind. The sand falling 
 down the steep slope at certain times makes a peculiar musical 
 note from the vibration of the particles. These large sand- 
 waves, or dunes, are continually in motion. The motion is 
 rendered very conspicuous, owing to the effect it has on the 
 telegraph-line between El Kantara and El Arish. Telegraph- 
 poles placed near or in the hollows soon get covered up if not 
 constantly moved, and those towards the crests of the dunes 
 are left suspended in the air. The palm-trees at Gratie, in the 
 same manner, are covered up for a while, and subsequently 
 exposed. The shifting dunes extend inland from the sea to a 
 distance of from fifty to eighty miles, as far as Jebel Yeleg and 
 Jebel Hilall. and are only arrested in their onward course by 
 the mountain ranges. In some cases the outlines of these 
 ranges, as in Jebel Eahah, are quite covered up. There cannot 
 be any extensive growth of shrubs on sand so continually 
 
APP. c] Arabia Petraa. 303 
 
 shifting, and there can be no springs of water with certain 
 exceptions which are mentioned below. 
 
 The district of these saiid-danes is looked upon with a certain 
 amount of awe by the Bedouin, who rarely traverse it during the 
 hot months, as water is so scarce, and there is danger if they 
 lose their way. 
 
 The exceptional springs are those such as at Mahada, about 
 thirty miles from Ismailia, which have been preserved in a 
 remarkable manner. They are the old springs which were in 
 use many hundreds, probably thousands, of years ago possibly 
 the springs used by the children of Israel living in Goshen. As 
 the sands encroached, the shepherds using these springs have 
 carried the sand away from their immediate neighbourhood, and 
 this going on for hundreds of years has resulted in craters in the 
 sand three hundred to four hundred feet deep, at the bottom of 
 which the springs are found. The Land of Goshen is thus 
 engulfed by the sand-dunes, but it is there still underneath the 
 sand, and fertile as in days gone by. 
 
 About Gatie, between Ismailia and Lake Sirbonis, there is 
 fresh water underneath the soil in many places at a depth of a 
 few feet, and here there are forests of palms, said to number 
 seventy thousand These are the property of the various tribes 
 and families inhabiting the desert. 
 
APPENDIX 1). 
 
 THE following is a glossary of the Arabic words used in the 
 foregoing pages : 
 
 Abba A black, square-cut cloak, used by the Bedouin. 
 
 Ain A spring of water. 
 
 Araki A liqueur distilled from dates. 
 
 Bakshish A gift. 
 
 Bedan A mountain goat (ibex). 
 
 Biltong A Cape-Dutch word for meat which has been 
 
 cut into strips, salted, and dried in the sun. 
 
 Bosta A proclamation. 
 
 BoulaJc-bashi.. A sergeant-major. 
 
 Chowish A Sergeant.' 
 
 Dnkolia A province of Egypt, centred at Mansoorah. 
 
 Falakak A tourniquet a staff with bight of rope 
 
 attached, in which the feet of the person 
 
 to be bastinadoed is held. The rope is 
 
 tightened by twisting the staff, which is 
 
 held by two men. 
 
 G-ieh Fat from the tail of a sheep. 
 
 Hurudge Saddle-bags, which form part of a camel's 
 
 saddle. 
 Jihad A holy war, which it is the duty of all Moslems 
 
 to engage in. 
 
 Kaaba Portion of the temple at Mecca. 
 
 Kadi A judge and authority in spiritual matters. 
 
 Kalyub A province of Egypt, centred at Benha. 
 
 Kefiyeh '. A silk scarf worn on the head, generally over 
 
 a white scull-cap or takiyeh. 
 
APP. D.] Glossary. 305 
 
 Khamsin A hot wind, which blows only during a period 
 
 of fifty days in the year. 
 
 Kibleh The direction of Mecca. 
 
 Kourbash A thong of hippopotamus-hide for adminis- 
 tering the bastinado. 
 
 Mahafiz The government office in a small town. 
 
 Mazeira Corn-grounds. 
 
 Muderia The government house of a Mudtr. 
 
 Mudir Governor of a province. 
 
 Nazir A deputy governor. 
 
 Nimr A leopard. 
 
 Seil A flood. It is used also for a water-course 
 
 Shadoof. A rude appliance for lifting water. 
 
 Shurkia A province of Egypt centred at Zagazig. 
 
 Talaf A dish of rice mixed with gieh. 
 
 Wadi A water-course, generally dry but swept by 
 
 torrents. 
 
 WakU A vice-governor. 
 
 Zaptieh A policeman. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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 DEC 19 191A 
 
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Han-Hunting 
 
 in the desert. 5 
 
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