Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates Vol 2 - The Search For Mecca

CH. XXI.] MohaniiuciTs Choice. 149
lightly undertaken, or undertaken at all, except with
men of a certain distinction, and jSloliammcd's
position as a Tudmuri seemed at first to put him
altogether out of the category of eligible persons.
It is, however, a time-honoured practice, even with
the greatest desert sheykhs, to take the oath with
the sheykhs of towns, and Mohammed's Lirtli as
eldest son and heir apparent to the sheykhdom of
Tudmur has to be considered, while his descent
from the Beni Ldam and the prophet Taleb raise
him altoo'ether above the common herd of villao;e
felldhin. As a final test, and to prove whether he
was wholly worthy, ]\Ir.
S, had been deputed to-day
to tempt him with money, a crucial test indeed
with Bedouin and citizen alike in Arabia, and he
had come out of it unscathed. The choice was
given him whether, in reward of his services, he
should be sent home to Tudmur with a handsome
Bum in mej idles, or as the friend and brother of the
Beg. Mohammed did not hesitate, but emphatically
exclaimed, " If the Beg were to fill my kefiyeh
with white pieces, yet I would hold it as nothing to
the honour of being his brother." So, then, it has
been settled, and the oath taken in our presence,
and to-night Mohammed for the first time will sit
down and eat with us in our tent. In taking
the oath, he added to the usual phrases one new to
us, " lei akliiv miii yomi " (" to the last of my
days "). He seems duly impressed with the solemnity
of the occasion.