The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume X, No. 6 [‎106r] (64/186)

A JOURNEY TO SLWA IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER, 189G. QOS
boy displays in reciting his lessons. Strangers meeting are so suspicious of one
another that they prefer this to any conversation in which they might be led to
betray their past or future movements. If one or the other is in a hurry and wishes to
get to business, he says “ Salimt,” which is understood to close salutations; but even
then it is difficult to maintain a satisfactory conversation with people who, as they
have told me, consider it imprudent to speak the truth on any subject unless forced
to by adverse circumstances. If asked where he has come from, a Beduin will
generally say nothing, only jerk his head in the wrong direction, or point with two
fingers and click softly with his tongue. The click against the palate means “ yes ; ”
against the teeth, “ no.” They also express “ no ” by jerking the head back slightly.
The camels are spoken to in a series of sounds, not words. To make them lie down,
they produce much the same sound in their throat as may be considered a fair
imitation of a saw ; to urge them along, they suck up all the air in their mouths;
to stop, they hiss a long iisss.
Each oasis has its own song “ ramie,” which the caravans on leaving intone
and keep up for hours with a persistence perfectly distracting. I noted down two,
those of Moghara and Siwa—
“ Gour el Helab ou
Gart el Somara
Ya doun ya rase
Kaheel el andara.”
While Siwa sings—
“ Aween ya Siwa !
Yalla fi tamar
Oues zeit wagged,
Ya Siwa ? ”
“ Where art thou, O Siwa,
Where the dates
And oil are plentiful,
O Siwa?”
Siwa possesses a fever of its own, and, as I have said, travellers are bled on
arriving at Ghara. Onions are said to be an antidote. However, neither bleeding
nor onions are certain cures, for they told me a large number die in the year of this
fever. It is accompanied, as I found in my own case, with constant vomiting.
They call fever humma, and use quinine when they can get it.
Maha Bey told me of the superstitious dread the Siwee had of cannon, and how
the absurd report that he kept one under his bed had been most useful to him.
His fifteen soldiers, when he reviewed them, had caused a stampede of over a
thousand into the inner town, where from the battlements they watched t le
evolutions with a calmer sense of security. My military title was of great use to
me and Maha Bey assured me I should be quite safe if I could rely on my men.
Of Abdulla I felt sure, and Dau was easily hoodwinked. I might have been com-
mander-in-chief, and it would not have astonished him. The Kadi knew an
officer in Cairo with whom I was well acquainted, which made a bond of fiiendship.
This added to my prestige, and Maha Bey was not slow to make what capital he
could out of the military romance he had wound around me by pointing out now and
then that the Government would not leave him unaided, and that they had best
decide and pay, and not force me to return with an army.
At sunset we were summoned to the feast, and led by a long tortuous passage
cut in the rock and lighted by men bearing torches. The passage led up higr.sr
and higher, until we reached a large room, which must have been somewhere m the
upper town. , , ,
Before entering I had to take my shoes off, and when I saw my toes barely
covered by my ragged stockings, I felt I scarcely did justice to the British army.