Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 1.djvu/68

lii after him Mr Vernon, his successor, a very excellent man, to take up my residence there. From Tripoli there is a trade in kelp carried on to the salt marshes near Palmyra. The Shekh of Cariateen, a town just upon the edge of the desert, had a contract with the basha of Tripoli for a quantity of this herb for the use of the soap-works. I lost no time in making a friendship with this man, but his return amounted to no more than to endeavour to lead me rashly into real danger, where he knew he had not consequence enough to give me a moment's protection.

are two tribes almost equally powerful who inhabit the deserts round Palmyra; the one is the Annecy, remarkable for the finest breed of horses in the world; the other is the Mowalli, much better soldiers, but fewer in number, and very little inferior in the excellence of their horses. The Annecy possess the country towards the S.W. at the back of Libanus, about Bozra down the Hawran, and southward towards the borders of Arabia Petrea and Mount Horeb. The Mowalli inhabit the plains east of Damascus to the Euphrates, and north to near Aleppo.

two tribes were not at war, nor were they at peace; they were upon what is called ill-terms with each other, which is the most dangerous time for strangers to have any dealings with either. I learned this as a certainty from a friend at Hassia, where a Shekh lives, to whom I was recommended by a letter, as a friend of the basha of Damascus. This man maintains his influence, not by a number of forces, but by constantly marrying a relation of one or both of these tribes of Arabs, who for that reason assist him in maintaining the security of his road, and he has the care