SZALT.
352
more than triple that sum would be extorted from its inhabitants
for the support of passengers. Besides the Menzels every family
is always ready to receive any acquaintances who may prefer
their house to the public inn. It will readily be conceived, that
upon these terms the people of Szalt are friends of the neighbouring -
Bedouins; who moreover fear them because they have a secure
retreat, and can muster about four hundred fire-locks, and from
forty to fifty horses. The powerful tribe of Beni Szakher alone
is fearless of the people of Szalt ; on the contrary, they exact a
small yearly tribute from the town, which is willingly paid, in order
to secure the harvest against the depredations of these formidable
neighbours; disputes nevertheless arise, and Szalt is often at war
with the Beni Szakher.
While I remained at Szalt I was told of a traveller of whom I
had also heard in the Haouran ; he was a Christian of Abyssinia,
whose desire it was to end his days at Jerusalem ; he first sailed
from Massoua to Djidda, where he was seized by the Wahabi,
and carried to their chief Ibn Saoud at Deraye, where he remained -
two years. From Deraye he crossed the desert with the
encampments of wandering Bedouins, in the direction of Damascus, ¬
and last year he reached Boszra in the Haouran, from whence
he was sent by the Christians to Szalt, where he remained a few
days, and then proceeded for Jerusalem. When he arrived at the
Jordan, he declared to his companions that he was a priest, a circumstance ¬
which he had always kept secret ; he continued two
days on the banks of the river fasting and praying, and from thence
made his way alone to Jerusalem. He never tasted animal food,
and although he had experienced no sickness on the road, he died
soon after his arrival in the holy city.
It was not my intention to tarry at Szalt ; I wished to proceed
by the first opportunity to Kerek, a town on the eastern side ofthe
