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of the town, Youssef Medjaby, who granted them permission to
remain in his district, provided they would obey his commands.
They were now reduced, from upwards of one thousand tents, to
about two hundred, and they may at present be considered as the
advanced guard of the Sheikh of Kerek, who employs them against
his own enemies, and makes them encamp wherever he thinks proper. -
The inhabitants of Kerek have thus become formidable to all
the neighbouring Arabs; they are complete masters of the district
of Kerek, and have great influence over the affairs of the Belka.
The Christians of Kerek are renowned for their courage, and
more especially so, since an action which lately took place between
them and the Rowalla, a tribe of Aeneze ; a party of the latter had
on a Sunday, when the men were absent, robbed the Christian encampment, -
which was at about an hour from the town, of all its
cattle. On the first alarm given by the women, twenty-seven young
men immediately pursued the enemy, whom they overtook at a
short distance, and had the courage to attack, though upwards of
four hundred men mounted on camels, and many of them armed
with firelocks. After a battle of two hours the Rowalla gave way,
with the loss of forty-three killed, a great many wounded, and one
hundred and twenty camels, together with the whole booty which
they had carried off. The Christians had only four men killed.
To account for the success of this heroic enterprise, I must mention ¬
that the people of Kerek are excellent marksmen ; there is not
a boy among them who does not know how to use a firelock by the
time he is ten years of age.
The Sheikh of Kerek has no greater authority over his people
than a Bedouin Sheikh has over his tribe. In every thing which
regards the Bedouins, he governs with the advice of the most respectable ¬
individuals of the town; and his power is not absolute
enough to deprive the meanest of his subjects of the smallest part
