WE START FOR THE COAST 



matic, far-seeing old Bedouin had done. The 

 Governor of Aleppo had told us that Haffez 

 was looked upon as the smartest and shrewdest 

 Bedouin that the Ottoman Empire had ever 

 known. But we knew more of him. With his 

 jocular humor and sarcasm and his true gen- 





Study of Muson — still, listening. 



tlemanly manners, he made us feel as if we 

 were leaving home and going abroad to some 

 strange land. 



At this final meeting he was just what he 

 had ever been. His speech was always full of 

 flamboyant oriental exaggeration, but it was 

 different from that of his kind — you knew that 

 he meant what he said. The Arabs have a 

 word "Halamy," which being much of a slang 

 term, can best be transferred into English (or 

 rather American) as "hot air." The Arab 

 showers on you all sorts of fine phrases and 



[185] 



