A VERY INTELLIGENT SHEIK. 67 



peans had scarcely ever been seen in this country ; but 

 now a few come almost every year, and things are 

 dearer.' This, translated by ourselves, means that, with 

 an uncommonly keen eye to the main chance, he gets a 

 higher percentage of the earnings of his people. The 

 camel question being settled, that of hunters had to be 

 discussed. We thought that men on foot who knew the 

 country were all that we should require ; but to this 

 the Sheik was much opposed, and advised us to engage 

 some of their mounted sword-hunters, as he said, and 

 with good reason, that if we were to chase giraffe or 

 wounded animals men on foot would not be able to 

 follow us, and would therefore be of no practical use ; 

 and though we felt sure that he was guided in his opinion 

 far more by the extra dollars he could thus extract from 

 us than by thoughts of our welfare, we could not but 

 agree with his line of argument, and after considerable 

 -discussion reduced his terms from thirty dollars per 

 month for a man and horse to twenty, and then engaged 

 four at that rate. Still he was not satisfied, and tried very 

 hard to induce us to take a fifth, and offered a bribe to 

 Emanuel privately if he would use his influence with us. 

 This was an interesting bit of news to us, when coupled 

 with the fact that Albert had heard this hunter a few 

 minutes before telling the Sheik he would give him half 

 his wages if he succeeded in getting him engaged, for it 

 forms a very good guide of the heavy claims the Sheik 



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