148 LIFE WITH THE HAMRAN ARABS. 



to the English ; but he was clearly made to understand 

 that whilst he remains with us he is not to take the law 

 into his own hands for any insult, imaginary or other- 

 wise, that he may receive from these Arabs, but to report 

 the circumstance to us, and if a good case is proved 

 against any of them, we have a very simple and most 

 practical punishment at hand in sending them back to 

 their village, for with the inducements we can offer we 

 have no difficulty in obtaining recruits or retaining their 

 services. By his conduct on this occasion he has quite 

 proved himself unfitted to hold a post of responsibility 

 in this kind of rough life, having no command over his 

 temper. Excepting, however, the few occasions men- 

 tioned, he has proved a most valuable servant to us, and 

 in the ordinary routine work of a dragoman or courier 

 one could not desire a better man. He is of superior 

 birth to the ordinary dragoman, and though looked upon 

 as a Greek, he is nothing of the kind, for his father was 

 a Spaniard and his mother an Italian. 



He spent several years of his early life in Gibraltar, 

 and there acquired the English language, which he speaks 

 perfectly, as well as Arabic, and in this respect is very 

 superior to Emanuel, whose English is not altogether 

 quite easy of comprehension, and we have every reason 

 to have equal faith in his honesty. We may indeed 

 congratulate ourselves on the whole of our staff. Mo- 

 hamed the cook, from the hour he was engaged, has done 



