cii. XVII.] We Make Acquaintance with Robbers. 39 



another in the Jof. He took us in to drink coffee 

 with the Sheykh of the viJkxge, a very worthy okl 

 man, whom we found surrounded by his friends, 

 and among them a party of the Amur roLbers, 

 whom ]\Iobammed chaffed considerably about their 

 profession, asking them why they had not paid us 

 a visit kist night and saying that the Beg had been 

 waiting to receive them, and woukl have made them 

 a present of all his spare bullets. The men laughed 

 and said tbey wished they had known. As it was, 

 they had stolen a donkey and a gun from some 

 passers by. The Amiir are a tribe and not a mere 

 baud of robbers, nor are they all at war with society; 

 but they have no Sheykh, and each man sets up his 

 tent where he likes and behaves as he likes. They 

 are sometimes joined by deserters and escaped felons, 

 but not in any great numbers ; and the villages of 

 Tudmur, Arak, and Sokhne send their camels and 

 sheep to graze with the more respectable of them in 

 the spring, and eat and drink with them when they 

 meet. They are, all the same, a very low tribe 

 indeed, and neglect even the virtue of hospitality to 

 strangers. If you dismount at their tents, Mo- 

 hammed says, they strip and rob you. 



Wilfrid was anxious to visit a camp of these 

 Amur, of which the robbers we had made ac- 

 quaintance with, said one was close by, so ]Mo- 

 liammed, who seems to be on good terms with 

 everybody in the country, offered to go with him. 

 He had a reason, too, of his own for this, as he 



