CH. XVIII.] Mohammed^ s Family. 



with the forty pounds payable for one of noLle 

 hirth, he scorns to ally himself basely, and would 

 not take a bourgeoise " even as a present." His 

 mother was a ]\Ioali, though not of the family of 

 the Sheykhs, and he considers himself at least half 

 a Bedouin. The " noble families " of Tudmur are 

 those which trace their origin from the Nejd, having 

 come in, as we say in England, " with the conquest," 

 while the rest are mere Syrians, or, at best, Arabs 

 from the Euphrates. Of the former Abdallah is 

 Sheykh, and there is a second king in this Brent- 

 ford, a Sheykh of the base-born. In old times, that 

 is to say twenty years ago, before the Turks got 

 possession of the town, the two classes were at con- 

 stant feud and often at war. One of Mohamvued's 

 micles was killed in a fvay of this sort, and most of 

 his ancestors seem to have met with violent deaths.^'' 

 Abdallah's house, to which we were taken early 

 this morning, is just inside the gate of Tudmur, 

 forming in fact almost a part of it, for several of 

 the rooms, used as stables and for stowing away 

 goods, are built into the masonry of the old tower. 

 It commands a fine view of the inner town, which is 

 to me all the more interestinof from beino- filled with 

 modern houses, as these from their meanness set 

 off the ancient walls and temples to advantage. 

 This inner town was in old times no doubt a forti- 

 fied palace after the fashion of the building we 



* Compare the state of things mentioned by Mr. Palgrave as 

 existing in the Jof, before its coucLuest by Ibn EashiJ. 



