•II. XIX.] Desert Grandees. 87 



tlie neigliboiirliood of Hanin, and tlicy had only just 

 managed to escape with most of their marcs and 

 camels. The war must now go on till they had got 

 back what had thus been lost. " And Jedaau," we 

 asked, " what does he wish in the matter V " War 

 of course," answered Ferhan. " But in his heart ? " 

 " Ah, I have not seen his heart." The fact is, they 

 all know that Jedaan is only half-hearted in carry- 

 ing on the war. We like these ]\Ioayaja par- 

 ticularly. They are very different from Jedaan's 

 peo^^le, who are rough and uncivil. These are ex- 

 ceedingly w^ell-mannered. Ferhan himself reminds 

 us of the very best type of Spaniard, a grande 

 cuhierto. His blood, indeed, is considered the best 

 among the Sebaa, and Mohammed tells us that, 

 with Ibn Mershid's, it ranks next to that of the 

 five great families of absolute nobility, the Il,^n 

 ]\Ieziad of the Hesenneh, the Ibn-el-Hemasdi of 

 the Ibn Haddal, the Ibn Jendal and the Tayiir of 

 the Eoala, and the Ibn Smeyr of the Welled Ali. 

 He told us this as we were riding to-day, and I 

 asked Ferhan if it was correct, and in what this 

 absolute nobility consisted. He told us it was so, 

 and that the five families thus distinguished had at 

 all times killed a lamb for their guests. " The rest 

 of us have only learned to do so." * 



All's tent w\as partly occupied by a filly and a 

 bay foal, the latter not a week old and very cn- 



* Ibn Shaalan's is only a " noblesse d'opce" of some half-dozen 

 generations, while Jedaan is a parvenu. 



