304 HISTORY OF THE WAHABEES. 



by a kind of conscription, from every village, camp, 

 or family, under their control, according to its popu- 

 lation ; and the corps was again dissolved as soon as 

 the campaign was over. All from the age of eighteen 

 to sixty, whether married or unmarried, were requir- 

 ed to attend. On pressing emergencies no numbers 

 were mentioned ; the chief merely said, " We shall 

 not count those who join the army, but those who 

 stay behind ;" a summons which was understood to 

 include every man capable of bearing arms. 



The necessary provisions for a soldier during one 

 campaign were reckoned to be 100 Ibs. of flour, 50 Ibs. 

 or 60 Ibs. of dates, 20 Ibs. of butter, a water-skin, and 

 a sack of wheat or barley for the camel. 



Stratagems and sudden invasions being most fa- 

 vourable for their purpose, no other mode of war- 

 fare was practised. When Saoud planned an incur- 

 sion, the object of it was known to himself alone. 

 He assembled the emirs at a certain point, general- 

 ly a watering-station, which was always selected so 

 as to deceive the enemy. If the march was intend- 

 ed for the northward, the place of rendezvous was 

 appointed several days' journey to the south; the foe 

 was then taken completely by surprise ; and such 

 were the caution and celerity with which these at- 

 tacks were executed that they seldom failed of suc- 

 cess. They were made at all seasons of the year, 

 even in the sacred month of Ramadan. The army 

 was always preceded by a vanguard of 30 or 40 

 horsemen ; and if they were obliged to advance 

 under night, the chief and all the principal sheiks 

 had torches carried before them. In coming to 

 close action the troops were divided into three or 

 four squadrons, one behind another; the first com- 



