322 HISTORY OP THE WAHABEES. 



between 300 and 400 were at Medina, where Divan 

 Effendi had the command ; 300 formed the garri- 

 son of Yembo and Jidda. The remainder were 

 either with Ali himself, or with Hassan Pasha and 

 his brother Abdin Bey, acting as the advanced posts 

 of the army to the southward of Tai'f. Four hun- 

 dred Bedouin soldiers were placed under the charge 

 of Sheriff Rajah, a relation of Ghaleb and a distin- 

 guished leader of the Wahabees in Hejaz, who had 

 been won over to the side of the enemy. 



One obstacle alone retarded the immediate adop- 

 tion of offensive measures. The campaign had 

 proved most destructive to the Egyptian camels : 

 hundreds of their dead bodies strewed the roads be- 

 tween Jidda and Ta'if, and occasioned such a pesti- 

 lential stench that the inhabitants were obliged to 

 consume them to ashes with dry grass from the 

 adjoining mountains. At a moderate calculation, 

 during the three years of the war, 30,000 of these 

 animals belonging to the army had perished in 

 Hejaz. The arrival of the pilgrim-caravans in No- 

 vember brought a reinforcement of 6000 or 7000, 

 chiefly of the Syrian breed, which were better adapt- 

 ed than the others for military purposes. 



While these measures were in preparation the 

 Wahabees had made frequent incursions towards 

 Tai'f, and against the tribes which had espoused the 

 cause of the pasha. To intercept the communica- 

 tion between Jidda and Mecca they attacked the 

 camp at Bahra, which they pillaged of its baggage, 

 carrying off a small caravan and massacring all 

 the inhabitants they could find. The pride of the 

 Turks was still farther humbled by another defeat. 

 Abdin Bey with his Arnaouts, who occupied certain 



