HISTORY OF THE WAHABEES. 323 



districts in the province of Teh ama, had laid desolate 

 the country to the extent of forty miles, that by 

 means of this artificial desert he might prevent the 

 sudden incursions of the enemy. Notwithstanding 

 these cruel precautions, the Sheik Bakrouj, at the 

 head of his Arabs and a strong detachment from 

 Tami, stole by surprise into the Turkish camp at 

 Barush about daybreak, and fell upon the sleeping 

 soldiers, of whom they slaughtered 800 besides 80 

 horsemen. Bakrouj pursued the fugitives during 

 two days; and not an individual would have escaped 

 destruction had not Hossein Bey with a troop of 

 cavalry covered their retreat. Such of them as fell 

 alive into the hands of the pursuers were cruelly 

 mutilated, by having their arms and legs cut off, 

 and then left to perish in that horrid condition. 



The whole effective strength of the Egyptian army, 

 reinforced by 800 horsemen of Libyan Bedouins 

 from Cairo, was now collected near Tai'f ; and from 

 the state of his storehouses and the number of his 

 camps, Mohammed Ali considered his success no 

 longer doubtful. He resolved to place himself at their 

 head, and to take the command in person of the next 

 expedition, which was directed against Taraba, in 

 revenge for the disgrace and losses that had been 

 sustained there by his favourite son. A well-ap- 

 pointed artillery, consisting of twelve fieldpieces, 

 500 axes for cutting down the palm-groves near the 

 town, a company of masons and carpenters for the 

 purpose of opening a mine to blow it up at once, 

 encouraged the soldiers to believe that the walls of 

 Taraba could not long remain standing. To crown 

 the work of desolation, a load of water-melon seeds 

 was brought from Wady Fatima, and paraded through 



