342 HISTORY OF THE WAHABEES. 



were complimented on their victories by the Sublime 

 Porte, and honoured with several costly presents. 



The fall of the Wahabee capital maybe said to have 

 completed the conquest of Nejed. The province of 

 Haryk was reduced after a slight resistance. Other 

 districts sent deputies offering voluntary submission. 

 The want of sufficient provisions, rendered more se- 

 vere by the destructive operations of the siege, oc- 

 casioned a very general mutiny in the Turkish army. 

 The soldiers committed all sorts of excess, plunder- 

 ing the houses and pillaging the country. Ibrahim 

 himself narrowly escaped assassination ; but his well- 

 timed intrepidity, and the decapitation of some of 

 the insurgent chiefs, had the effect of restoring or- 

 der. One of the Arab sheiks was punished by 

 having his teeth drawn, and another was blown 

 from the mouth of a cannon. 



The news of Abdallah's death spread universal 

 grief among the inhabitants of Deraiah ; and their 

 consternation was increased when the orders of AH 

 were communicated, that the place must be rased to 

 the ground, and the whole family of their chief sent 

 captives to Egypt. A group of 500 exiles, includ- 

 ing several of the brothers, uncles, and sons of Ab- 

 dallah, were transported to Cairo, where small 

 pensions were assigned them. As it became de- 

 sirable to evacuate the place, an epidemic, the con- 

 sequence of fatigues and privations of all kinds, 

 having begun to commit the most frightful ravages, 

 the work of demolition was enjoined without de- 

 lay. The date-trees in the gardens and suburbs 

 were cut down ; and the soldiers set fire to the 

 houses the moment the inmates had made their 

 escape, many of whom clung affectionately to their 

 homes until they were nearly buried in the ruins. 



