Page 344 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)
P. 344
XIX.] TRAVELS IN OMAN. 305
his party, whilst I gained the walls in safety.
These were probably the same men who had
murdered the two messengers despatched to
me by the Imam of Maskat, and to which cir
cumstance Sayyid ibn Kalfan alludes in his
letter, given in the Appendix.
The day before Sayyid came into my hands
he had been presented to the Imam by a Nejd
Sheikh. Reared in domesticity, and accus
tomed to share the tent of some family in that
country, he possessed in an extraordinary
degree all the gentleness and docility, as well
as the fleetness, which distinguish the pure
breed of Arabia. To avoid the intense heat,
and spare their camels, the Bedowins fre
quently halted during my journey for an hour
about mid-day. On these occasions Seyyid
would remain perfectly still, while I reposed
on the sand, skreened by the shadow of his
body. My noon repast of dates he always
looked for, and shared. Whenever we halted,
after unsaddling him, and taking off his bridle
with my own hands, he was permitted to roam
about the encampment without control. At
sunset he came for his corn at the sound of
my voice ; and during the night, without
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