Page 218 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

x.j COA9T OF ARABIA. 199

speedily became known along the coast, we
were probably in some measure indebted for
the little molestation we met with during our
stay.
If we call to mind the character of the Be-
dowin, his ignorance of, as well as his negli­
gence in the observance of, the doctrines of
the Koran, it will not fail to excite some sur­

prise that he should here have retained, in its
full force, one of its most irrational doctrines.

Some reports were brought us during this
visit concerning a ruined town on the main,
and I left the ship to ascertain the fact. The
boat landed at a small indenture in the reef
which here encircles the coast, near a Be-
dowin encampment. The beach is low and
rocky, but adjoining it there are several high
detached masses of light-coloured sandstone
rock, which contrast in a singular manner
with the dark, more distant, and still higher

ranges in the interior. The encampment
consisted of about one hundred and fifty tem­
porary huts ranged in a double line in circu­

lar form, with their goats and sheep in the
middle, for it was near sunset. Several dogs,
resembling the English mastiff, were watch-