Page 237 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

218 COAST OF ARABIA. [CH.

But Hassan Aga was fond of brandy, and in
his several visits to us, after sending all his
followers on shore, he gave loose to his natural
disposition : off went his turban and robes, and
no one then could crack his joke or quaff the
forbidden liquor with better grace than
Hassan Aga.
Shortly after our first arrival, Captain
Moresby received a visit from a Bedowin

chief of the Sherif s tribe, named Serur. His
power is acknowledged from the confines of
the Harb tribe, a few miles to the southward
of Yembo’, as far as Has&ni northward. They
still acknowledge a superior in the Sherif of
Mecca, who still holds a moral influence over
all the Bedowin sheikhs in Hej&z, though de­
prived of the power and importance which
was formerly attached to his high station,
and now a mere tool of Mohammed ’All.
Serfir appeared to be about forty years of
age, of a tall, commanding figure, rather in­

clining to obesity (an unusual circumstance
in an Arab), with bold, frank, engaging man­
ners. We were anxious to obtain his permis­
sion to visit the mountains of Radwah, about
twenty-five miles distant from Yembo*. He