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Our own guides were no match for the Owf, a tribe much dreaded for its warlike and savage character; there was no judge in the village of Rabegh, to whose authority an appeal might be made; and the two Bedouins had a legitimate claim upon their prisoner.
The Wahabys, however, had not been able to subdue the Owf in their own mountains; and a proof of their independence appeared in the long hair which this tribe wore, contrary to the Wahaby precept, which had established it as a universal law to shave the head bare. We found, at the wells of Mastoura, several flocks of camels and sheep, which the Owf shepherds and shepherdesses were watering.
In the opposite mountains, to the east, live the Beni Owf, another tribe of Harb. The hadjys passing by sea from Egypt to Djidda, are obliged to take the ihram opposite to Rabegh, which they may do either on shore, or on board snip. An accident occurred here, which showed in the strongest light the total want of charity in our companions the Malays.
It was to consecrate this spot, that the mosque was founded by Mohammed himself with loose stones, which were changed into a regular building the year after, by Benou Ammer ibn Owf; but the present building is of modern construction. Further on is shown the spot There men live who like to be purified: and God loves the clean."
It is inhabited by the Owf tribe. The whole road from Kolleya to this place is dangerous on account of the robberies of these Bedouins; and the caravan never passes without losing some of its loads or camels. In the time of the Wahabys it was completely secure; the Sheikhs of the Harb, and the whole tribe being made responsible for all depredations committed in their territory.
To-day one of them was brought in under an escort of two Bedouins of the tribe of Owf, who told us that they had found him straying in the Desert, and that he had promised them twenty piastres if they would guide him to the caravan, and that they expected his friends would make up this sum, the man, as they saw, being himself quite destitute of money.
It was at a little place called Ouef, and we had some trouble in finding it and more in pronouncing its name. Some of us called it Off, some Owf! I knew I had heard the name somewhere, and I was racking my brains to think as Johnson set up our wee piano and I began to sing. Just as I finished my first song a rooster set up a violent crowing, in competition with me, and I remembered!
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