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Updated: August 1, 2024
'A child is born to us, cry our master's family; and silver charms are hung on our heads and about our necks, while we are encouraged to take our first steps by music and song." The Heirie paused. The tinkling of bells came softly through the open door, and Phil, looking eagerly round it, saw a long procession of Camels wending its way through the town.
Heiries are more slenderly built and far more fleet than ordinary Camels, whether they are one-humped and Arabian, or Bactrian, with two humps. To an Arab 'Fleet as the Heirie' means 'fleet as the wind. We are the Camels of Oman, and can travel through the desert without stopping for several days and nights.
Embroideries of gold and silver bedecked their saddles, and glittered beneath the robes of flowing white which are the Arabs' native dress. One pure grey Heirie was decked with ostrich feathers, and had his bridle studded with rubies and emeralds, and gleaming topaz. His master was the Emir Hadgi, the commander of the pilgrimage.
They were much larger than the Heirie; most of them were brown, but some light grey, and one, who bore the heaviest load of all, a snowy white. His master called him "Aleppo," and chided him gently for his weariness.
"I have just come a long journey across the desert, and my limbs are weary, or I would rise." "Why do they call you the Heirie? You look just like the one-humped Camel I saw in my picture book, and he was a Dromedary." Maherry raised his head. "I am sometimes called that too. Dromedaries or Heiries are one and the same animal.
They have even been known in the Strait of Ormuz to settle on a ship, and, by devouring the sails and cordage, oblige the captain to stay his course. What? You are still thinking about your Camels? Well, ask for 'Maherry' when you reach the Arabs' dwellings. He is the fleetest Heirie in Arabia." "Is a 'Heirie' the same as a Camel?" Phil inquired.
Thus we reach the end of our journeys quickly, and our masters cry: 'It is well! In days of old the Arabs said: 'When thou shalt meet a Heirie and say to the rider 'Peace be between us, ere he shall have answered 'There is peace between us, he will be far off, for his swiftness is like the wind." "Are they kind to you, these masters of yours, Maherry?" The Heirie laughed softly.
Then followed one of the tribesmen on the other heirie with two laden camels; three more were led by the other Arab. Rupert himself and Ibrahim brought up the rear of the procession, each with three loaded camels following that upon which he was riding. He wore a cotton cloth which passed over one shoulder and was wrapped round the waist, while a second formed a sort of petticoat.
"Then the other heirie is yours, El Bakhat," Rupert said, "as a special present from me for the kindness you have shown my brother. What do you both mean to do now?" "We have agreed to journey up the coast together and then to travel across the mountains to Assouan, and there buy camels and goods, or we may buy them here if we see bargains to suit us. Then we shall turn south.
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