the Turkish costume has occasionally been questioned and denied,
we will venture to add our testimony in its favour to that of all the
most experienced travellers in Mahometan countries with whom we
have ever been acquainted; so far, at least, as the adoption of it is in
question, in places where the principal persons in power, and the
bulk of the population are Mussulmen. I f it were only on the score
of convenience, we should in most cases recommend it; and it is certainly
the best calculated to prevent interruption, and all the numerous
annoyances arising from idle curiosity and the prejudices of an
ignorant people.
On our return, one morning, from a visit to the Bazar, where we
had been making some purchases necessary for our journey, we found
our apartment occupied by the Bedouin Arabs who had been I appointed
by the Bashaw to attend us to Bengazi. They had been
ranged by our servant on chairs round the room, on which they did
not appear to sit much at their ease; and some of them had relinquished
their exalted situation for the more convenient level which
the chairs themselves occupied, that, safe and comfortable position,
the ground: here they squatted themselves down with true Arab
dignity, and soon found themselves much more at home. There was
little in the dress of these swarthy personages by which one might
be distinguished from the rest. An ample baracan, fastened in the
usual Arab manner, partially displayed the large, loose sleeves of a
cotton shirt, more remarkable than usual for its whiteness ; a piece
of distinction which is, by Arabs, considered necessary only' in
towns, and on visits of more than ordinary ceremony: from a leathern
belt was suspended a case of the same material, containing a
brace of long pistols, near which hung a leathern pouch for powder
and ball, and a smaller one which served as a pocket or purse. A
red, or white cap, (for some had one, some the other,) and sandals of
camel s hide, fastened with thongs of leather, completed the whole
costume. One only wore a turban; and, on closer investigation, the
pistol-cases and pistols of the person so distinguished appeared to be
in better order than those of his companions. But no difference of
attire was necessary to mark out Shekh Mahommed el Dubbah from
those who accompanied him. A venerable length of beard, in which
white was partially blended with gray, gave an air of patriarchal
respectability to his appearance; and a singular mixture of energy and
complacency displayed the wild and daring spirit which animated
him half subdued by the composure of age, and the decorum which
it was necessary to observe on the occasion: a well-acted smile was
playing on his lips, with which his voice and his manner, when he
addressed us, corresponded; but his large full eye, though its lustre
was dimmed by age, was never for a moment at rest; and wandered
unceasingly from object to object, with a wildness and rapidity very
different from the vacant stare of curiosity so conspicuous in the
faces of most of his party.
Shekh Mahommed was at this time nearly sixty years of age, and
had early been very formidable as a robber in the district of Syrt.
The circumstance of his being the head of a Marabut tribe, joined
to the natural intrepidity of his character, had given him great
influence over the Arabs of his neighbourhood; and the daring