The Szowaleha And Aleygat, However, Did
Not Agree, And Had Frequent Disputes Among Themselves.
At that period
there arrived at Sherm four families of the Mezeine, a very potent tribe
in the Hedjaz, east of Medina, where they are still found in large
numbers, forming part of the great tribe of Beni Harb.
They were flying
from the effects of blood-revenge, and wishing to settle here, they
applied to the Szowaleha, begging to be permitted to join them in their
pastures. The Szowaleha consented, on condition of their paying a yearly
tribute in sheep, in the same manner as the despised tribe of Heteym, on
the opposite coast of the gulf of Akaba, does to all the surrounding
Arabs. [Arabic]. The high spirited Mezeine however rejected the offer,
as derogatory to their free born condition, and addressed themselves to
the Aleygat, who readily admitted them to their brotherhood and all
their pastures. Long and obstinate wars between the Szowaleha and
Aleygat were the consequence of this compact. The two tribes fought, it
is said, for forty years; and in the greatest and the last battle, which
took place in Wady Barak, the Mezeine decided the contest in favour of
the Aleygat. “So
[p.560] great,” says the Bedouin tradition, “was the number of the
Szowaleha killed in this engagement, that the nails of the slain were
seen for many years after, the sport of the winds in the valleys around
the field of battle.”[No nation equals the Bedouins in numerical
exaggeration.
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