RESIDENCE AT ARBAN.--MOHAMMED EMIN'S TENT.--THE AGAYDAT.--OUR TENTS.--BREAD-BAKING.--FOOD OF THE BEDOUINS.--THIN BREAD.--THE PRODUCE OF THEIR FLOCKS.--DISEASES AMONGST THEM.--THEIR REMEDIES.--THE DELOUL OR DROMEDARY.--BEDOUIN WARFARE.--SUTTUM'S FIRST WIFE.--A STORM.--TURTLES.--LIONS.--A BEDOUIN ROBBER.--BEAVERS.--RIDE TO LEDJMIYAT.--A PLUNDERING EXPEDITION.--LOSS OF A HAWK.--RUINS OF SHEMSHANI.--RETURN TO ARBAN.--VISIT TO MOGHAMIS. In the preceding chapter I have given an account of the discoveries made in the ruins of Arban, I will now add a few notes of our residence on the Khabour. A sketch of Arab life, and a description of a country not previously visited by European travellers, may be new and not uninteresting to my readers. During the time we dwelt at Arban, we were the guests and under the protection of Mohammed Emin, the Sheikh of the Jebours. On the day we crossed the river, he celebrated our arrival by a feast after the Arab fashion, to which the notables of the tribe were invited. Sheep, as usual, were boiled and served up piecemeal in large wooden bowls, with a mass of butter and bread soaked in the gravy. The chief's tent was spacious, though poorly furnished. It was the general resort of those who chanced to wander, either on business or for pleasure, to the Khabour, and was, consequently, never without a goodly array of guests; from a company of Shammar horsemen out on a foray to the solitary Bedouin who was seeking to become a warrior in his tribe, by first stealing a mare from some hostile encampment. Amongst the strangers partaking, at the time of our visit, of the Sheikh's hospitality, were Serhan, a chief of the Agaydat, and Dervish Agha, the hereditary Lord of Nisibin, the ancient Nisibis. The tents of the former were at the junction of the Khabour and Euphrates, near Karkisia (the ancient Carchemish), or, as it is more generally called by the Arabs, Abou-Psera. The fertile meadows near the confluence of the two rivers formerly belonged to the Jebours, who occupied the banks of the Khabour throughout nearly the whole of its course. An old feud kept them at continual war with the great tribe of the Aneyza. They long successfully struggled with their enemies, but having at length been overcome they sought refuge in the neighborhood of Mosul. Having returned to the Khabour, they claimed their former rights, and Mohammed Emin was invited by Serhan to settle the contending claims; but it was to no effect.