A tragical accident happened at the passage of the Euphrates. A woman and two children, mounted on a camel, were carried down by the current before it was possible to give them any assistance. We found Mesopotamia covered with the tribes of Bagdad and Bassora. Their chiefs came daily to congratulate the Drayhy on his victory, and to make acquaintance with us, for the renown of Sheik Ibrahim had reached them. They felt indebted to him for having counselled the war against the Wahabees, whose rapacity and exactions were become intolerable. Their king, Ebn-Sihoud, was accustomed to send a mezakie to count the flocks of each individual, and to take the tenth, always choosing the best: he then had the tents taken down, from that of the sheik to that of the poorest wretch, to find his money, of which they also exacted a tenth. He was still more odious to the Bedouins, because in his extreme fanaticism, he exacted ablutions and prayers five times a day, and punished with death those who refused to submit. When he forced a tribe to make war for him, instead of sharing the gains and the losses, he kept all the plunder, and only left his allies to bewail their dead. And thus, by degrees, the Bedouins were becoming the slaves of the Wahabees, for want of a chief capable of making head against Ebn-Sihoud. We encamped at a spot called Nain-el-Raz, three days from the Euphrates. Here the Emir Fares el Harba, the chief of the tribe El Harba, of the territory of Bassora, came to make an offensive and defensive alliance with the Drayhy. When the chiefs have to discuss any important affair, they quit the camp and hold their conference at a distance; this is called _dahra_,--secret assembly. Sheik Ibrahim having been called to the dahra, showed some mistrust of Fares, fearing that he was a spy of the Wahabees. The Drayhy said to him, “You judge of the Bedouins by the Osmanlis: know that the characters of the two people are directly opposed--treason is unknown among us.” After this declaration, all the sheiks present at the council mutually pledged their word. Sheik Ibrahim took advantage of this disposition to propose to them to conclude a treaty in writing, to be signed and sealed by all those who would successively enter into the alliance against Ebn-Sihoud. This was a great step in the interest of Sheik Ibrahim, and I drew up the treaty in the following terms:-- “In the name of the God of mercy, who by his might will help us against traitors. We praise him for all his goodness, and return thanks to him for having given us to distinguish good from evil--to love liberty and to hate slavery; we acknowledge that he is the only and Almighty God, alone to be adored.