“We declare that we are confederated by our own free will without any constraint, that we are all sound in body and mind, and that we have unanimously resolved to follow the advice of Sheik Ibrahim and Abdallah el Katib, for the interest of our prosperity, of our glory, and of our liberty. The articles of our treaty are:-- “1st. To separate ourselves from the Osmanlis. “2d. To wage a war of extirpation against the Wahabees. “3d. Never to speak upon the subject of religion. “4th. To obey the orders of our brother, the great Drayhy, Ebn Chahllan. “5th. To oblige each sheik to answer for his tribe and to keep this engagement secret. “6th. To combine against those tribes who should not subscribe to it. “7th. To march to the assistance of those who sign the present treaty, and to combine against their enemies. “8th. To punish with death those who should break this alliance. “9th. To listen to no calumnies against Sheik Ibrahim and Abdallah. “We the undersigned accept all the articles of this treaty; we will maintain them in the name of God and of his prophets Mahomet and Ali; declaring by these presents that we are determined to live and die in this holy alliance. “Dated, signed, and sealed, the 12th of November, 1811.” All who were present approved and signed it. Some time afterwards, being encamped in the large and fine plain of El Rané, the Drayhy sent couriers to the other tribes, to invite them to sign this treaty. Several chiefs set their seals to it, and those who had no seal fixed on it the impression of their finger. Among these chiefs I noticed a young man who from the age of fifteen had governed the tribe of El Ollama, which bears a character very superior to those of the other Bedouins. They cultivate poetry, are well informed, and in general very eloquent. This young sheik thus related the origin of his tribe:--