ABSTRACT

The full Italian text was published by the Franciscan fathers in Jerusalem in 1866, but the Prussian Consul in Jerusalem had brought out an abridged German version of Carlo Guarmani’s story in Germany in 1865. Guarmani was welcomed by the Sukhur with typical badawin hospitality, and embraced in the manner of that tribe; ‘the Sukhur imprint a kiss on the face, whereas the Taamri do it in the air’. Guarmani tells how the women and slaves went out into the darkness of the storm to tighten the cords and strengthen the poles, while the men of the camp never moved. Despite their abject poverty the Sherarat insisted that Guarmani and his companions shared their supper, a pathetically meagre meal of samh flour and tarthuth, an edible desert root, washed down with camel’s milk. On 3 May Guarmani was told in the evening that he was expected to accompany the Amir Tallal as far as Hayaniya on the morrow.