Plate 16: Mukheymer

One of Lawrence’s Ageyl, mentioned briefly in Seven Pillars (chap. 42, p. 247). 'These Ageyl were Nejd townsmen, the youth of Aneyza, Boreida or Russ, who had contracted either with the Turks or with the Sherif for service as regular camel corps for a term of years. They were young, usually from sixteen to twenty-five, and nice fellows, large-eyed, cheery, a little educated, catholic, very intelligent and good companions on the road. There was seldom a heavy one. Even in repose, when most Eastern faces emptied themselves of life, these lads remained keen-looking and handsome. They talked a delicate and elastic Arabic, and were well-mannered, often foppish in habit. There was a docility and reasonableness in their town-bred minds which made them good servants, and they were unrivalled travellers, who looked after themselves and their masters without reiterated instructions.'