Arabs in the Desert

When, on the 7th of February 1839, Roberts and his two European companions, John Pell and John Kinnear, struck out into the desert from Cairo their safety and indeed their very survival was in the hands of their guides: a group of fifteen members of the Benisaid tribe who had been supplied for that purpose by their leader, Sheikh Hussein. Roberts took an immediate liking to these men and feeling that they could be trusted, he wrote in his journal ‘I feel I will enjoy the journey.'

This striking portrait shows Besharah, a member of the party who Roberts grew to particularly admire. He is portrayed wearing a white turban, which indicates his rank, a loose shirt that falls to the knees, a long cloak spun from goat or camel hair and fish-skin sandals of the type that were sold in Sinai. Tucked into his belt he carries a broad crooked knife, while a long-barreled matchlock gun is slung behind his back. Beyond him, other tribesman look on, their striped keffiyeh headdresses clearly visible in the bright sunlight.