i88i] A JOURNEY IN THE HEjAZ 573 



of an arbitrator. In such tribes as the Oteibe, who 

 live far from the towns, the ordinary appeal is to local 

 sheikhs, their own hereditary judges, and in these Courts 

 the reference is not to law, but to ancient precedent. 

 Precedents, says a rhyming adage, remove uncertainties 

 Al-Sawdlif tamdd el-Mohdlif. For an Oteibe to 

 appeal from these judges to the Shereef would be held 

 a &quot; shame.&quot; Nevertheless, these tribes do in some 

 sense acknowledge the authority of the Shereef. They 

 pay him the tithes, for were they to refuse, he could 

 close their markets to them ; on summons they follow 

 him to war against another tribe drawn mainly by the 

 prospect of booty. And the Ashraf in general, who are 

 scattered over the country, and form a sort of tribal 

 connection, enjoy a certain religious respect, and a 

 much more practical security, arising from the principle 

 that the blood-money of a Shereef is fourfold. Every 

 Bedouin war has to be squared up by an adjustment of 

 blood-money for the slain, so it is a serious matter to 

 be embroiled with men each of whose heads is worth 

 four. The Shereef, then, is a real prince, with actual 

 privileges and a palpable, though ill-defined, authority. 

 The exact limits of his influence depend on his personal 

 qualities, on his energy in suppressing rebels, and his 

 skill in balancing tribe against tribe. Rebellion, as 

 far as I can gather, generally means the plundering of 

 caravans or a raid on a neighbour s territory. In the 

 case which occurred while I was at Taif, and to which I 

 have already referred, the Oteibe, quarrelling with the 

 Harb, attack a caravan under the protection of the latter. 

 In such quarrels the towns have a direct interest, and 

 the Shereef is compelled to interfere. He recovers the 

 booty, imposes fines and regulates the blood-money 

 between the tribes. Another case was mentioned to me, 

 when a body of Oteibe seized the Beheita. They brought 

 down their families and camels, and while pasturing 

 their herds in the district, plundered all travellers. Here 



