THE BEDOUIN OF THE DESERT 



rope, he is bound to protect you; you are 

 his guest. Young boys who had never 

 seen a white man before, when we passed, 

 if they were sitting, arose. When you go 

 to a man's tent, or especially a Sheikh tent, 

 though you may have, as we had, fifty in our 

 party, and many animals to feed, you are his 

 guest for three days, and he will not let you 

 pay for anything. 



To offer a tip would be an insult to the 

 poorest Bedouin. In the middle of one night, 

 when we stopped to drink from an old well, 

 a ragged Arab held my horse and gave 

 me some grapes. It was between two and 

 three in the morning, and you can tip most of 

 us at that hour. There was no one close 

 enough to see him when I tried to hand him a 

 piece of silver, but he shoved it back without 

 a word, a thing I didn't think would be done 

 in any country of the world. There is some 

 answer to this, but no one seems to know what 

 it is. I certainly do not. In Aleppo they 

 would take money of any kind and in Beyrout 

 you were afraid they would take your life. 

 And on Broadway did you ever offer anybody 

 any money at any time of the day or night and 

 have it refused? 



[241] 



