398 



B E D O U I N S. 



Bedouins, hostile to one another, they may still be considered 

 v ""V ' as forming but one nation ; as they have the same 

 common origin, the same customs and religion, and 

 speak the same language. Each tribe is composed 

 of one or more principal families, the chiefs of which 

 are called icheiks, or lords. Of these scheiks, one as- 

 sumes the supreme command, both in war and in 

 peace,- and is sometimes called emir, or prince. His 

 authority, however, is rather patriarchal than des- 

 potic ; and he is desirous of extending his power, by 

 forming alliances with the chiefs of smaller tribes, 

 who are too weak to maintain their own indepen- 

 dence, and whom he attaches to himself by supply- 

 ing their wants. The tribes are distinguished by 

 the names of their respective chiefs, or by that of 

 the ruling family ; and when they speak of any of 

 the individuals that compose them, they call them 

 the children of such a chief ; as for example, Beni 

 Tetnin, Oulad T/ii, the children of Temin and of 

 Tai. The tribes of the deserts of Arabia, properly 

 so called, have descended by an uninterrupted suc- 

 cession from the remotest ages ; but the African 

 tribes are of less ancient origin, being posterior to 

 the conquests in that country, by the caliphs, or suc- 

 cessors of Mahomet. 



The description of the ancestors of the Bedouins, 

 given by Diodorus Siculus, 1800 years ago, is by no 

 iner.113 inapplicable to their present state. " The 

 wandering Arabs," says that author, (c. 19.) " dwell 

 in the open country, without any roof. They them- 

 selves call their country a solitude. They do not choose 

 for their abode, places abounding in rivers and foun- 

 tains, lest that allurement alone should draw their 

 enemies into their neighbourhood. Their law, or 

 their custom, forbids them to sow corn, to plant 

 fruit-trees, to make use of wine, or to inhabit 

 houses. He who should violate these usages would 

 be punished infallibly with death ; because they are 

 persuaded, that whoever is capable of subjecting 

 himself to such inconveniences, would soon submit to 

 a master, in order to preserve them. Some lead 

 their camels to graze, some their sheep. The latter 

 are the wealthiest ; for, besides the advantages they 

 derive from their flocks, they go to sell in the sea- 

 ports, frankincense, myrrh, and other precious aro- 

 matics, which they have received in exchange from 

 the inhabitants of Arabia Felix. Extremely jealous 

 of their liberty, at the news of the approach of an 

 army, they take refuge in the depth of the deserts, 

 the extent of which serves them as a rampart. The 

 enemy, in fact, perceiving no water, could not dare 

 to. traverse them, whilst the Arabs, being furnished 

 with it, by means of vessels concealed in the earth, 

 with which they are acquainted, are in no danger of 

 this want. The whole soil being composed of clayey 

 and soft earth, they find means to dig deep and vast 

 cisterns, of a square form, each side of which is the 

 length o an acre. Having filled them with rain,- 

 water, they close up the entrance, which they make 

 uniform with the neighbouring ground, leaving some 

 imperceptible token, known only to themselves. 

 They accustom their flocks to drink only once in 

 three days, so that when they are obliged to fly across 

 these parched sands, they may be habituated to sup- 

 port thirst. As for themselves, they live on flesh 



and milk, and common and ordinary fruits. They 

 have in their fields the tree which bears pepper ; and 

 a great deal of wild honey, which they drink with 

 water. There are other Arabs who cultivate the 

 earth. They are tributary, like the Syrian 

 resemble them in other respects, except that they do 

 not dwell in houses. Such arc very nearly the man- 

 ners of this people." 



The Bedouins of Arabia justly boast of their in- 

 dependence, since they have never been conquered ; 

 nor have they assimilated themselves with other na- 

 tions by making conquests. The revolution effected 

 by Mahomet had little influence upon these wander- 

 ing tribes ; and we find the prophet, in his Kara.:, 

 styling them rebels and infidels. They hare 

 adopted the Mussulman faith, but their manner of 

 life, and the place? in which they dwell, effectually 

 secure them from foreign dominion. To figure to 

 ourselves the country which they inhabit, w> 

 says M. Volney, imagine a sky almost perpi 

 inflamed, and without clouds ; immense and bound- 

 less plains, without houses, trees, rivulets, or hills ; 

 "where the eye frequently meets nothing but nu ex- 

 tensive and uniform horizon like the sea, though in 

 some places the ground is uneven and stony. Al- 

 most invariably naked on every -side, the earth pre- 

 sents nothing but a few wild plants thinly scattered ; 

 and thickets, whose solitude is rarely disturbed but 

 by antelopes, hares, locusts, and rats. Such is the 

 nature of nearly the whole country, which extends 

 600 leagues in length, and 300 in breadth, stretching 

 from Aleppo to the Arabian Sea, and from Egypt 

 to the Persian Gulf. 



The soil, however, varies considerably in different 

 places, and this variety occasions corresponding dif- 

 ferences in the manners and condition of the Be- 

 douins. In the more sterile districts, the tribes are 

 feeble and thinly scattered. This is the case in the 

 desert of Suez, that of the Red Sea, and the interior 

 of the great desert called the Najd. In general, the 

 Bedouins are a small, meagre, and tawny race ; but 

 those who inhabit the heart* of the desert are much 

 more so than those who dwell on the frontiers of the 

 cultivated country. When, in the time of the Sheik 

 I>aher, some of the horsemen of a remote tribe came 

 to visit Acre, every body viewed with surprise this 

 meagre, swarthy, and diminutive race. Their withei- 

 ed legs were composed only of tendons, and had no 

 calves. Their bellies seemed to cling to their backs, 

 and their hair was frizzled almost as much as that of 

 the negroes. They, on the other hand, were TO less 

 astonished at every thing they saw ; they were un- 

 able to conceive how the houses and minarets could 

 6tand erect, or how men ventured to dwell beneath 

 them, and always in the same spot ; but, above all, 

 they were in an ecitacy on beholding the sea, nor 

 could they comprehend what that mighty desert or 

 water could be. The Bedouins who are settled near 

 towns and fertile provinces, enjoy many more com- 

 forts than those of the desert, and till the ground as 

 well as tend their flocks. They are, however, redu- 

 ced, in some measure, to a state of dependence on 

 the sovereigns of the adjacent country. But the. 

 Bedouins on the confines of the desert have maintain- 

 ed their liberty unimpaired, and preserve their n* 



Bcdouim. 



