no THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



roused, their valour is tempered by cautiousness. Tlieir wars 

 are a succession of skirmishes, in which 500 men will retreat 

 after losing a dozen of their number. In this partisan fighting 

 the first charge secures a victory, and the vanquished fly till 

 covered by the shades of night. Then passion or shame 

 prompts them to reprisals, wliich will probably end in the 

 flight of the former victor. Gain and revenge draw the Arab's 

 sword ; yet, unlike the Irishman who fights for the mere fun of 

 figliting, he must have the all-powerful stimulants of honour 

 and fanaticism to become desperate. The habit of danger in 

 raids and blood feuds, the continual uncertainty of existence, 

 the desert, the chase, his hard life, and the practice of martial 

 exercises, habituate him to look death in the face like a man, 

 and powerful motives will make him a hero. 



The ferocity of Bedouin life is softened by his intercourse 

 with the ' dwellers in houses made of clay,' who frequently 

 visit and entrust their children to the people of the Black 

 Tents, that they may be hardened by the discipline of the 

 desert. This laudable custom is generally followed by the 

 Sherifs or the descendants of the Prophet residing in Meccah, and 

 even the late Pacha of Egypt gave one of his sons in charge of 

 the Anijah tribe near Akhba, that he might receive a Bedouin 

 education and grow up into a man. 



The mild influence of the fair sex likewise tends to soften 

 the nomadic Arab's character, and to inspire him with chival- 

 rous feelings. In pastoral life tribes often meet for a time, 

 live together whilst pasturage lasts, and then separate perhaps 

 for a generation. Under such circumstances youths will become 

 attached to maidens whom possibly by the laws of the clan they 

 may not marry, and then the lovers have recourse to flight. 

 The fugitives must brave every danger ; for revenge, at all times 

 the Bedouin's idol, now becomes the lode-star of his existence. 

 But the Arab lover will dare all consequences, and stake his 

 life on the possession of her he loves. 



Women, indeed, are regarded as inferior beings by their 

 lords and masters, and to them exclusively all the labour and 

 menial offices in the tent are assigned ; but in troublous 

 times and in the hour of need, they raise themselves to the 

 level of the stronger sex by physical as well as moral courage. 

 In the early days of Islam, if history be credible, Arabia had 



