198 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



mount their horses, and endeavour to surprise the 

 aggressors' camp, and plunder their cattle. If they 

 find the enemy prepared to meet them, a parley 

 ensues, and the matter is frequently made up ; other- 

 wise they encounter each other at full speed with 

 fixed lances, which they sometimes dart, notwith- 

 standing their length, at the flying foe. The victory 

 is rarely contested ; it is decided by the first shock ; 

 and the vanquished take to flight full gallop over the 

 naked plain of the Desert. Night generally favours 

 their escape from the conqueror. The tribe, which 

 has lost the battle, strikes its tents, removes to a 

 distance by forced marches, and seeks an asylum 

 among its allies. 



Boundless generosity, and insatiable covetousness, 

 are strangely mingled in the character of the sons of 

 the Desert. Without wishing to justify the Bedouin's 

 spirit of rapine, we may observe that it is displayed 

 only towards reputed enemies. Among themselves 

 they are remarkable for a good faith, a disinterested- 

 ness, a generosity that would do honour to the most 

 civilized people. What is there more noble than that 

 right of asylum so respected among all the tribes ! 

 A stranger, nay, even an enemy, touches the tent of 

 a Bedouin, and from that instant his person becomes 

 inviolable. It would be reckoned an indelible shame 



