THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 187 



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 arid 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 honor 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 

 to satisfy even a just vengeance at the expense of 

 hospitality. If once the Bedouin has eaten bread 

 and salt with his guest nothing can induce him to 

 betray him. 



A Bedouin, named Jabal, possessed a mare of 

 great celebrity. Hassad Pacha, then governor of 

 Damascus, wished to buy the animal, and repeatedly 

 made the owner the most liberal offers, which Jabal 

 steadily refused. The pacha then had recourse to 

 threats, but with no better success. At length one 

 Gafar, a Bedouin of another tribe, presented himself 

 to the pacha, and asked what would he give the man 



