82 Bedotiiu Tribes of the Eiiph7'ates. [cu. xis:. 



■us on yesterday, and saying that lie had business to 

 transact elsewhere, put us under his son's escort and 

 rode away to the left. There is evidently something- 

 brewing, but whether peace or war we cannot quite 

 make out. I tliouofht the retainers seemed more at 

 their ease when the Sheykh was gone. A little 

 attempt at sport was made, a bustard hawked and a 

 fox coursed ; but the Bedouins here seem to care little 

 about such things, being in this strangely different 

 from their relations in the Sahara. The hawk was 

 a very large one, larger than the peregrine, and well 

 under command, for having missed his quarry he 

 came back at once to his master's call. It is very 

 pretty to see these hawks, perched two together 

 on the croup of their master's mare, or on his wife's 

 howda, and keeping their balance with wings 

 stretched out. The greyhounds while on the march 

 seemed perpetually at work coursing something or 

 other, fox, hare, or gazelle, for the long line of 

 camels acting as beaters puts up everything before 

 it for miles. The dogs are small, but show great 

 breeding, most of them l^eing of the so-called Persian 

 variety, with long silky ears and tails. The march 

 was irregularly conducted. A group of horsemen 

 rode first, but followed no particular line, going first 

 in one direction and then in another, either from the 

 inability we have noticed in the Bedouins to keep a 

 straight line, or possibly looking for pasturage and 

 camping-ground. Every mile or so they dismounted 

 to talk and wait for the camels, which came slowly 



