en. XX.] A Desert Laiu-siiit. 105 



ibn Hedeb, charming and sensible as he is, wants 

 the dash necessary for such a position, while Meshur 

 ibn Mershid, Sviliman's nephew, who is talked of as 

 likely some day to do great things, is still a boy. 

 Beteyen then is nominally in command of the tribe, 

 but Jedaan is their real leader by necessity rather 

 than choice. 



The reason of Beteyen's visit was that he might 

 be present at the decision of an important suit, 

 which is being tried, and wdiich has been referred 

 to Mohammed Dukhi as arbiter. It is nothing less 

 than an action brought against Jedaan by his new 

 wife's cousin, a young man of the Sirhan, for her 

 recovery, on the plea of his not having consented to 

 the marriage. The case is a very curious one, and 

 we are much interested in the decision, because if 

 given against Jedaan it will be a remarkable instance 

 of the power of law among the tribes. Jedaan is, at 

 the present moment, omnipotent here, while the 

 cousin is a person of no influence and is talked of 

 by everybody as a wrong-headed youth, who has 

 behaved ill to the girl and deserves no countenance. 

 Yet it is thought that he will gain his suit. The 

 girl, as I have said, is nearly thirty and the cousin 

 only twenty-three ; so that his claim to her cannot 

 be considered as anything but one of interest. 

 He has refused to marry her himself, or rather put 

 it off from year to year, till the girl's father was 

 tired of waiting^. Jedaan seems not to have known 

 of the existence of this cousin till after the mar- 



