iio Bcdoitin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xx. 



and sometimes drawn over the hands ; a capote 

 attached to it covers the head and part of the face, 

 so that muffled up they look Hke the pictures one 

 sees of Greenlanders — only the covering here is for a 

 protection from the sun rather than the cold. 



The Sleb have no horses or camels, only a few 

 goats and donkeys. On the latter they ride, not 

 astride but sideways, with a deliil saddle and double 

 crutch, men and women alike. The women have 

 none of the Arab modesty, and make no jDretence of 

 covering their faces, but go about the camp with 

 their male relations, on begging tours, all together, as 

 gipsies do in England. It is impossible to believe 

 that these people can be Arabs, though the Bedouins 

 here declare them to be such, and Abd er Rahman 

 calls them Mussulmans ; but all admit that they are 

 something quite different from themselves, that they 

 have customs and practices of their own which no 

 Bedouin would tolerate, that they eat hedgehogs 

 {gmnjit) and tell fortunes, and are of such base 

 blood that no Bedouin however poor would marry 

 one of their women, a remarkable thing when one 

 considers how very beautiful they are. That it is 

 so we ascertained from Hueran himself, wdio said 

 simply enough, " We would give our daughters to 

 the Arabs if they would take them.'' 



The Sleb are the true children of the Hamad, 

 never leaving it summer or winter, but following the 

 herds of gazelles as they migrate north and south. 

 On these they live, making their food, their clothing, 



