132 Bedouin Tribes of the Ettphrates. [ch. xxr. 



shade at a well. We had been overtaken in the 

 course of the morning by a couple of men mounted 

 on a dromedary, who had been sent after us by 

 Meshur to show us the way. They were Eoala who 

 had gone to the Sebaa in the suite of their Sheykh's 

 wife, when she had chosen to return to her father 

 Jedaan ; and it shows how liberal the Bedouins are, 

 in their toleration of individuals while at war, that 

 these men had been living for some weeks in Je- 

 daan's tent, at the very moment that their master, 

 Ibn Shaalan, was advancing against him. Now they 

 were being sent back without so much, I believe, as 

 a pledge not to reveal secrets. The truth is, in 

 Bedouin strategy as in Bedouin politics there is no 

 possibility of secrecy. Every member of the tribe 

 has a right to know everything that happens, and, 

 from the very publicity of what goes on, there is no 

 fear of spies. It is useless to try and conceal the 

 truth, so no attempt to do so is made. The black 

 slave was very ill to-day, and lay in a half torpid 

 state on his camel, with his head hanging down 

 over its shoulder and exposed to the full glare of 

 the sun. But this is all the comfort Arabs expect 

 to get when they are ill. They somehow manage 

 to sleep in this position without falling off 



At the well we were overtaken also by a small 

 party of Welled Ali, driving a hundred or so of 

 sheep and lambs l)efore them for the Easter sales 

 at Damascus. I cannot think many of them will 

 arrive there alive, for the weather is prodigiously 



