200 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxv. 



hoarding take the place of physical action. The 

 ghaziis and marauding expeditions are left to the 

 conduct of younger men ; and the rest of the 

 Bedouin's days are spent in idleness. The reaction 

 is quickly felt. Men of forty, especially those in a 

 high position, complain of indigestion, of rheuma- 

 tism, or other maladies caused by inactive life. Of 

 the first positive disease they die. 



A man, who falls seriously ill, has as little chance 

 of recovering as the wild animal has, in these open 

 plains. Doctors do not exist, nor is there any 

 knowledge, among the Bedouins, of herbs. The sick 

 man is obliged, whatever his condition, to move 

 with the tribe as it moves. He is set upon a camel, 

 and clings to it as best he can, in sun or rain or 

 wind, often with his head hanging down lower than 

 his heels, and only prevented from falling by the 

 occasional helj^ of his sons or the women who walk 

 beside him. In the tent he lies surrounded by his 

 friends, who, very Job's comforters, talk to him till 

 he dies. Wounds, too, in spite of the healthy con- 

 dition of body Avhich a spare habit gives, are often 

 fatal from want of knowledge or merely from want 

 of quiet. The Bedouin prefers to die thus, and 

 meets his end without fear. In certain families it 

 is considered a point of honour not to die, as we 

 should say, " in bed." In youth, however, ill-health 

 or defective powers are unknown ; and, for enjoy- 



seem interested in it, though hawks and greyhounds are kept in all 

 the principal tents. 



