CH. XXV.] The Law of Blood. 207 



sidered even more satisfactory, tlie chief man among 

 his relations, also within the second degree, on the 

 principle of " you have killed my cousin, I will kill 

 yours," A death purges a death ; and the hlood 

 feud ends. But sometimes it happens that, instead 

 of the slayer or his cousin, a second member of the 

 injured family is slain. Then two deaths will be 

 required, and the feud may continue for years 

 before the balance is reached. The oblio-ation of 

 vengeance is so sacred that men will travel great 

 distances to find out the enemies of a murdered 

 relation. Mohammed ibn Taleb told us that, 

 when his uncle was killed by one of the hostile 

 faction of Tudmur, a man of the Beni Liiam came 

 all the way from the Jof to avenge him. The 

 feud, however, may at any time be extinguished by 

 the payment of fifty camels, or £250, for each death. 

 These blood feuds are the only cases of deliberate 

 bloodshed known in the desert, and they are rare. 

 They have an excellent effect on public morals, as 

 they make men chary of shedding blood. A homi- 

 cide not only has to fear the vengeance of his 

 enemies, but the anger of his relations involved by 

 him in the quarrel ; and it is probably due to this 

 apparently barbarous law that even robbers and 

 outlaws seldom take human life. As an instance of 

 the extreme moderation of Bedouin practice I would 

 cite the following. It happened not many years 

 since : 



A young Frenchman, M. Dubois d'Anger, was 



