2o8 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxa% 



travelling with liis servant, wlio had been a Zouave, 

 from Aleppo to Tudmur, and fell in with a large 

 party of the IMesekha tribe. He and his servant were 

 well armed, and, as the Arabs rode up to them, 

 the Frenchmen dismounted, and, without question, 

 opened fire. The Sheykh's mare was killed by a 

 ball, but the Arabs were not touched. These charged 

 down on the two Frenchmen, who made a gallant 

 resistance, but, the Zouave being killed in the 

 scuffle, his master surrendered. The Arabs, though 

 much incensed at the death of the mare, which was 

 a valuable one, contented themselves with stripping 

 their captive and letting him go. The assault on 

 his part had been unprovoked ; and there are few 

 countries where the penalty would not have been a 

 severer one. 



The weakest point of the Bedouin character is 

 undoubtedly his love of money. This is not merely 

 the careful gathering together of wealth, but a love 

 of the actual coin, the " Avhite silver pieces," which 

 he prefers to gold. The love of money, as money, 

 seems to be natural to the human race, and strong 

 in inverse proportion to its practical value. Thus 

 all children have a passion for money, as soon as 

 they can grasp the idea of ownership, preferring it 

 to any plaything that can be offered them. Yet it 

 is practically valueless to them. In the same way, 

 the Bedouin, living in the desert all the year round, 

 and having no need of things that money can give, 

 or the opportunity even of spending it, will travel 



