cii. XXV.] BcdotiiiL Hospitality. 211 



differ widel}-. Tlius, tlio Jibuii, the Agbciluat, 

 and other fellahin tribes, give liospitality, l)ut they 

 accept payment for it ; while the lowest tii])e of 

 all, the Amur, will rob the stranger who comes to 

 their tents, and count their hospitality as beginning 

 only from the moment of his eating with them. 

 Among pure Bedouins this virtue has a far wider 

 meanino-. 



A stranger once within an Anazeh or Shammar 

 camp, unless he be a declared enemy, the member 

 of a hostile tribe, is secure from all molestation ; 

 and even an enemy, if he have once dismounted and 

 touched the rope of a single tent, is safe. The 

 ordinary stranger is at perfect liberty to go where 

 he will and dismount where he pleases. He usually 

 selects the largest tent, for its size signifies the 

 wealth of the owner. There he may remain, housed 

 and fed, as long as he will, the limit of such hos- 

 pitality in respect of time being quite indefinite. 

 T have not been able to get any one to fix its 

 duration. Nevertheless, I suspect that, in the tent 

 of a sheykli or great man, there must be some 

 rule as to this. I never heard of such a case; 

 but I imagine that, after a few days, some friend 

 or dependent of the host gives a hint to the 

 intruder that it is time to move on; or, among 

 the poor, that the host himself comes forward 

 with the tale of an empty larder as an excuse 

 for urging departure. But this is merely a sur- 

 mise. In ordinary cases the guest stays but one 



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