CH. XXVII.] Act of Surrender. 239 



rapidity. AYar, however, is not there the terrible 

 scouro-e it is amono; civilised nations. The idea 

 of civilised war is to kill, burn, and utterly destroy 

 your enemy till he svibmits, but a milder rule is 

 observed in the desert. There the property of the 

 enemy, and not his person, is the object of the 

 fightins;. It is not wished that he should be de- 

 stroyed, only ruined, the extreme penalty of defeat 

 being the loss of flocks and herds, of tents, tent- 

 furniture and mares. Beyond this Bedouin war- 

 fare does not go. The person of the enemy is sacred 

 when disarmed or dismounted ; and prisoners are 

 neither enslaved nor held to other ransom than their 

 mares. It is very seldom that personal animosity 

 is shown on either side ; and no blood is needlessly 

 shed. In the shock of battle a few spear-wounds 

 are exchanged by the more ardent youth, but no 

 man is killed except by accident. Indeed, it is 

 held to be a clumsy act to kill outright, for the 

 object of the fighting is sufficiently obtained by 

 merely dismounting or wounding the enemy. The 

 battle consists, as in heroic times, of a series of single 

 combats, in which the weaker usually flies and is 

 pursued by the stronger. Then it becomes a ques- 

 tion of speed with the mares, and of doul)ling and 

 dodging with their riders. The chase has led the 

 two combatants, it may be, far from the battle ; and 

 the pursued begins to fail. He throws himself to 

 the ground and calls '' daUl ! " " I yield ! " Then 

 the pursuer, taking the camel-hair rope, called the 



