166 CIVIL HISTORY AND 



the dead animal is held up by the tail, so that its 

 nose just touches the ground ; its length is then 

 measured, and a stick of equal dimensions is fixed 

 into the earth. Over this the delinquent is obliged 

 to pour as much wheat as will wholly cover it. The 

 wheat is the fine due to the owner of the dog. The 

 evidence of a witness may be given verbally or in 

 writing ; and where there are none, the accused 

 party is acquitted on solemnly attesting his inno- 

 cence by an oath. 



There are several kinds of judicial oaths in use 

 among the Arabs: one of the most common is to 

 lay hold with one hand of the wa'sat or middle tent- 

 pole, and swear " by the life of this tent and its 

 owners." The " oath of the wood" is more serious, 

 and consists in taking a piece of stick or stone, and 

 swearing " by God and the life of him who caused it 

 to be green and dried up." The " oath of the cross 

 lines" is only used on very important occasions,-— 

 suppose stolen goods, or where the fact of the guilt 

 cannot be proved by witnesses. The accuser leads 

 the suspected person a distance from the camp ; and 

 then with his sekin or crooked knife draws on the 

 sand a large circle with several cross lines inside. 

 The defendant is obliged to put his right foot, some- 

 times both feet, within this magic ring, the accuser 

 doing the same, and charging him to repeat the fol- 

 lowing words : — " By God, and in God, and through 

 God, I did not take it, and it is not in my posses- 

 sion." To make this ceremony still more solemn, 

 a camel's udder-bag (shemle) and an ant (nemle) are 

 placed together within the circle, indicating that 

 the accused swears by the hope of never being de- 

 prived of milk and winter provision. It is called 

 " the oath of the shemle and nemle ;" and to swear 

 falsely by it would for ever disgrace an Arab, 



Generally speaking, the political institutions of 

 the Bedouins may be traced to that natural authority 

 which the primitive fathers of mankind exercised 



