SOCIAL STATE OP THE ARABS. 373 



a provision of food and water, that the mare may 

 be fresh and vigorous at the moment of attack. If 

 the expedition is to be on foot, each of the party 

 takes a small stock of flour, salt, and water. They 

 clothe themselves in rags, to make their ransom 

 easier if they should be taken. In this guise they 

 approach the devoted camp under cloud of night, 

 and when all are fast asleep. One of them endea- 

 vours to irritate the watch-dogs ; when they attack 

 him, he flies and artfully draws them off, leaving 

 the premises unprotected. The harami then cuts 

 the cords that fasten the legs of the camels, when 

 they instantly rise from their kneeling posture, and 

 walk away, as all unloaded camels do, without the 

 least noise. To quicken their pace the tails of the 

 foremost or strongest are twisted, and the rest follow 

 at the same trot. The third actor in the robbery 

 keeps watch at the tent-door with a heavy bludgeon, 

 to knock down such of the inmates as may venture 

 to interfere. In this manner fifty camels are often 

 stolen, and driven by forced marches to a safe distance 

 during the night. An extra share of the prey is 

 always allowed to these three principal adventurers. 

 It frequently happens that the robbers are sur- 

 rounded and seized ; and the mode of treating their 

 prisoners affords a curious illustration of the influ- 

 ence which custom, handed down through many 

 generations, still exercises over the minds of these 

 fierce barbarians. It is an established usage in the 

 desert, that if any person who is in actual danger 

 from another can touch a third person, or any in- 

 animate thing which he has in his hands, or with 

 which he is in contact ; or if he can touch him by 

 spitting, or throwing a stone at him, and at the same 

 time exclaim, " I am thy protected !" the individual 



