376 



SOCIAL STATE OP THE ARABS. 



own wife) is without a garment !" This license they 

 regard as a sort of birthright or national prerogative. 

 If they are reproved for their depredations, " You 

 forget that I am an Arab" is always the reply ; 

 which is spoken with a tone and expression of coun- 

 tenance that shows how little the haughty marauder 

 is affected by the supposed opprobrium. But the chi- 

 valry of pillage, like that of hospitality, has been im- 

 paired by their intercourse with strangers. The ho- 

 nourable asylum of the tent has often been violated, 

 and the sacred shield of the dakheil has not always 

 screened the unfortunate who sought its protection. 



The natural jealousy and fiery temperament of 

 the Arabs have always proved a source of the most 

 implacable enmity among themselves. They betray 

 the quickest sensibility to any affront or injury; 

 and instances might be multiplied where a con- 

 temptuous word, an indecent action, or the most 

 trifling violation of etiquette, can only be expiated 

 by the blood of the offender. If one sheik say to 

 another, " Thy bonnet is dirty," or " The wrong 

 side of thy turban is out," it is considered a mortal 

 offence. To spit on the beard of another, even acci- 

 dentally, is an insult scarcely to be forgiven. Mur- 

 der is the deepest injury that can be committed. 

 The Arab code regulates the revenge for blood (called 

 thar) by the nicest distinctions ; and it is perhaps 

 owing to this salutary institution more than to any 

 other, that the warlike tribes of the desert have been 

 prevented from exterminating each other. 



It is a universal law among them, that he who 

 sheds blood owes on that account blood to the family 

 of the slain person; and this debt may be re- 

 quired not only from the actual murderer, but from 

 all his relations. The right of the thar is limited 



