CHILDREN OF THE SWORD. 179 



pity or forgiveness, has been moderated, however, by the maxims of 

 honour, which require in every private encounter some decent equality 

 of age and strength, of numbers and weapons 



" According to the remark of Pliny, the Arabian tribes are equally 

 addicted to theft and merchandize ; the caravans that traverse the 

 desert are ransomed or pillaged ; and their neighbours, since the 

 remote times of Job and Sesostris, have been the victims of their 

 rapacious spirit. If a Bedouin discovers from afar a solitary traveller, 

 he rides furiously against him, crying, with a loud voice, ' Undress 

 thyself, thy aunt (my wife) is without a garment.' A ready submis- 

 sion entitles him to mercy; resistance will provoke the aggressor, 

 and his own blood must expiate the blood which he presumes to shed 

 in legitimate defence. A single robber, or a few associates, are 

 branded with their genuine name ; but the exploits of a numerous 

 band assume the character of lawful and honourable war. The temper 

 of a people thus armed against mankind, was doubly inflamed by the 

 domestic license of rapine, murder, and revenge." 



The name of " Bedouins " (from bedaoui, " man of the Desert ") 

 has been bestowed on the nomades of Arabia, Egypt, and the Northern 

 Sahara. The majority of them are shepherds ; a few add to this 

 industry the much less honourable occupation of plundering trade- 

 caravans ; some prefer to devote themselves wholly to this pursuit. 

 All the Bedouins are children of the sword. They exult in strife 

 and the clash of arms. It is their acm of happiness to mount the 

 war-steed and ride against the foe. The theme of the Arab and his 

 horse, of the attachment which subsists between them, of the services 

 which the latter renders to his master, of his physical and moral 

 qualities, his courage, his swiftness, his fidelity, has been worn so 

 threadbare that I need not here insist upon it. 



I must state, however, that as there are two varieties of Arab 

 camels, so are there of Arab horses : the noble and the common, the 

 beast of blood and the beast of burden. The former seem to be 

 growing scarcer every year. He is named koleil. The nobility 

 of a horse depends entirely upon that of his mother, so that an 



