92 H. S. Jarrett — Customs among the Bedouins of the Haurdn. [No. 2, 



rival has killed thy son through envy. Now I require thee to do a thing, 

 to which if thou consentest, I will lay the charge of murder against 

 thy rival and her relations." The woman replied, — " What is it thou 

 requirest of me ? " He answered, " Go to the farthest end of the en- 

 campment and take off thy garment and wrap it round thy head so that 

 thy shame be seen before all the Arabs, and walk from the end of the 

 camp to this tent without any covering on thy body, after which I will 

 decide in thy favour." The woman answered, — " No, my lord, I will 

 not do this ; rather will I forego the vengeance for the blood of my child 

 and preserve my honour among the Arabs, or I shall lose both my 

 child and my honour. I will never do this ; never, never." The Kadhi 

 replied — " Retire and rest in the women's apartment." He next called 

 the other wife aside and said to her, — " I require thee to do something, 

 which if thou dost, I will absolve thee from this crime." She replied. 

 " I am at thy orders ; what dost thou wish me to do ? " He rejoined, 

 " Thou must take off thy garment and wrap it round thy head," &c, 

 as he had spoken to the rival wife. She answered at once : " This 

 is easy, I will do it with willingness on condition that thou acquittest 

 me." He said to her, — " Go to the end of the encampment and gird up thy 

 garments and run through the midst of the Arabs, from thence hither, 

 that all may behold thy shame and I will acquit thee." Upon which she 

 set forth ; whereupon the Kadhi summoned a respectable man and said 

 to him, " Go after this woman to the end of the tents and if thou seest 

 her uncovering her person, make her put on her garments and forbid 

 her and bring her hither." The man did as he was ordered and after 

 this, the Kadhi decided that the blood of the child should be demanded 

 of the wicked woman. Some of the tribal chiefs objecting to sentence 

 being passed against the woman in a crime of this nature without evi- 

 dence, he replied that a woman who would sacrifice her reputation and 

 immodestly uncover her shame before all the tribe, would undoubtedly 

 be capable of so base a deed. They answered that his sentence was 

 just, and she was condemned to death by strangulation, such as she 

 herself had perpetrated with her own hands. 



A Third Instance. 



A number of persons were suspected of the murder of a traveller 

 on his journey, but it was not known which of them was guilty of the 

 crime. The relatives of the murdered man prosecuted five of them, 

 from the knowledge that feelings of enmity had existed between 

 them and the deceased, but they were not able to say definitely that 

 this particular individual had killed that. When they appeared before 

 the judge and he interrogated them searchiugly, he found that all of 



