DESERT JOURNEYS. 



355 



bearing, lofty in discourse, unsurpassed in self-restraint and endur- 

 ance, more sensitive than almost any other man to deeds of prowess,, 

 to glory and honour, and not less to the golden web of fancy intO' 

 which his poetic genius weaves such wondrous pictures and twines 

 such tender fragrant flowers; yet is he cunning and crafty towards^ 

 his enemies, a bounden slave to his customs, unscrupulous in his 



Fig. 53.— Band of Mounted Bedouins. 



demands, mean and paltry in his exactions, greedy in his pleasures,, 

 unrestrained in cruelty, terrible in revenge, to-day the noble host, 

 to-morrow a threatening and shameless beggar, now a proud robber 

 and again a pitiable thief. In short he is to the stranger as fickle 

 and changeful as the desert itself. His horse has the same keen,, 

 fiery, expressive eyes, the same strength and agility in its thin, 

 almost fragile limbs, the same endurance, the same frugality, the- 

 same nature as his master, for they grew up together under the- 

 same tent, they rest and dwell beneath the same roof. The animai 



(MTO) 



23 



