THE SiaNIFICANCK OF THE GEOGJIAPHY OF PALESTINK. 181 



Hand and was rowed across the lake, and taken up to a barn 

 above the lake, where I found some twenty to twenty-five men 

 assembled. After a cordial greeting, the spokesman told me 

 that they liad heard of my success in unravelling the intricacies 

 of the Palmer murder, and they wished to ascertain if the same 

 methods would be successful in Ireland. I said that I was quite 

 willing to give them any information on the subject, but that as 

 I was a stranger in their country they must first carry out the 

 ancient customs of Ireland, and give me food, and eat with me. 

 They quite jumped to this idea, and we had a hasty meal of what 

 they had on the premises, and some good whisky. 



They then proceeded to question me on the methods which I 

 had adopted ; and when they found that it was owing to my 

 knowledge of Bedouin customs and laws of hospitality, which 

 had enabled me to bring the murderers to justice, they said the 

 system would be of no use in Ireland, because there were no 

 traditional usages prevalent amongst them of so binding a 

 nature as to afford evidence of a man's guilt in a court of law, 

 and their laws of hospitality might not be relied upon in all 

 circumstances to afford protection to the stranger. To this I 

 entirely demurred, as in that case they would not be bound to 

 give me a safe escort back across the lake. I asserted that in my 

 case they were bound by old tribal laws which they dare not 

 break, for fear of the enmity of some Unknown Power. They did 

 not deny this, and we parted in amity. 



The domination of the human mind by a Nemesis forces some 

 persons to speak the truth. When I was in Singapore in 1893, 

 amongst my servants, of many nationalities, there was one 

 incapable of telling a lie, and his value as a servant was not as 

 a worker but as a truth-teller. When a difficulty occurred 

 amongst the servants, and the truth was not in them, I had only 

 to say I shall ask Tola, and they would say, " Then we must tell 

 you all about it." 



!N"ow these men took no exception to the truth-teller ; they 

 had no animosity against him for always upsetting their 

 machinations, recognizing that he was acting under a higher 

 power. 



At first I could not understand why Tola was a truth-teller, 

 as in other matters he did not particularly shine as a Christian, 

 but subsequently I came to the conclusion that he was better 

 versed in natural religion than as a Christian, and that on his 

 primitive side he was a law unto himself. I think that this 

 was recognized by the other servants, who were Buddhists, 

 Hindoos, Moslem, and what not, who would not have submitted 



