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Bjezzar’s troops succeeded in driving to the mountains an ar¬ 
my of ten thousand, as they related, (probably not half that 
number,) who left behind them sixty-eight thousand bullocks, 
camels, goats, and asses. When these attacks take place, the 
first care of the Arabs is directed to the preservation of their 
women and children, the aged and the sick ; who are hurried 
off to the mountains, upon the earliest intelligence of danger. 
Their effects and their wealth consist generally in cattle.* * * § 
Their emirs and sheiksf have gold and ^silver; but, like the 
Laplanders, they bury it in the earth: thus it is frequently 
lost ; because the owner dies without acquainting his sucessor 
where he has concealed his treasure. Corn is extremely 
cheap among the Arabs. They pasture their cattle upon the 
spontaneous produce of the rich plains, with which the coun¬ 
try abounds. Their camels require but little nourishment f 
existing, for the most part, upon small bads of meal, or the 
kernels of datesj, The true Arab is always an inhabitant of 
the desert , a name given to any solitude, whether barren or 
fertile. Hence the appellations bestowed upon them, of Ba- 
dawi , or Bedouins, and of Saracens ; for these appellations 
signify nothing more than inhabit ants of the desert § Their 
usual weapons consist of a lance, a poignard, an iron mace, a 
battle ax, and sometimes a matchlock gun. The moveables 
of a whole family seldom exceed a camel’s load. They re¬ 
side always in tents, in the open plain, or upon the mountains. 
The covering of their tents is made of goats’ hair, woven by 
theirwomeu. Their mode of life very much resembles that 
of the gipsies in England ; men, women, children, and cattle, 
all lodging together. In their disposition, though naturally 
grave and silent, they are very amiable; considering hospi¬ 
tality as a religious duty, and always acting with kindness to 
their slaves and inferiors.|| There is a dignity in their man- 
* See D’Arvieux’s “ Voyage dans la Palestine." Ck. x p 191. Par. 1-717, &c. 
t Sheik signifies, properly, an elder. In the mountainous parts of 'Syria, it means 
simply a landholder. The leading sheik of a country is dull e^empi or prince. 
t See U’Arvieux, ibid. 
§ 11 is quite amusing to read the inflated note of Gibbon (Hist. eh. 50. voi. XX. 
p. 206. Note 30. Lend, 1807.) upon the origin of the word Saracen ; which-at last .he 
abandons as hopeless of illustration ; yet in many a modern map' he might have, read 
the expressions ‘ Zara 4 Zaara' and * Sara ,’ or the ' Desert\ w hence • Samcciiu■ or 
4 Children of the Desert' As for Bedouin the- words 'Badavi, Bedb-uy, and' 'Be-devU 
signify, according to D’Arvieux, ( Voy. dans la Palest, p. 112.) ‘ an inhabitant of the 
desert.' 1 
|| D’Arvieux, whose racy account of their manners and customs seems to have de¬ 
rived from the seil, whereon it was written, that truth and sincerity which' he round 
to be characteristicoi the people- says, that “ Scandal is unknown among them ; that 
they speak well of all the world; never contradicting any one," See Voyage cans 
1A Palestine, p. 165. Paris, 1717. 
