> B E D O 
Thus confined to the mod abfolnte neceffities of life, 
the wandering Arabs have as little induftry as their wants 
i\‘e few ; all their arts confifi: in weaving their cl unify tents 
and in making mats and butter. Their whole commerce, 
only extends to the exchanging camels, kids, (tallions, and 
milk, for amis, clothing, a little rice or corn, and money, 
which they bury. They are totally ignorant of all fcience.; 
and haVe'hot even any idea of.afironpniy, geometry,, or. 
medicine. They have not a (ingle book ; and nothing is 
fo uncommon among the ihaiks.as to know how to read. 
All their literature conlifts.in reciting tales and hiftorie.- in 
the manner of the Arabian.Nights Entertainments. ..They 
have a peculiar pafiion.for fuch ftorie.s, and employ in them 
alfttoft all their leifure, of which they Inive a great deal. 
In the evening they feqt themielves. on the ground, at the 
rhrefiiold of their tents', or under cover if it be cold; and 
there, ranged in a circle round a little five of dung, their 
pipes in their mouths., and their legs eroded, they fit a- 
while in filent meditation, till on a ludden one of them 
breaks forth with. Once upon a time ,—and continues to re¬ 
cite the adventures of fotne young fhaik and female Be¬ 
douin: lie relates tn what manner the you th rim got h fie- 
cret glimpfie of his miltrefs ; and lioiv he became defpe- 
rately enamoured of her : he minutely deferibes thblovely 
fair; boalls her black eyes, as large and loft as thofe of 
the gazelle; her languid and empallidned looks, her arch¬ 
ed eye-brows, refembling two bows of ebony; her waift 
ftr.aight and lupple as a lance : he forgets not her heps, 
light a : s thofe of the young Alley ; nor her eye-laflies, black¬ 
ened with kohl ; nor her lips, painted blue ; nor her nails, 
tinged with the golden-coloured henna; nor her breads, 
refembling two pomegranates ; nor her words fweet as ho¬ 
ney- He recounts the fufferings of the young lover, fib 
vyaded with defire and padion, that his body no longer 
yields any lliadow. At length-, after detailing his various 
attempts tc- fee his miltrefs, the obdacles of the parents, 
the invalions of the enemy, the captivity of the two lo¬ 
vers, &c. he terminates, to the fatisfadtion of the audience, 
by redoring them, united and happy, to the paternal tent, 
and by receiving the tribute paid to-his eloquence, in. the 
Ma dia alia}!, (an. exclamation equivalent to ‘admirably 
well!') ile has merited. The Bedouins have likewife their 
love-(bugs, which have more fentiment and nature in them 
than thofe oi the Turks and inhabitants of the towns; 
doubtlefs becaufe the former, vvhofe manners are chalte, 
know what love is : while the latter, abandoned to de¬ 
bauchery, are acquainted only with enjoyment. 
When we confider how much tire condition of the Be¬ 
douins, efpecially in tiie depths of the defert, refembles 
in many ivfpedts that of the favages of America, we diall 
be inclined to wonder why they have not the fame feroci¬ 
ty ; and why their manners are fo much more foeidbleand 
mild. The following reafons are propoled by M. Volney 
as the true lolution of this difficulty. It feems at fird 
view that America, being rich in padurage, lakes, and fo- 
re(is, is- more adapted to the padoral mode of life than to 
any other. But, if we confider that thefe foreds, by af¬ 
fording an dafy refuge to animals, protect them more fine¬ 
ly from the power of man, we may conclude, that the fa- 
vage has been induced to become a hunter indead of a 
Ihepherd, by the nature of the country. In this date, all 
his habits have concurred to give him a ferocity of cha¬ 
racter. The great fatigues of the chace have hardened 
his body ; frequent and extreme hunger, followed by a 
bidden abundance of game, has rendered him voracious. 
The habit of diedding blood, and tearing his prey, has 
familiar!fed him to the fight of death and fufferings. Tor¬ 
mented by hunger, he becomes a cannibal, fanguinary, 
and atrocious; and his mind acquires all the infenfibility 
of his body. 
But the fifuation of the Arab is very different. Amid 
his vad naked plains, without water and without foreds, 
he has not been able, for want of game or fids, to become 
either a. hunter or a fidierman. The camel has determined 
him to a pafloral life, the manners of which have influ- 
U I N S. 8*1 
enced his w'hole character. Finding at hand a light, but 
cohdant and fufficient, npurifliment, he has acquired the 
habit of frugality. Content with his milk and his dates, 
he has not delired fledi : he has died no blood: his hands 
are not accudoiiied to daughter, nor his ears to the cries of 
Hiffering creatures ; he has preferved a humane and fenfi- 
ble heart. No fooner did the favage (Itepherd become ac-_ 
quainted with the ufe of the hoife, than his manner of-) 
life mud confiderably change. The facility of palling ra- 
pidly over exteiifive traCts of country, rendered him a Wan¬ 
derer. He was greedy from want, and became a robber 
from greedinefs; and finch is in fad: his prefent character. 
A plunderer, rather than a warrior, the Arab pollelfes no 
lang.uinary courage ; he attacks miy to defpoil; and, if he 
meets with refidance, never thinks a finall booty is to be 
put la competition with his life.- To irritate him you litlift 
died his blood; in which cafe he is found to be as 'obl.fi-- 
natC in his vengeance as he was cautious in avoiding dan¬ 
ger. The Bedouins have often been reproached with this 
fpirit of rapine; bur, without wilhing to defend it, we 
may obl’erve that one circutndance has not been (ufficiently 
attended to, which is, that it only takes place towards re¬ 
puted enemies, and is confequently founded' on the ac¬ 
knowledged laws of nltnod all nations- Among- them¬ 
ielves they are remarkable for a good faith, n dilintered- 
ednefs, a generofity, which would do honour to this modi 
civilized people. What is there tnore noble than that 
right of afylutn fo refpeCted among all thfe tribes? A 
dranger, nay even an enemy, touches the tent of the Be¬ 
douin, and from that indanf his perfion becomes- inviola¬ 
ble. It would be reckoned a difgracefnl rtieannefs, dn in¬ 
delible diamc, to fatisfy even a juft vengeance at the ex¬ 
pence of hol'pitality. Has the Bedouin ccnfenled to eat 
bread and fait with his gued, nothing in the world Cali in¬ 
duce him to betray- him. The power of the fultan himlelf 
would not be able to force a refugee from the protection of 
a tribe, but by its total extermination. The Bedouin, fo 
rapacious without his camp, has no fooner fet his foot 
within it, than he becomes liberal and generous. What 
little he poUelles he is ever ready to divide. He has-eveir 
the-delicacy not fo wait till it is alked : -when-he takes his 
repad, he affeCts to feat hilfifelf at the door of his- tent, 
in order to invite the paffengers ; his generofity is fo lin- 
cere, that he does not look upon it as a merit, but merely 
as a. duty ; and he! therefore readily takes the fame liberty 
with others. To obferve the manner in which thefe Arabs 
conduct themielves towards each other, one would ima¬ 
gine that they pofielfed all their goods in common. Ne- 
verthelefs they are no firangers to property; but it has 
none of that felfifhnefs which the increafe of the imagi¬ 
nary wants of luxury has given it among polilhed nations.. 
Deprived of a multitude of enjoyments which nature has 
lavilhed upon other countries, they are lefs expofed to- 
temptations which-might corrupt and debale them. It is 
more difficult for their fhaiks to form a faction to enflave 
and impoyerifli the body of the nation. Each individuals, 
capable of'fupplying all his wants, is better able to pre- 
fierve his character and independence; and private pover¬ 
ty becomes at once the foundation and bulwark of public- 
liberty. 
This liberty extends even to matters of'religion. We 
obferve a remarkable difference between the Arabs of the 
towns and thofe of the defert; fince, while the former 
crouch under the double yoke of political and religious 
delpotifm, the latter live in a (late of perfedt freedom from 
both : it is true, that, on the frontiers of the Turks', the 
Bedouins, from policy, preferve the appearance of Maho- 
metanifm ; but fo relaxed is their oblervance of its cere¬ 
monies, add fo little fervour has their devotion, that they 
are generally conlidered as infidels, who have neither law 
nor prophets. 1 hey even make no difficulty in faying 
that the religion of Mahomet was not made for them : 
“ For (add they) how lhall we make ablutions who have 
no water ? How can we bellow alms who are not rich ? 
Why fhouid we fait in.the "Ramadan, fince the whole year 
3 withi 
