(1.) HUNTING THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.
(See [page 678].)
(2.) TRAVELLERS AND THE MIRAGE.
(See [page 689].)
CHAPTER LXVIII.
BEDOUINS, HASSANIYEHS, AND MALAGASY.
SIGNIFICATION OF THE NAME — GENERAL APPEARANCE OF THE BEDOUINS — THEIR ROBBER NATURE — HOSPITALITY AND ITS DUTIES — LIFE AMONG THE BEDOUINS — THE BEDOUIN WOMEN — SIMPLE MODE OF GOVERNMENT — CONSTANT FEUDS — MODE OF COOKING — THE DATE AND ITS USES — THE HASSANIYEHS — GENERAL APPEARANCE — THEIR VILLAGES — STRANGE MARRIAGE CUSTOMS — A HASSANIYEH DANCE — SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ARABS — THE HAUNTED HOUSE — NOTIONS OF THE MIRAGE — THE INK MIRROR — THE MALAGASY AND THEIR TRIBES — THE FIRST BEEF-EATER — THE HOVA TRIBE — ARCHITECTURE — THE TRAVELLER’S TREE AND ITS USES — TREATMENT OF SLAVES — NOTIONS OF RELIGION — THE BLACKSMITH TRIBE.
Of all the many tribes which are designated by the common title of Arab, the typical tribes are those which are so well known by the name of Bedouin, or Bedaween. The former is the more familiar mode of spelling the word, and it will therefore be employed. The name is a most appropriate one, being derived from an Arabic word which signifies the desert, and meaning, therefore, a man of the wilderness. The Bedouins are indeed men of the desert. True Ishmaelites, their hand is against every man, and every man’s hand against them. They build no houses, they cultivate no lands, they conduct no merchandise; but are nomad and predatory, trusting chiefly for their living to the milk of their camels, and looking upon their horses and dromedaries as means whereby they can plunder with greater security.
As Mr. Palgrave pithily remarks, while treating of the character of the Bedouin: “The Bedouin does not fight for his home, he has none; nor for his country, that is anywhere; nor for his honor, he has never heard of it: nor for his religion, he owns and cares for none. His only object in war is the temporary occupation of some bit of miserable pasture-land, or the use of a brackish well; perhaps the desire to get such a one’s horse or camel into his own possession.”
In person the Bedouins are fine specimens of the human race. They are tall, stately, with well-cut features, and have feet and hands that are proverbial for their beauty. Their demeanor in public is grave and haughty, and every man walks as if he were monarch of the world. While other Arab tribes have lost their distinctive manners by contact with civilization, the Bedouins alone have preserved them, and, even when they visit the cities which they hate so much, they can be at once distinguished by their demeanor. Lady Duff-Gordon was greatly struck with it. “To see a Bedawee and his wife walk through the streets of Cairo is superb. Her hand resting on his shoulder, and scarcely deigning to cover her haughty face, she looks down on the Egyptian veiled woman, who carries the heavy burden and walks behind her lord and master.”
The dress of the Bedouins is simple enough. The men wear a sort of a tunic or shirt, covered with a large thick mantle called the haik. Another cloth is disposed over the head, and falls on either side of the face so as to shield it from the sun, and is kept in its place by a cord of camel’s hair, that is wound several times across the brows. As for the women, they wear a blue shirt, much open at the bosom, and care for no other clothing.
Being a predatory race, the Bedouins are always armed, their chief weapon being the spear, which is of enormous length, and often so weighty that a powerful as well as a practised arm is required to wield it. At the present day those who can afford fire-arms carry guns of such length of barrel that they seem to have been made in emulation of the spear shafts. These weapons are of very indifferent quality, and the Bedouin is never a good marksman, his clumsy weapon taking a long time to load, and the owner taking a long time to aim, and then aiming very badly.