But there was another mode of enriching himself which must not be passed over in silence. Whoever, as a stranger, ventured to trust himself in the power of the Bedouins, had reason to perceive that, as robbery is their profession, they are dexterous enough to have more ways than one in committing it; and that he who receives hospitality from them, however much vaunted by travellers the sacredness of that hospitality may be, is doomed to pay for it in some way or other. Business, the oppression of the government, and sometimes curiosity, but never pleasure, brings every now and then a Syrian of consideration among them, and the tent of the prince is the place where he is sure of a welcome. Scarcely has he passed a night under it, when the prince politely admires the beauty of his shawl, and by obvious hints asks him for it. There is no alternative for the visitor but to beg his acceptance of it; for he recollects that he is in his power, and that what is so politely asked for may be forcibly taken. Supposing he opens his saddle-bags or his box, and some curious eye discovers that he has a provision of coffee, or a change of linen? the prince is informed of it, and begs to see it, and, as it is something not actually on the person of his guest, he fairly asks him for it. Our visitor, as is the custom in the East, slips off his boots when he enters the tent: the prince observes that they are better than his own, and unceremoniously when he goes out makes an exchange with him. But, not to leave him the satisfaction of knowing, at least, that he has contributed to the comfort or finery of his host, he sees the very articles given away, after a few days’ wear, to some strange shaykh, who, were he to meet the original proprietor alone in the desert, would make no scruple of stripping him entirely.
All these were formerly the secondary sources of revenue to the Anizys, whilst the pilgrimage to Mecca, before the tomb of the Prophet fell into the hands of the Wahabees, was an annual harvest to them; for it was the Anizys who escorted it across the desert, and furnished the pilgrims with camels. This honourable employment was granted to the ancestors of Mahannah by an imperial firman.[30]
Mahannah was said to be of a very choleric disposition. He was active, though now far advanced in life, and was esteemed a brave man. He had been married three times; one wife only survived. Domestic disputes were extremely frequent in his tent, and were managed on both sides with all the eloquence that generally accompanies them in Europe.
On Tuesday morning, at dawn, the party in the tent arose, and, adjusting themselves, assembled in a ring round the fire. Coffee was served, and orders were given for striking the tents, and for proceeding towards a spring in the south-west, in order to water the cattle. The extraordinary time during which it is asserted a camel can support thirst, has been often mentioned by travellers. The Bedouins in the winter let them go for one hundred and forty hours, and, on the present occasion, it was the fifth day that they had not drunk. But they appear to me in this respect to differ very little from other animals; for, during winter and spring, it is the moisture in the herbage which renders drink unnecessary, as happens to sheep, which, I am inclined to think, get no water for an equally long interval. But, in the dry season, a camel must drink as often as an ass; and I consider what has been advanced of the camel’s carrying water in its stomach to be a legend, and of its marvellous property of enduring thirst to be much exaggerated. As to the horses of the Bedouins, they too are accustomed, at this season, to an abstinence of from forty-eight to sixty hours, which latter period, however, is the greatest. They are generally watered from holes in rocks, or puddles, which are sometimes not to be found short of one or two leagues from the tents; and, these failing, from the water-skins, or, as a last resort, from the udder of the camel, although I was not an eyewitness to this.
The order of march observed by the Bedouins is nearly as follows; the shaykhs, and such as are masters of a tent, retire to a small distance from it, and, squatting on the ground, with their mares standing by them, and their spears planted, smoke their pipes, whilst their women strike the tent. In Mahannah’s family there were slaves also, who assisted in the hand labour. These are the descendants of blacks purchased during the flourishing state of the tribe, in the days of the Mecca pilgrimage. They differ in nothing from other Bedouins, excepting, as it is said, that they cannot marry a white Bedouin; for the offspring of slaves, I was told, are free among the Bedouins, although not among the Turks.
The women, then, having rolled up their carpets, packed their kitchen utensils, and struck their tents, load the pack-camels, and prepare those intended for mounting. For this purpose, the rich families are provided with a machine, rude in its construction but not altogether devoid of beauty in its appearance. It consists of two short ladders, each about a yard in length, curved outwardly, narrow below and wide above, and attached to each other by transverse staves; these are bound to the pack-saddle, and this saddle is fixed on the camel’s hump, and is girthed on by old rope and hide-thongs. Worsted web ribbons, with gaudy tassels, dangle from the top. On the ceremony of a marriage, this machine is highly decorated; but, not having witnessed such an event, I am unable to describe exactly how. The strongest camels are always chosen to carry it. Those who are unprovided with this machine roll a carpet in the shape of a bird’s-nest, which they tie on the camel’s back, and look, when seated in it, not unlike a sitting hen.
The camels are without bridles or halters; but, accustomed to the call of the herdsman, they march along with a docility that leaves no cause for fear to those who are mounted on them. The herdsman himself rides on a species of pack-saddle, something like the tree of an hussar saddle, and sometimes guides his camel by means of a rope passed through the cartilage of the nose. All being ready, each family marches separately, and the desert becomes a moving scene for some miles round. The horsemen proceed at a foot pace, from which they never vary, except when occasional races take place to gain a spot where water is known to lodge, or when the youths tilt with each other for amusement. The Bedouin girls are seen dropping from the backs of the camels to drive in those that stray, and then, seizing the animal’s tail, remount with an agility quite astonishing.
Sweet and graceful was thy form, black and full, like the antelope’s, were thine eyes, lovely Raby (for thy father called thee by name), as thou didst vault from the ground, and, placing thy naked foot on the projecting bone of the camel’s leg, didst bound on his rump again. Hard seemed such a seat for thy delicate limbs; and the undulating motion, communicated to thy body by the lengthened steps of the unwearied beast whose back thou didst bestride, had a strange moving look through the clear atmosphere of the desert which thy sylphlike form intercepted. Diana’s nymphs were gross peasants to thee, light aërial vision!
And was it a natural feeling of goodness, or the coquetry which wicked man too readily attributes to all thy sex, that made thee turn thy winning look on the stranger? How could a single smile of thine leave so lasting an impression, that he forgets it not after a lapse of full thirty years? Did it not seem to say—Why gazest thou on me so earnestly, gentle cavalier? I know I am pretty, for many chieftains of my tribe have already (albeit I am but fourteen years old) asked me in marriage: but my father demands fifty camels and a mare of pure breed for my dowry, and he that would have me must pay the price of my charms. And I murmured to myself, Raby, why dost thou expose those beautiful features, those nascent beauties which thy youthful neck betrays, to the rays of the hot sun? Be more niggardly of thy charms, for few can boast such as thine.—A stumble of my horse recalled me to myself; but Raby was still before me, and from time to time occupied my thoughts.
And here, I reflected, is a brown creature, full of life and activity, whose utmost accomplishments amount to gathering fuel, fetching water, pitching a tent, baking, cooking, and tending herds of camels, or feeding her father’s mare. Yet she is esteemed valuable, and must be bought at a high price: whilst, in my own country, fair maidens, with complexions white as the driven snow, versed in literature and the fine arts, can find no market for their persons, and go down to the grave deploring their single wretchedness! Whence can such an anomaly proceed? if it is not that, in the one case the wife repays the purchase by her services, so useful to the comfort of her husband, and in the other a partner often becomes dear to him that weds her, by the expenses she entails on him, without any remunerating qualities which can contribute to his welfare, or a knowledge of domestic duties to ameliorate his condition. An English maiden must be dressed in a robe of Bank-stock receipts and India-bonds before she is taken as a gift; a Bedouin girl, even en chemise, must be bought.