"He is always ready to be bought off, provided he can make more in that way than by stealing. Sometimes the government lays a heavy hand on him, and compels him to abandon his practices; but as these people can always flee to the deserts, where regular troops cannot follow, it is very difficult to conquer them. Some of the tribes have never been subdued, but live in perfect independence far away from the cities and towns.
"The Bedouin has the single virtue of hospitality, and a stranger who has been received in his tent is entirely safe so long as he remains there. The Bedouin will protect him and his property, and instances of violation of the rules of hospitality are very rare. But it sometimes happens that he will find out what road his guest intends to travel, and then send his friends forward, or even go himself, to rob and perhaps murder the man who was the night before sleeping safely in his tent. There is a superstition among many of the Arab tribes that if they eat salt with a stranger they are forbidden to harm him afterward; from this comes the remark you often hear about two persons having eaten salt together, and therefore they must be friends.
"The Arabs in this part of Palestine," Doctor Bronson continued, "were formerly very bold robbers, and committed many outrages. They have been severely chastised on several occasions, but their evil practices have never been quite broken up. They claim to own the country, and therefore insist on their right to levy toll or tribute from everybody passing through it. This would not be so bad if the amount of toll was uniform, but their practice has been to take everything the traveller possesses, even to his clothing and sometimes his life.
"Of late years the business has been systematized, and the Bedouins have made a compromise with the government, so that any traveller can have a safe-conduct through their country by paying for it. A sheik of the tribe with several of his followers lives in Jerusalem; they are kept there as hostages for the good behavior of their brethren in the Valley of the Jordan, and before one of them can leave the city another must come there to take his place. In case a traveller under escort is robbed, the sheik must make good his loss.
SCENE IN THE WILDERNESS.
"The price of a safe-conduct to the Jordan and Dead Sea has been fixed at five francs for each person of a party, and the guides and servants are not to be counted.
"When we came to Jerusalem, Ali went to the sheik and paid him thirty francs—five francs for each of us—for the safe-conduct for the party. An escort of one or two men will meet us at Mar Saba, and go with us the rest of the way. He is responsible for our safety, and his presence with us indicates that we have paid the proper black-mail, and are therefore not to be molested.