CHAPTER XXII.

THE BEDAWÎN.

The last two chapters have been devoted to the settled population of the villages in Palestine, the antiquity of the race being evidenced by the language and customs. The peasantry must not be confounded with the Bedawîn or nomadic tribes, living in the uncultivated districts; for the two nations are quite separate branches of the Semitic people, and they themselves acknowledge the distinction. The Bedawi speaks with the greatest contempt of the Fellâh, and rarely, if ever, do intermarriages occur, as both sides would consider themselves degraded by the alliance. The Fellahîn call the nomadic people Arabs, and the nomads call themselves Bedawîn, both names being derived from their place of abode--the wild lands of the broad southern and eastern plateaux.

The narrow peninsula of cultivated hills, in which the settled population lives, is surrounded by the broad sea of desert, over which the Arab delights to roam. Thus from the great Moab plateau and from the mountains of Gilead, from the southern Desert of Wanderings, and from the western plain of Sharon, the wave of nomadic life is constantly lapping against the mountains of the Fellahîn. This wave has its ebb and flow, which even in the last five years has been very marked. In time of peace the Government is strong, and the Arabs are driven back to the deserts; but in time of war the outlying encampments of the great eastern and southern tribes encroach upon the village lands, and the armed horsemen extort blackmail from the border towns and hamlets. On the whole, however, the settled people seem to be gaining ground, and especially in Lower Galilee; in the Sharon Plain the Bedawîn are mere shadows of their forefathers, only a few miserable tents of degraded Arabs, whom the peasants call “cousins of the gipsies,” being left to represent the once powerful tribes which, under Akil Agha, were the terror of Palestine. These small encampments, surrounded as they are in Philistia by the arable land, resemble the pools left by the retreating tide on the shore of the sea, which, unless the wave return, must gradually disappear.

The time-honoured conflict between two races is noticed, as it is almost unnecessary to observe, in the Bible records. The Arabs are mentioned in the Old Testament (Neh. iv. 7), and the hosts of Midian, with their countless camels, were no doubt the ancestors of the modern Bedawîn. The nomadic people are most interesting to the student of the earlier Jewish history, before the consolidation of the nation in Samuel’s time; for if among the peasantry we find a vivid picture of the life and customs of the later period, it is from the Bedawîn that we learn most that can throw light on the Patriarchal times, and on the life of Abraham and of his immediate descendants.

A study of the Arabs is carried on under difficulties west of Jordan. The great tribes are found either east of the river, or in the desert of the Tih, and in order to form a really good estimate of Arab character, it would be necessary to live in these remote districts for many years, following the migrations of one of the great tribes. The Arabs of the Jordan Valley are probably not of pure blood, and seem in some cases to have been mixed up with negroes, flying to the deserts from Damascus and other towns. The tribes are very small and scattered; many are offshoots of the Sugr and ’Anezeh nations, whose countless tents stretch away far into the Eastern desert; others have migrated from the north, and one tribe--the Tâ’amireh--is of Fellâh origin, though now nomadic.

The migrations of the western tribes do not extend over large tracts, but are confined to small districts marked by recognised boundaries. Thus Wâdy Fŭsâil is the border between the Mes’aid and the K’abneh Arabs, and the Plains of Jericho belong to the Abu Nuseir. In the Desert of Judah, the two most powerful tribes are the Tâ’amireh, who wear turbans and sow corn, and the Jâhalîn; south of these are the Dhullâm, and south of Beersheba the ’Azâzimeh. West of this last great tribe are the Tiyâhah round Gaza; and the Terabîn extend towards Egypt. The Arab clans in Philistia and Sharon are too numerous and insignificant to require notice; and in Galilee also there is a large number of very small tribes. The above enumerated are the most important Bedawîn divisions west of Jordan; but the Sugr, from the east, occupy in spring the whole of the Valley of Jezreel, and in times of disturbance they enter the Plain of Esdraelon.

Within the assigned limits, the migrations of a tribe over some 200 to 400 square miles are regulated by the temperature of the seasons, and by the pasturage and water supply. Ranging from one spring to another, and from the sheltered valleys visited in winter to the favourite camps on breezy slopes in summer, the nomads seem to resemble the Hebrews at the period when, for forty years, they lived in the wilderness--not, as we often imagine, travelling steadily in one line, but rather ranging over the small area of the Sinaitic peninsula, till the time for a further migration arrived.

The camps are scarcely ever placed in the immediate neighbourhood of water, but the Arab women go perhaps a mile away from the tents, and bring the needful supply in the black skins (Ghirbeh), carrying them on their backs or on diminutive donkeys. I have often asked the Arabs why they did not pitch close to the water, but never got a satisfactory answer. They have probably learnt from experience that the low ground near water is often malarious, and the great requisites for a camp seem to be shelter and concealment. The situations are not always, however, wisely chosen; for, in more than one instance, a sudden thunderstorm in the hills has brought a flood down the great valleys, in the bottom of which the smaller groups of tents are often found, and the water has carried away and drowned the whole settlement, together with its flocks.

The scantiness of pasture and of water supply, obliges the Arabs to divide themselves into numerous small camps, dotted over their territory. The Sheikh of the tribe, with his family, generally collects the largest encampment round his tent, and this forms the rendezvous of the rest. Among the Arabs of the Judean desert the largest number of tents in one camp is about thirty, and these contain some thirty families, or over a hundred persons. The total numbers of a tribe like the Tâ’amireh are about 1000 persons, or 300 tents, but the average is about 100 families.

The tents are arranged in different ways. Among the Sugr a large encampment was set out in parallel lines some fifty yards apart, the tents in each row being close together, end to end. Among the Tâ’amireh and Jâhalîn the usual form is a rectangle. The average length of the tent is from twenty to twenty-five feet, but the small ones will sometimes be only ten feet long, and the larger forty feet. The distance between two tents in a line is about four feet. Thus a camp of twenty tents occupied a space of two hundred feet by seventy feet. In another case the form was a triangle, the reason of this arrangement being that the flocks are driven into the enclosure at night, and thus protected from the attacks of robbers or prevented from straying by themselves.

The Arab tent is extremely unlike the usual representations, in which it is shown either as a sort of hut, as among the Turkomans, or as a bell-tent, instead of a long black “house of hair,” with a low sloping roof and open front. It has, however, been carefully described by Burckhardt, and there is little to add to his account. The canvas of the roof and side walls is of goat’s hair, black, with occasionally stripes of white running horizontally (Cant. i. 5). The pieces of stuff are about two feet wide, and thirty to fifty feet long. The tent has generally nine poles (’Awamîd), arranged three and three, those in the centre being the longest; thus the tent has a low ridge both ways in order to run the rain off. The cloths at the side can be easily removed as the sun or wind requires, one side being always left open. The tents are supported by cords and by pegs (Autâd), which are driven with a mallet (Judg. iv. 21). The average height of a tent is about seven feet.

Frail and cold as these habitations might be thought to prove in winter, they are really far more comfortable than would be expected. Being so low, the wind does not blow them over, and they are, moreover, most skilfully pitched, generally below a steep bank or low swell. Even in heavy storms I have found the interiors dry, and the heavy canvas does not let the rain through. The Arabs, however, suffer very much from rheumatism in winter. In summer they occasionally inhabit reed huts (’Arîsh), which are cooler than the tents.

The language of the Bedawîn differs from that of the peasantry, being nearer to that of the Arab tribes from the neighbourhood of Mecca, and thus to literary Arabic. Their names for natural objects are not always the same employed by the Fellahîn, and they are seemingly less ancient, though this difference is also partly due to the different character of the ground in the districts which the nomads inhabit. The old names are not preserved among the Arabs as they are among the peasantry, but descriptive titles have, as a rule, replaced the former nomenclature. These facts tend rather to confirm the views already expressed as to the antiquity of the Fellâh race, contrasted with the more modern settlers who have encroached on their territory.

The Bedawîn have, in addition to their ordinary language, a kind of slang, which they use among themselves, and which we were quite unable to understand. The corrupt pronunciation of ordinary words also renders it very difficult for any one accustomed to the peculiarities of the Fellâh dialect to comprehend the Arabs.

The character of the Bedawîn is not so easy to penetrate as at first appears. They are a crafty and reserved people, with strong ideas of policy and prudence. Nothing is more disagreeable to an Arab than to be made to look foolish, and they are careful not to put themselves in a false position. They also conceal under an affectation of carelessness and indifference a very keen perception of what is going on. I have often watched a Bedawi walking by my side, and noticed how carefully he scanned every pebble in the road, and how the slightest sign of life--a bird, a gazelle, or a distant figure--attracted his attention at once, long before I had observed anything. Their sight is generally very clear and good, and their agility and endurance are astonishing.

A traveller visiting a camp might easily imagine his hosts to be too lazy to move; but if he wakes from a doze, he will be astonished to see these grave, solemn figures, skipping like squirrels or creeping like cats, inspecting perhaps his property, or endeavouring to make sure that he is asleep. This sudden change of demeanour is quite in accord with the Arab character, and the skill with which they conceal their intentions and thoughts makes them very dangerous enemies.

The creed of a Bedawi is that a man should be terrible to his enemies, and the assumed sternness of their faces is sometimes rather ludicrous. In making an attack they will be careful to ascertain first that they are really in a safe majority, and if they are outnumbered, they hide in the undulations of the ground, in a manner which would excite the admiration of any military man.

The Bedawîn are very trustworthy; they keep their promises honourably, and their law of hospitality is strictly and chivalrously observed. The murder of a guest who has eaten salt in their camp, is, I believe, almost unknown, and they have a righteous horror of shedding blood, as the blood-feud must go on until some heavy indemnity has been paid. The life of any European is thus probably quite as safe among the Arabs as in London.

Among those tribes which live beyond the corrupting influences of townsmen, the character of the Bedawîn is said to be very noble; their chivalrous and courteous demeanour, and their generosity, are praised alike. Unfortunately, the tribes with which we lived are settled on the border-land, and have been much spoilt by intercourse with greedy peasants. We found them generally very avaricious, though in some cases their ideas concerning money were amusing from their simplicity.

With their friends, the behaviour of the Arabs is kindly and unaffected; and especially among the Abu Nuseir we met several specimens of what we should call “good fellows” in England. The hostility usually shown to strangers is due to the unceremonious way in which travellers will enter their country, without conforming to any of their ideas of courtesy and etiquette.

There is no greater mistake than to regard the Arabs as barbarous or uncivilised. They have a peculiar civilisation of their own, which is suited to their wants, and a system of government with recognised laws, which are strictly enforced. Their life is, in fact, a perfect picture of a patriarchal system, suited to a people who are not numerous, nor engaged in any very complex transactions; they acknowledge certain leaders, generally hereditary, but who are only obeyed because they have obtained for themselves a reputation for wisdom in council, and prowess in the field. These chiefs direct the policy of their tribe in its relations with other Arabs, or with the Turkish nominal Governors, and their tact and ability are often remarkable. The main duties of the elders are the arrangement of marriages, and of treaties with other tribes, and the settlement of disputes, which are submitted to them and regularly tried. The Sheikh has the power of life and death, of peace and war, and unless he disgraces his tribe by a blunder, he is pretty sure of prompt and general obedience.

The costume of the Bedawîn is so simple, that it may probably have remained unchanged since the days of Abraham. They wear the same shirt which has already been described as used by the peasantry, and generally they wear also the ’Abba; but their head-dress is the Kufeiyeh, except among the Tâ’amireh, who, as before stated, are not true Bedawîn. The Kufeiyeh is a shawl made of silk or cotton, with tassels on two opposite edges; it is about a yard square, and is folded diagonally, and placed on the head with the point of the triangle behind. A cord of hair or rope is wound twice round the forehead and head, coming down behind the ears almost to the nape of the neck, and this holds the shawl in place; the cord is called the Aghâl, and is commonly black.

The head-dress thus formed is extremely comfortable, and for four years we scarcely wore any other. The poorer Arabs wear only the shawl and cord; the richer have felt and cotton caps inside it. The Kufeiyeh is the best possible protection from the sun, for the tight cord over the temples is a preventive against sunstroke, and the ends of the shawl can be drawn over the face and tucked into the Aghâl, thus shielding the eyes from the midday glare.

Another distinctive article of Bedawîn dress is the sandal, which also requires special description. It is a skeleton shoe with a light leather sole, which is supported by a string of hide, passing beneath the ankle and above the heel, and then brought round between the great toe and the second toe, where it is attached to the sole; this string is then drawn tight, and fixed with a leather button. The sole is further connected with the string by two straps on either side, and the whole structure fits almost as tight to the foot as a shoe. Such, no doubt, was the sandal mentioned in the Bible, and not the complicated cross-gartering which is commonly represented in pictures of Old Testament incidents.

In the winter the Arabs also wear, under the ’Abba and over the shirt, a sheep-skin jacket, the woolly side in, the outside tanned a sort of brick-red colour. This garment looks very comfortable; but the bare legs and scanty skirts of the Bedawîn give them a most miserable appearance in the cold weather.

The weapons of the Arabs are different from those of their forefathers; and in the adoption of gunpowder and tobacco, we find evidence that they are not incapable of making use, as far as is convenient to themselves, of civilised inventions. Even in the Jordan Valley I have seen French cigarette-papers used; and this more convenient method of smoking has in the sea-side towns quite taken the place of the old-fashioned pipes, and is making rapid progress among the peasantry also.

The Arabs carry the sword, gun, and lance (Rumh), the last being mentioned in Scripture. The sword (Seif) has a short and straight blade, resembling a large knife. The gun (Barûd) is of great length--often five feet from muzzle to stock--and is bound with brass; the stock is very much lighter than with us; the piece is often loaded with stones, and very indifferent powder is employed. The lock is, I believe, invariably a flint one. The powder is carried in a ram’s horn, which is attached to the leather belt.

The bow, javelin, buckler, and shield seem to be now obsolete, though mentioned by travellers of the present century as still in use among the Arabs. The introduction of firearms is no doubt the reason of the disappearance of these weapons.

The helmet and coat of mail are still found among the tribes east of Jordan; the first being a light iron cap (Kub’ah), with a spike on the top, and a thin plate to protect the nose; the latter, a garment, with sleeves, which descends to the knees, or rather lower; these coats are of links closely woven, and are of considerable weight.

The Arabs seclude their women more than is the custom among the peasantry, and they are carefully veiled in presence of a stranger. Each tent has its Harîm, or women’s partition, and this, no doubt, is alluded to in the passage where Isaac is said to have brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent (Gen. xxiv. 67). The women, however, enjoy greater consideration than among the Fellahîn, and an old woman is sometimes admitted into the council, and becomes a power in the state--a privilege which has as yet only been claimed by a small minority in our own country.

The dress of the Arab women is remarkably becoming, and their appearance is imposing, as they sweep over the grass, in long trailing garments with ample hanging sleeves; their faces are swathed in a shawl head-dress, generally of dark colour, which is bound over the mouth, and leaves the nose and eyes exposed; their black curly locks are also hidden, except in the case of young girls. The under-dress is indigo coloured; the upper, which is very wide, with large sleeves and open in front, is generally of a dull olive-green; thus the general effect of their costume is very dark, and their faces are discoloured by extensive tattooing and by the blue paint on the under lip, which is dyed all over to give greater brilliance to the appearance of the teeth. It is curious to note that the women, as a rule, are ugly, while the men are handsome.

When going to fetch water, the women wear only the under dress, which they tuck and tie up until they present most comical figures. A great part of their lives seems to be spent in going to and fro between the tent and the spring, with their little black donkeys, or in sitting squatted on the edge of the stream, beating the clothes, which require washing (and generally require it very much) with a stone.

The women are all cooks, and their cookery is excellent in its way. They grind the corn in a stone hand-mill; and make thin cakes of unleavened bread; and butter and cheese by shaking the milk in a skin which is hung up on sticks. Even on their raids the Arabs take with them one or two young women to cook for the party.

The occupations of the men in time of peace are mainly pastoral. The wealth of the Arabs consists in their horses, flocks, herds, and camels. Among the Abu Nuseir, a regular trade in beasts goes on, and they act apparently as agents for the sale of animals of other tribes. The immense number of the animals which are pastured in the apparently barren and waterless waste is astonishing. I have seen the plains of Beersheba swarming with camels, and the Plain of Esdraelon has sometimes been quite covered with the flocks and herds of the Sugr.

The eastern Arabs pride themselves on their horses, but west of Jordan there are scarcely any. The mares are hardly ever sold, and often belong to more than one owner. Thus it is possible to buy the “head” of a mare, which means to own it, subject to the rearing of a colt for each of the owners of the “body” and “tail,” who claim the young ones at a certain age. The Arab horses are small and light; the better class walk very slowly, and they can neither jump nor trot, but their powers of endurance and their hardihood are immense, and their speed at a gallop is generally fair; they are rarely vicious, and their paces are pleasant when they are properly trained.

The Arabs scarcely ever attack a neighbouring tribe, but they prefer to journey a distance of several days before committing any outrage, and they retreat as rapidly as they came when once the booty is captured. These marauding excursions are called Ghazû, and are the main events of their lives; the whole of their affected listlessness is then laid aside, and each Ghâzi, or “champion,” vies with the others in his feats of daring and activity. The appearance of a party of the Bedawîn horsemen, charging with long lances trembling in their hands and held horizontally over the head, is extremely picturesque and imposing.

The Arab, in time of peace, does not require much amusement; he is content to sit quiet, smoking and drinking coffee. Among the more degraded, however, the Egyptian dancing-girls are sometimes welcomed, and all the tribes indulge occasionally in what is termed a Fantazîa, a word apparently of Italian origin, and introduced by the Franks.

These Fantazîas we often saw, but perhaps the most effective was that executed in our honour at Engedi. A single Arab faced four others, and held a sword over his head in both hands. The performance began by an extemporary song from the sword-bearer in honour of the Kabtân and his party, the other four Arabs clapping their hands in regular time. Suddenly this ceased, and they advanced towards the swordsman, uttering in a sort of growl, the word “Sŭ-hûbb, Sŭ-hûbb,” repeated many times. The swordsman also advanced, and then recoiled, and the four, closely packed shoulder to shoulder, began to clap their hands, and crouched as if about to spring. The swordsman then crouched down and writhed to and fro, almost kneeling, as if in mortal combat. After a few moments he sprang up as though victorious, and began his song again, while the four, as if enchanted, stood erect, clapping their hands and swaying their bodies backwards and forwards. The growling and struggling were again repeated, and the dance seemed to be intended to represent the combat of a single hero against many foes.

The night was dark, and the wild scene was only dimly visible by the fitful blaze of a fire of thorns, which sometimes flared up and showed the eager excited faces and lank wiry figures, giving them the appearance rather of wizards engaged in some terrible incantation than of ordinary sword-dancers. Finally, the triumphant hero sung the praise of the “Konsul Kabtân,” and alluded delicately to the probable “bucksheesh.” The other four here joined very heartily in the chorus.

It was remarkable that the Sheikh of the tribe could be seen, a few yards off, engaged in prayer during the greater part of the time that this strange dance was going on. His attention appeared to be in no way distracted by the noise, and there was nothing, in Arab estimation, incongruous in the two occupations which were being thus carried on at the same time.

Such is the simple life of the Arab tribes. Except in the use of tobacco and gunpowder, these people seem unchanged since the days of Abraham. It was thus no doubt that that Patriarch travelled to and fro with his flocks, herds, and servants; thus he made war and entered into treaties with the surrounding tribes. The wells which he dug, and which had to be re-opened by Isaac, were perhaps similar to the Hŭfeiyir, or “pits,” which the Arabs now dig in the beds of great valleys, as for instance at Gerar and Beersheba.

The Bedawîn are very religious, and observe the appointed hours of prayer much more devoutly than most of the Fellahîn; if water is obtainable, they wash their hands, arms, legs, and faces before praying, and we were often considerably hindered in our Survey work by the inconvenient piety of the Arab guides. It is said that the Arabs east of Jordan are pagans, and that moon-worship and yet more curious rites exist among them. These practices date from the times of “ignorance,” before the proclamation of El Islâm, but I have never seen anything of the kind among the tribes with whom we lived.

The Arabs have many traditions, chiefly relating to their own origin and to the descent of their clans. As they despise writing, regarding both this and the cultivation of the ground as degrading, and only fit for peasants, these traditions are handed down from mouth to mouth; the stories naturally become more marvellous every time that they are repeated, and in some cases they present historical confusions, as at Jericho, where the Imâm ’Aly, Companion of the Prophet, is said to have fought a battle with Abu ’Obeideh ibn el Jerrâh, who was a well-known Moslem general of the time of Omar, and the conqueror of Jerusalem. The contest between ’Aly and Moawîyeh, which led to the separation of the Shiahs and Sunnis, did not, however, commence until after the death of Othman, successor of Omar.

I have already alluded to the curious fact that Christian legends of the middle ages are current among the Abu Nuseir Arabs round Jericho, the case of the “high mountain” of the Temptation being the chief instance. There is also a legend well known in the Jordan Valley and in Galilee, of a famous chief named Zîr. He is said to be the maker of certain curious pits dug in a line near ’Ain Fusâil, and connected with an old aqueduct. The same legend is connected with pits found east of Jordan, possibly intended for the same use, which was apparently the collection of water. Zîr also found his way to the Nazareth hills, and the acacia-trees near Semûnieh are said to have grown from his tent-pegs.

The Bedawîn reverence the tombs of their own ancestors, and, in some cases, of those of other tribes. The Abu Nuseir are descended from a tribe which had a peculiar reputation for sanctity, and which was free to roam among the rest as a company of Derwishes. Some of these Arabs were, by mistake, killed by the Egyptian Government, and their graves are shown in a valley called the “Holy Valley,” near Mar Sâba. Any Arab entering this valley makes use of the expression, “Your leave, O blessed ones,” and kisses the tombstones on passing. A second place of the kind exists not far north of Engedi, where are the graves of certain of the Rushâideh tribe, who were massacred by Ibrahim Pacha. On passing this spot our guides kissed the rude headstones very reverently.

There are many grave-yards in the desert, generally near sacred places or large trees, or on the top of the larger Tells. In one or two instances a whitewashed tomb is built, in the middle of the cemetery, over the body of some noted Sheikh, and necklaces, or the furniture of a horse, are hung as gifts upon it. The Arabs often bring the dead bodies from a considerable distance in order to inter them in the cemetery of the tribe.

There is one habit of the Bedawîn which has given rise to misconceptions, and is worthy of notice. The camels and other property are marked by a recognised tribe-mark called Wusm. Each tribe, and each division of a tribe, has its mark, and some are curious. The Rushâideh mark is a circle with a cross--resembling the astronomical sign for Mars. The Jâhalîn have a T, a cross, or a C with a dot in the centre. The Tiyâhah have two parallel strokes, the Dhullâm have three, and the K’abneh a double cross. These marks are found on the flanks of the camels, on the grave-stones, and on ruined buildings. Thus at Masada the gateway is covered with the Rushâideh and Jâhalîn marks, the reason being that the Arabs believe that a hidden treasure exists there, and they therefore assert their ownership by putting the tribe-mark on the place.

Two traditions are very commonly repeated among the Bedawîn. The first is that hidden treasure exists in certain places, and can be discovered by the use of incantations. There is some foundation for this expectation of finding treasure, for it seems to have been common to bury money in old times, as indeed it still is; and the hoards are found from time to time. A quantity of gold Alexanders were lately found in the neighbourhood of Tyre, and a number of shekels were discovered near Jericho in the winter of 1873, and were brought to us in Jerusalem; these were subsequently pronounced genuine in Europe. In Haifa also a treasure of Byzantine coins was found under the sill of a doorway in the gardens. The Arabs have exaggerated ideas on this subject, and they suppose treasures to lie hidden in every ruin.

The second common idea is that the desert was formerly cultivated and full of water. All over the plateau west of the Dead Sea ruins are shown which are said to be remains of former vineyards, and even the Roman camps at Masada are so called. This idea is also perhaps founded on fact: “the vineyards of Engedi,” mentioned by Solomon, have entirely disappeared together with its palms, and the palms of Jericho have left only two survivors. The Crusaders cultivated sugar in three places along the Jordan Valley, yet only the ruins of their mills and aqueducts are now left, with the semi-fossilised stalks of the sugar-canes near Beisân. But although the country is thus shown to have been at one time more productive, still no such entire change as the Arabs suppose is likely to have taken place, for the desert is called desert in the Bible, and the Dead Sea plateau is the old Jeshimon or “solitude.”

The preceding pages will, I hope, serve to show how broad is the distinction between the peasantry and the nomadic people, and how interesting is the study of both the races as throwing light on the Bible narrative. We must now pass on to consider briefly the other inhabitants of the Holy Land.