On The Eastern Coast Of The Red Sea The Badwis
Have Incessant Contests With The Arabians.
They are wild men, among whom
there is no king or great lord, but they live in tribes or factions,
allowing of no towns in their country, neither have they any fixed
habitations, but live a vagabond life, wandering from place to place
with their cattle.
They abhor all laws and ordinances, neither will they
admit of their differences being judged of by any permanent customs or
traditions, but rather that their sheiks or chiefs shall determine
according to their pleasure. They dwell in caves and holes, but most of
them in tents or huts. In colour they are very black, and their language
is Arabic. They worship Mahomet, but are very bad Mahometans, being
addicted beyond all other people on earth to thievery and rapine. They
eat raw flesh, and milk is their usual drink. Their habits are vile and
filthy; but they run with wonderful swiftness. They fight afoot or on
horseback, darts being their chief weapons, and are almost continually
at war with their neighbours.
[Footnote 329: Badwi, or more properly Badawi, signifies a dweller
in the field or in the desert; corruptly called by us Bedouin. - Astl.]
By day-light of the 10th May we weighed anchor from the port of
Igidid[330], and an hour before sunset we fastened our barks to a
shoal about four leagues south of Farate. In this shoal there is an
excellent harbour, lying almost E.S.E. and W.N.W. but very crooked and
winding, so large that we could not see to the other end.
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