And It Is To Be Observed That They Do Not,
Like The Greek Pirates Or The Italian Bandits, Preserve A Religious
Element In Their Plunderings; They Make No Vows, And They Carefully
Avoid Offerings.
The ceremonies of Badawi life are few and simple—circumcisions,
marriages, and funerals.
Of the former rite there are two forms,
Taharah, as usual in Al-Islam, and Salkh, an Arab invention, derived
from the times of Paganism.[FN#46] During Wahhabi rule it was forbidden
under pain of death, but now the people have returned to it. The usual
age for Taharah is between five and six; among
[p.111] some classes, however, it is performed ten years later. On such
occasions feastings and merrymakings take place, as at our christenings.
Women being a marketable commodity in barbarism as in civilisation, the
youth in Al-Hijaz is not married till his father can afford to buy him
a bride. There is little pomp or ceremony save firing of guns, dancing,
singing, and eating mutton. The “settlement” is usually about thirty sound
Spanish dollars,[FN#47] half paid down, and the other owed by the
bridegroom to the father, the brothers, or the kindred of his spouse.
Some tribes will take animals in lieu of ready money. A man of wrath
not contented with his bride, puts her away at once. If peaceably
inclined, by a short delay he avoids scandal. Divorces are very
frequent among Badawin, and if the settlement money be duly paid, no
evil comes of them.[FN#48]
The funerals of the wild men resemble those of the citizens, only they
are more simple, the dead being buried where they die. The corpse,
after ablution, is shrouded in any rags procurable; and, women and
hired weepers
[p.112] not being permitted to attend, it is carried to the grave by
men only. A hole is dug, according to Moslem custom; dry wood, which
everywhere abounds, is disposed to cover the corpse, and an oval of
stones surrounding a mound of earth keeps out jackals and denotes the
spot. These Badawin have not, like the wild Sindis and Baluchis,
favourite cemeteries, to which they transport their dead from afar.
The traveller will find no difficulty in living amongst the Hijazi
Badawin. “Trust to their honour, and you are safe,” as was said of the Crow
Indians; “to their honesty and they will steal the hair off your head.” But
the wanderer must adopt the wild man’s motto, omnia mea mecum porto; he
must have good nerves, be capable of fatigue and hardship, possess some
knowledge of drugs, shoot and ride well, speak Arabic and Turkish, know
the customs by reading, and avoid offending against local prejudices,
by causing himself, for instance, to be called Taggaa. The payment of a
small sum secures to him a Rafik,[FN#49] and this “friend,” after once
engaging in the task, will be faithful. “We have eaten salt together”
(Nahnu Malihin) is still a bond of friendship: there are, however, some
tribes who require to renew the bond every twenty-four hours, as
otherwise, to use their own phrase, “the salt is not in their stomachs.”
Caution must be exercised in choosing a companion who has not too many
blood feuds. There is no objection to carrying a copper watch and a
pocket compass, and a Koran could be fitted with secret pockets for
notes and pencil. Strangers should especially avoid handsome weapons;
these tempt the Badawin’s cupidity more than gold. The other extreme,
defencelessness, is equally objectionable. It is needless to say that
the traveller must never be seen writing anything but charms, and must
on no account sketch in public. He should be careful in questioning,
and rather lead up
[p.113] to information than ask directly. It offends some Badawin,
besides denoting ignorance and curiosity, to be asked their names or
those of their clans: a man may be living incognito, and the tribes
distinguish themselves when they desire to do so by dress, personal
appearance, voice, dialect, and accentuation, points of difference
plain to the initiated. A few dollars suffice for the road, and if you
would be “respectable,” a taste which I will not deprecate, some such
presents as razors and Tarbushes are required for the chiefs.
The government of the Arabs may be called almost an autonomy. The
tribes never obey their Shaykhs, unless for personal considerations,
and, as in a civilised army, there generally is some sharp-witted and
brazen-faced individual whose voice is louder than the general’s. In
their leonine society the sword is the greater administrator of law.
Relations between the Badawi tribes of Al-Hijaz are of a threefold
character: they are either Ashab, Kiman, or Akhwan.
Ashab, or “comrades,” are those who are bound by oath to an alliance
offensive and defensive: they intermarry, and are therefore closely
connected.
Kiman,[FN#50] or foes, are tribes between whom a blood feud, the cause
and the effect of deadly enmity, exists.
Akhawat, or “brotherhood,” denotes the tie between the stranger and the
Badawi, who asserts an immemorial and inalienable right to the soil
upon which his forefathers fed their flocks. Trespass by a neighbour
instantly causes war. Territorial increase is rarely attempted, for if
of a whole clan but a single boy escape he will one day assert his
claim to the land, and be assisted by all the Ashab, or
[p.114] allies of the slain. By paying to man, woman, or child, a small
sum, varying, according to your means, from a few pence worth of
trinkets to a couple of dollars, you share bread and salt with the
tribe, you and your horse become Dakhil (protected), and every one must
afford you brother-help. If traveller or trader attempt to pass through
the land without paying Al-Akhawah or Al-Rifkah, as it is termed, he
must expect to be plundered, and, resisting, to be slain: it is no
dishonour to pay it, and he clearly is in the wrong who refuses to
conform to custom.
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