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BEDLAMITE. n. f. (from bedlam.] habitant of Bedlain; a madman.

An in

If wild ambition in thy bofom reign, Alas! thou boaf'ft thy fober fenfe in vain; In thefe poor bellamites thyself survey, Thyself lefs innocently mad than they. Fitzger. BEDLAY, a village of Lanark fhire in the parifh of Cadder.

BEDLEYHAY, a village in Cambridgeshire, 5 miles SE of Fly.

BEDLINGTON, two villages of Northumberland; viz. 1. five miles SE. of Morpeth; and 2. near Tweedmouth.

BEDLOE, William, who affumed the title of Captain, was an infamous adventurer of low birth. who had travelled over great part of Europe un der different names and difguifes, and had pafied anong feveral ignorant perfons for a man of rank and fortune. Incouraged by the fuccefs of Oats, he turned evidence, gave an account of Godfrey's murder, and added many circumftances to the narrative of the former. Thefe villains had the boldness to accufe the queen of entering into a confpiracy against K. Charles I's life. A reward of socl. was voted to Bedloe by the Commons. He is faid to have afferted the reality of the plot on his death-bcd; but if abounds with abfurdity, contradiction, and perjury; and ftill remains one of the greateft problems in the British Annals. He died at Brinol 29th August 1680. Ciles Jacob informs us, that he was author of a play, called The Excommunicated Prince, or the Falfe ReF&, 16-9. The printer of it having, without the author's knowledge, added a second title, and called it The Pori Plot in a Pley, greatly excited the curiofity of the public, who were, however, much dilappointed, when they found the plan of the piece to be founded on a quite different ftory. Anth. Wood will not allow the captain the merit of this play; but afferts that it was written partly, if not entirely, by one Tho. Waiter, M. A. of Jefus College, Oxford.

BEDMAKER. ǹ. f. [from bed and make] A perfon in the univertities, whofe office is to make the beds, and clean the chambers.-I was deeply in love with my bedmaker, upon which I was rufticated for eyer. Spectator.

BEDMÁTE. 2. /. from bed and mate.] A bedfellow; one that partakes of the same bed.— Had I fo good occation to lie long

As you, prince Paris, nought but heavenly

butineis

Should rob my bedmote of my company. Shakefp. (1.) BEDMINSTER, a village in Somerfetflire,

SW. of Bristol.

(2.) BEDMINSTER, a township of New Jerfey, in Somerfet county, containing 1197 inhabitants, including 18 flaves.

BEDMONT, a fmail town in Hertfordshire, N. of Langley-Abbey.

(1.) * BEDMOULDING. BEDDING MOULD ING. n. f. [from bed and mould.] A term ued by workmen, to fignify thote members in the corFice which are placed below the coronet. Build

ers Dia.

(2) in architecture, ufually

BEDNAL-GREEN, one of the hamlets of Stepney in Middlefex, containing upwards of, 3000 houfes and 25,000 people.

BEDNALL, two English villages, viz; 1. in Northumberland, near Shields; and 2. five miles from Stafford.

BEDNORE, or BIDDANORE, a town of Hindooftan, capital of a district of the Myfore, 451 miles SE. of Bombay, and 187 NW. of Seringa patam. It was taken by the British in 1783, and retaken foon after by Tipoo, Suitan; but on his defeat and death, in 1799, the town and part of its fuburbs, became fubject to the British. Lon. 75. 30. E. Lat. 14. 0. N..

BEDOS, DE CELLES, Francis, a benedictine monk, born in 1726. He became a member of the academy at Bourdeaux; and published a Treatife on Dialling, which is much efter med, and on the conftruction of Organs.

BEDOUIS, or

a modern name of the

(1.) BEDOUINS, wild drabs, whether in Afia or Africa. When speaking of the Arabs, we fhould diftinguish whether they are cultivators of paftors; for this difference in their mode of e occafions fo great a one in their manners and ge nius, that they become almost for ign nations with refpect to each other. In the former cal leading à fedentary life, attached to the fame foil, and fubject to regelar governments, the facial ftate, in which they live, very nearly refembles cur own. Such are the inhabitants of Yemen; and fuch alfo are the defcendants of thofe ancicat conquerors, who have either entirely, or in part, given inhabitants to Syria, Egypt, and the Barbary states. In the second inftance, having only a tranfient intereft in the foil, perpetuity reno ving their tents from one place to another, w under fubjection to no laws, their mode of ex ence is neither that of polished nations ner of 11vages; and therefore more particularly merits of attention. Such are the Bedouins, or inhabitants of the vast defarts which extends from the confes of Perfia to Morocco. Though divided into dependent communities or tribes, not unfrequen ly hoftile to each other, they may fuil be co fidered as forming one nation. The refembre of their language is a manifeft token of this reia tionship. The only difference that exists between them is, that the African tribes are of a itis an cient origin, being pofterior to the conquest of thefe countries by the khalifs or fuccchors of Mahomet; while the tribes of the defart of Ar bia, properly fo called, have defcended by an tinterrupted fucceflion from the remoteft ages. To thefe the orientals are accustomed to appro priate the name of ARAES, as being the mutta cient and the pureft race. The term Bedat is added as a fynonimous expreffion, fignifying,

inhabitant of the defart." It is not wit reafon, that the inhabitants of the defart bat of being the pureft and the best preferved race of ... the Arab tribes: for never have they been conque ed, nor have they mixed with any other Fe by making conquct's; for thofe, by which neral name of Arabs has been rendered tameES

couts of an ogee, a lift, a large boultine, and the Yemen. Those who dwelt in the int not of

other lift under the coronet.

the country, never

emigrated at the time of fevolution

xen, nor even goats, can feed. In this flate the defart would become uninhabitable, and must be totally abandoned, had not nature formed an animal no lefs hardy and frugal than the foil is fterile and ungrateful. No creature feems fo peculiarly fitted to the climate in which it exifts. Defiguing the camel to dwell in a country where he can find little nourishment, "Nature (fays M. Volney) has been sparing of her materials in the whole of his formation. She has not beflowed on him the plump felbinels of the cx, horfe, or elephant; but limiting herself to what is frict ly necefiary, he has given him a finall head without cars, at the end of a long neck without flesh. She has taken from his legs and thighs every mufcle not in.mediately requifite for motion; and in fhort, has beftowed on his withered body only the vehicls and tendons neceflary to connect its frame together. She has furnished him with a frong jaw, that he may grind the hardeft aliments; but left he fhould confume too much, the has ftratened his ftomach, and obliged him to chew the cud. She has lined his foot with a lump of flefh, which fliding in the mud, and being no way adapted to climbing, fits him only for a dry, level, and fandy foil like that of Arabia: fhe has evidently deitined him likewife to flavery, by relufing him every fort of defence again his enemies. Defitute of the horns of the buil, the hoor of the horfe, the tooth or the elephant, and the fwiftnefs of the ftag, how can the camel refift or avoid the attacks of the lion, the tiger, or even the wolf; To preferve the fpecics, therefore, nature has concealed him in the depth of the valt defarts, where the want of vegetables can attract no game, and whence the want of game repels every vpra cious animal. Tyranny muft have expelled man from the habitable parts of the earth before the camel could have loft his liberty. Become domeftic, he has rendered habitable the most barien foil the world contains. He alone fupplies all his mañer's wants. The milk of the caniel nonrithes the family of the Arab under the varied forms of curd, cheese, and butter; and they often feed upon his fleth. Slippers and harnels are made of his fkin, tents and clothing of his Lir. Heavy burdens are tranfported by his means; and when the earth denies forage to the horfe, fo valuable to the Bedouin, the the camel fupplies that deficiency by her milk at no other coat, for fo many advantages, than a few ftalks of brambles, or wornwood and pounded date kernels. So great is the importance of the camel to the defart, that were it deprived of that ufeful animal, it must infallibly lofe every inhabitant." Such is the fituation in which nature has placed the Bedouins, to make of them a race of men equally fingular in their phyfical and moral character. See § 2, 3, & 7.

revolution effected by Mahomet; or if they did take any part in it, it was confined to a few individuals, detached by motives of ambition. Thus we find the prophet in his Koran continually ftyling the Arabs of the defart rebels and infidels; nor has fo great a length of time produced any very con iderable change. We may affert they have in every respect retained their primitive independence and fimplicity. See ARABIANS, 10, 13, 14. The wandering life of these people arifes from the very nature of their defarts. To paint to himself thefe defarts (fays M. Volney,) the reader muft agine a fky almoft perpetually inflamed, and without clouds, immenfe and boundless plains, without houfes, trees, rivulets or hills, where the eye frequently meets nothing but an extenfive and uniform horizon like the fea, though in fome places the ground is uneven and ftony. Almoft in variably naked on every fide, the earth prefents nothing but a few wild plants thinly feattered, and thick ts, whofe folitude is rarely disturbed but by antelopes, hares, locufts, and rats. Such is the nature of nearly the whole country, which extends fos leagues in length and 200 in breadth, and stretches from Aleppo to the Arabian fea, and from Egypt to the Perlian gulph. It muft not, Lowever, be imagined that the foil in fo great an extent is every where the fame; it varies confider. ably in different places. On the frontiers of Syria, for example, the carth is in general fat and cultivable, nay even fruitful. It is the fame alfo on the banks of the Euphrates: but in the internal parts of the country, and towards the S. it b.comes white and chaiky, as in the parallel of Danakus; rocky, as in the Tih and the Hedjaz; and a pure fand, as to the eastward of the Yemen. This variety in the qualities of the foil is productive of fome minute differences in the condition of the Bedouins. For inftance, in the more ftere countries, that is, thofe which produce but fw plants, the tribes are feeble and very diftant; which is the cafe in the defart of Suez, that of the Red Sea, and the interior of the great defart alled Najd. Where the foil is more fruitful, as between Damafcus and the Euphrates, the tribes are more numerous and leis reinote from each other; and, lastly, in the cultivable diftricts, fuch as the Pachalics of Aleppo, the Hauran, and the neighbourhood of Gaza, the camps are frequent and contiguous. In the former inftances, the Bedouins are purely paftors, and fubfift only on the produce of their herds, and on a few dates, and fleth meat, which they eat either fresh or dried in the fun and reduced to a powder. In the latter, they fow fome land, and add cheefe, bariey, and even rice, to their fleth and milk diet. In thofe diftricts where the foil is ftony and fandy, as in the Tih, the Hedjaz, and the Najd, the rains make the feeds of the wild plants fhoot, and revive the thickets, ranunculi, wormwood, and kali. They caufe marthes in the lower grounds, which produce reeds and grafs, and the plain affumes a tolerable degree of verdure. This is the feafon of abundance both for the herds and their matters; but on the return of the heats, every thing is parched up, and the earth converted into a grey and fine duft, prefents nothing but dry items as hard as wood, on which neither hofes,

(2.) BEDOUINS, DESCRIPTION OF THE. The fingularities of the Bedouin Arabs are fo ftriking, that their neighbours the Syrians regard them as extraordinary beings, efpecially thofe tribes which dwell in the depths of the defarts, fuch as the Anaza, Kaibar, Tai, and others, which never approach the towns. When in the time of Shaik Daher, fome of their horfemen came as far as Acre, they excited the fame curiofity there as a vifit from the favages of America would among

however, does not prevent them from being tolerably healthy in other refpects; for maladies are lefs frequent among them than among the inhabi tants of the cultivated country. From thefe facts, however, we must not conclude that the frugality of the Bedouins is a virtue of choice, or even of climate. The extreme heat in which they live unquestionably facilitates their abftinence, by de ftroying that activity which cold gives to the tomach. Their being habituated alfo to fo fparing a diet, by hindering the dilatation of the ftomach, becomes doubtlefs a means of their fupporting fuch abftemioufnefs; but the chief and primary motive of this habit is with them, as with the reft of mankind, the neceffity of the circumftances in which they are placed, whether from the nature of the foil, as has been before explained, or that state of fociety in which they live, and which remains to be examined. See § 4. Mr Neibhur fays, that "The genuine Bedouins, living always in the open air, have a very acute imeil. They dif like cities, on account of the fætid exhalations produced about them. They cannot conceive how people, who regard cleanlines, can bear to breathe air fo impure. I have been affured, by perfons of undoubted veracity, that fome Bedouins, if carried to the spot from which a camel has wandered aftray, will follow the animal by fmelling its track, and distinguish the marks of its footfteps by the fame means, from thofe of any other beats that may have travelled in the fame way. Thule Arabs, who wander in the delart, will like five days without drinking, and difcover a pit of water by examining the foil and plants in its environs."

us. Every body viewed with furprife thefe men, who were more diminutive, meagre, and swarthy, than any of the known Bedouins. Their withered legs were only compofed of tendons, and had no calves. Their bellies feemed to cling to their backs, and their hair was frizzled almost as much as that of the negroes. They on the other hand were no lefs aftonished at every thing they faw; they could neither conceive how the houses and minarets could stand erect, nor how men ventured to dwell beneath them, and always in the fame fpot; but above all, they were in ecftacy on beholding the fea, nor could they comprehend what that defart of water could be The Arabs of the frontiers are not fuch novices; there are even feveral fmall tribes of them, who, living in the midft of the country, as in the valley of Bekan, that of the Jordan, and in Palestine, approach hearer to the condition of the peasants; but theie are defpifed by the other, who look upon them as bailard Arabs and Rayas, or flaves of the Turks. In general, the Bedouins are finall, meagre, and tawny; more fo, however, in the heart of the defart than on the frontiers of the cultivated country; but they are always of a darker hue than the neighbouring peafants. They alfo differ among themfelves in the fame camp; and M. Volney remarked, that the fhaiks, that is, the rich, and their attendants, were always taller and more corpulent than the common clafs. He has seen some of them above 5 feet 5 and 6 inches high; though in general they do not (fays he) exceed 5 feet 2 inches. This difference can only be attributed to their food, with which the former are fupplied more abundantly than the latter: And the effects of this are equally evident in the Arabian and Turkifa camels; for thefe latter, dwelling in countries rich in forage, are confequently become more robust and fefhy than the

former.

(3.) BEDOUINS, EXTRAORDINARY ABSTINENCE OF THE. The inferior claffis of the Bedouins live in a state of habitual wretchedness and famine. It will appear almoft incredible to us, but is an undoubted fact, that the quantity of food ufually confumed by the greatest part of them does not exceed fix ounces a day. This abftinence is moft remarkable among the tribes of the Najd and the Hedjaz. Six or feven dates foaked in melted but ter, a little fweet milk or curds, ferve a man a whole day; and he feems himself happy when he can add a fmall quantity of coarfe flour or a little ball of rice. Meat is referved for the greateft feftivals; and they never kill a kid but for a marriage or funeral. A few wealthy fhaiks alone can kill young camels, and eat baked rice with their victuals. In times of dearth, the vulgar, always half famined, do not difdain the most wretched kinds of food; and eat locufts, rats, Tizards, and ferpents broiled on briars. Hence are they fuch plunderers of the cultivated lands and robbers on the high-roads; hence alfo their delicate conflitutions and their diminutive and meagre bodies, which are rather active than vigorous. Their evacuations of every kind, even per. fpiration, are confequently extremely fmail; their blood is fo deftitute of ferofity, that nothing but the greatest heat can preferve its fluidity. This,

(4.) BEDOUINS, GOVERNMENT OF THE. Lach tribe is compofed of one or more principal fami hes, the members of which bear the title of flaiks, e. chiefs or lords. These families have a great refemblance to the patricians of Rome and the nobles of modern Europe. One of the fhaiks bas the fupreme command over the others. Mr Nei buhr ftiles him" the Grand Schiech." He is the general of their little army; and fometimes alfures the title of emir, which fignities commander and prince. The more relations, children and allies, he has, the greater is his ftrength and power. To thefe he adds particular adherents, whom he ftudioully attaches to him, by supplying all their wants. But befides this, a number of fmall families, who, not being ftrong enough to live independent, ftand in need of protection and alliances, range themfelves under the banners of this chief. Such an union is called kabila, or tribe. These tribes are diftinguished from each other by the name of their respective chiefs, or by that of the ruling family; and when they fpeak of the individuals who compote them, they call them the children of fuch a chief, though they may not be all really of his blood, and he himself have been long fince dead. Thus they fay, Beni Temin, Oulad Tai, the children of Temin and of Tai. This mode of expreflion is even applied, by metaphor, to the names of countries: the ufual phrafe for denoting its inhabitants being to call them the children of fuch a place. Thus the Arabs fay, Oulad Mafr, the Egyptians; Ouled Sham, the Syrians: they would affo fay, Oulad Franjo,

may

the

the French; Oulad Moskou, the Ruffians; a remark which is not unimportant to ancient hiftory. The government of the Bedouins may therefore be faid to be at once republican, ariftocratical, and even defpotic, without exactly correfponding with any of thefe forms. It is republican, isafmuch as the people have a great influence in all affairs, and as nothing can be tranfacted without the confent of a majority. It is ariftocratical, becaufe the families of the fhaiks poflefs fome of the prerogatives which every where accompany pow. er; and, laftly, it is deipotic, because the principal thaik has an indefinite and almoft abfolute authority, which, when he happens to be a man of credit and influence, he may even abufe; but the ftate of thefe tribes confines even this abufe to very narrow limits: for if a chief fhould commit an act of injuftice, or if he should kill an Arab, it would be almost impoffible for him to efcape punishment; the refentment of the offended party would pay no refpect to his dignity; the law of retaliation would be put in force; and, fhould he not pay the blood, he would be infallibly affaffinated, which, from the fimple and private life the fhaiks lead in their camps, would be no difficult thing to effect. If he haraffes his fubjects by feverity, they abandon him and go over to another tribe. His own relations take advantage of his misconduct to depose him and advance themselves to his station. He can have no refource in foreign troops; his subjects communicate too eafily with each other to render it potlible for him to divide their interefts and form a faction in his favour. Betides, how is he to pay them, fince he receives no kind of taxes from the tribe; the wealth of the greater part of his fubjects being limited to abfolute neceffaries, and his own confined to very moderate poffeffions, and thofe too loaded with great expences ? The principal fhaik in every tribe, in fact, defrays the charges of all who arrive at or leave the camp. He receives the vifits of the allies, and of every person who has bufinefs with them. Adjoining to his tent is a large pavilion for the reception of all strangers and paffengers. There are held frequent affemblies of the inaiks and principal men, to determine on encampments and removals; on peace and war; on the differences with the Turkish governors and the villages; and the litigations and quarrels of indviduals. To this crowd, which enters fucceffively, he muft give coffee, bread baked on the afhes, rice, and sometimes roasted kid or camel; in a word, he must keep open table; and it is the more important to him to be generous, as this generofity is closely connected with matters of the greatest confequence. On the exercile of this depend his credit and his power. The famished Arab ranks the liberality which feeds him before every virtue: nor is this prejudice without foundation; for experience has proved that covetous chiefs never were men of enlarged views: hence the proverb, as juft as it is brief, A close fift, a narrow beart. To provide for thefe expences, the fhaik has nothing but his herds, a few spots of cultivated ground, the profits of his plunder, and the tribute he levies on the high roads; the total of which is very inconfiderable. The haik with whom M. Volney refided in the country of Gaza,

about the end of 1784, paffed for one of the most powerful of thofe diftricts; yet it did not appear to our author that his expenditure was greater than that of an opulent farmer. His perfonal effects, confifting of a few peliffes, carpets, arms, hories, and camels, could not be effimated at more than 50.coo livres; (a little above 2000 1.) and it must be obferved, that in this calculation four mares of the breed of racers are valued at 6000 livres, (6ol.) and each camel at ro 1. fterling. We must not therefore, when we fpeak of the Bedouins, aflix to the words Prince and Lord the ideas they ufually convey; we thould come nearer the truth by comparing them to fubftantial farmers in mountainous countries, whofe fimplicity they refemble in their drefs, as well as in their domeftic life and manners. A fhaik who has the command of 500 horfe does not difdain to faddle and bridle his own, nor to give him barley and chopped ftraw. In his tent, his wife makes the coffee, kneads the dough, and fuperintends the dreffing of the victuals. His daughters and kinfwomen wash the linen, and go with pitchers on their head and veils over their faces to draw water from the fountain. Thefe manners agrée precifely with the defcriptions in Homer, and the hiftory of Abraham in Genelis. But it must be owned that it is difficult to form a juft idea of them without having ourselves been eye witneffes." Mr Niebuhr, who was himself an eye witness, fays, that "Every grand fchiech justly confiders hinfelf as abfolute lord of his whole territories; and accordingly exacts the fame duties upon goods carried through his dominions as are levied by other princes. The Europeans (he adds) are wrong in fuppofing the fums paid by travellers to the grand fchiechs to be merely a raniom to redeemi them from pillage. The Turks, who fend caravans through the defart to Mecca, have submitted to the payment of these duties. They pay a certain fum annually to the tribes who live near the road to Mecca: in return for which, the Arabs keep the wells open, permit the paffage of merchandife, and efcort the caravans. If the Bedouins fometimes pillage thofe caravans, the haughty perfidious conduct of the Turkish officers is always the firft caufe of fuch hoftilities. Thofe infolent Turks look upon all the Arabs as rebels; that is, in the modern fignification of this word, as a people who although weak, have the audacity to withstand the oppreffion of their stronger neighbours. In confequence of this selfish reafoning, they violate their engagements; and the Arabs take their revenge by pillaging the caravans. The famous Ali Bey, when he conducted the Egyptian caravan to Mecca, would not pay all the duties on his way to Mecca, but promifed to pay the reft on his return, and forgot his promife. On the year following, the Arabs affembled in greater numbers, and obliged the captain of the caravan to pay for himself and Ali Bey both. The Turks exclaimed againit this as an act of robbery yet the Arabs had only done themfelves juftice. The conduct of Abdalla, Pacha of Damafcus, who commanded the Syrian caravan in 1756, was til more odious. When the Schlechs of the tribe of Harb came to meet him, to receive the ftipulated toll, he gave them a friendly invitation

to

to visit him; but inftead of paying the toll, cut herds throughout the year. Each tribe is collec off their heads, and fent them to Conftantinople, ted in one or mere camps, which are difperfed as a proof of his victory over the rebel Arabs. through the country, and which make a fuccef The ftroke which thofe fuffered by the death of five progrefs over the whole, in proportion, as it their chiefs hindered them from attempting any is exhausted by the cattle; hence it is, that with thing in revenge, on either that or the following in a great extent a few spots only are inhabited, year; the caravans travelled in triumph to Mecca; which vary from one day to another; but as the and the Turks boafted of the valour and prudence entire space is necefiary for the annual fubfiftence of Abdalla Pacha. But, in the third year, the of the tribe, whoever encroaches on it is deemed Arabs avenged the laughtered Schiechs, and, a violator of property; this is with them the law with an army of eighty thousand men, raised out of nations. If, therefore, a tribe, or any of its of all the tribes, routed the Turks, and pillaged fubjects, enter upon a foreign territory, they are the caravan. The tribe Anafe, under the com- treated as enemies and robbers, and a war breaks mand of their fchiech, diftinguished themselves out. Now, as all the tribes have affinities with particularly in this expedition." each other by alliances of blood or conventions, leagues are formed, which render thefe wars more or lefs general. The manner of proceeding on fuch occafions is very fimple. The offence made known, they mount their horfes and feek the ene my; when they meet, they enter into a parley, and the matter is frequently made up; if not, they attack either in fmall bodies, or man to man. They encounter each other at full speed with fixed lances, which they fometimes dart, notwith. ftanding their length, at the flying enemy: the victory is rarely contefted; it is decided by the first fhock, and the vanquished take to flight full gallop over the naked plain of the defart, Night generally favours their efcape from the conqueror. The tribe which has loft the battle ftrikes its tents, removes to a distance by forced marches, and feeks an afylum among its allies. The enemy, fatisfied with their fuccefs, drive their herds far. ther on, and the fugitives foon after return to their former fituation. But the flaughter made in thefe engagements frequently fows the feeds of hatreds, which perpetuate thefe diffenfions. The intereft of the common fafety has for ages eftablifhed a law among them, which decrees that the blood of every man who is flain must be avenged by that of his murderer. This vengeance is called Tar, or retaliation; and the right of exacting it devolves on the nearest of kin to the deceased. So nice are the Arabs on this point of honour, that if any one neglects to feek his retaliation he is difgraced for ever. He therefore watches every opportunity of revenge: if his enemy perithes from any other caufe, ftill he is not fatisfied, and his vengeance is directed against the neareft rela tion. Thefe animofities are tranfmitted as an in heritance from father to children, and never ceafe but by the extinction of one of the families, unles they agree to facrifice the criminal, or purchase the blood for a ftated price, in money or in ficcks, Without this fatisfaction, there is neither peace, nor truce, nor alliances, between them, nor fomes times even between whole tribes: There is blood between us, fay they on every occafion; and this expreffion is an infurmountable barrier. Such ac cidents being neceffarity numerous in a long courfe of time, the greater part of the tribes have ancient quarrels, and live in an habitual frate of war which, added to their way of life, renders the Bedouins a military people, though they ha made no great progrets in war as an art. Tre camps are formed in a kind of irregular circ'è, compofed of a fingle row of tents, with greater or less intervals. Thefe tents, made of goat of

(5.) BEDOUINS, HUMANITY OF THE. The Bedouin robbers, fays Mr Niebuhr, "are not cruel, and do not murder thofe whom they rob, unlefs when travellers ftand upon the defenfive, and happen to kill a Bedouin, whofe death the others are eager to revenge. Upon all other occafions they act in a manner confiftent with their natural hofpitality. Upon this head I have heard fome anecdotes, which it may not be amifs to introduce here. A mufti of Bagdad, returning from Mecca, was robbed in Nedsjed. He entered into a written agreement with the robbers, who engaged to conduct him fafe and found to Bagdad for a certain fum, payable at his own houfe. They delivered him to the next tribe, thofe to a third; and he was thus conveyed from tribe to tribe, till he arrived fafe at home. An European, belonging to a caravan which was plundered, had been infected with the plague upon his journey. The Arabs, feeing him too weak to follow his companions took him with themfelves, lodged him without their camp, attended him till he was cured, and then fent him to Bafra. An Englishman, who was travelling exprefs to India, and could not wait for the departure of a caravan, hired two Arabs at Bagdad, who were to accompany him to Bafra. By the way he was attacked by fome fchtechs, against whom he at firft defended himself with his piftols; but, being hard preffed by their lances, was forced to furrender. The Arabs, upon whom he had fired, beat him till he could not walk. They then carried him to their camp, entertained him for fome time, and at laft conducted him fafe to Bafra. When Mr Forfkal was robbed by the Arabs in Egypt, a pezfant, who accompanied him, was beaten by the robbers, because he had piftols, although he had made no attempt to defend himfelf with them. The pillaging of the caravans is not always owing merely to the propenfity which the Arabiana have to robbery. Their pillaging expeditions are commonly confidered by themselves as lawful hoftilitics against enemies who would defraud the nation of their dues, or against rival tribes, who have undertaken to protect thofe illegal traders."

(6.) BEDOUINS, INTERNAL DIVISIONS, WARG, &c. OF THE.

The Bedouin Araba are divided into tribes, which confitate fo many diftinct nations. Each of thefe tribes, appropriates to it felf a tract of land forming its domain; in this they do not differ from nations, who cultivate their gronds, except that their territory requires a greater extent, to furnish fubfidence for their

camels

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