have, from remote antiquity, been divided into two great classes, viz. the townsmen (including villagers), and the men of the desert, such being, as we remark- ed, the meaning of the word " Bedaicees" or Bedouins, the designation given to the " dwellers in the wilder- ness." From the nature of their country, the latter are necessitated to lead the life of nomades, or wander- ing shepherds ; and since the days of the patriarchs (who were themselves of that occupation) the exten- sive steppes, which form so large a portion of Arabia. have been traversed by a pastoral but warlike people, who, in their mode of life, their food, their dress, their dwellings, their manners, customs, and government, have always continued, and still continue, almost un- alterably the same. They consist of a great many separate tribes, who are collected into different en- campments dispersed through the territory which they claim as their own ; and they move from one spot to another (commonly in the neighborhood of pools or wells) as soon as the stinted pasture is exhausted by their cattle. It is only here and there that the ground is susceptible of cultivation, and the tillage of it is commonly left to peasants, who are often the vassals of the Bedouins, and whom (as well as all " towns- men") they regard with contempt as an inferior race. Having constantly to shift their residence, they live in movable tents (comp. Isa. xiii, 20 ; Jer. xlix, 29), from which circumstance they received from the Greeks the name of 'S.K^virai, i. e. dwellers in tents (Strabo, xvi, 747 ; Diod. Sic. p. 254 ; Ammian.' Mar- cell, xxiii, 6). The tents are of an oblong figure, not more than six or eight feet high, twenty to thirty long, and ten broad ; they are made of goat's or camel's hair, and are of a brown or black color (such were the tents of Kedar, Cant, i, 5), differing in this respect from those of the Turcomans, which are white. Each tent is divided by a curtain or carpet into two apart- ments, one of which is appropriated to the women, who are not, however, subject to so much restraint and seclusion as among other Mohammedans. The tents are arranged in an irregular circle, the space within serving as a fold to the cattle at night. The heads of tribes are called sheiks, a word of various import, but used in this case as a title of honor ; the government is hereditary in the family of each sheik, but elective as to the particular individual appointed. Their allegiance, however, consists more in following his example as a leader than in obeying h'.s com- mands ; and, if dissatisfied with his government, they will depose or abandon him. As the independent lords of their own deserts, the Bedouins have from time immemorial demanded tribute or presents from all travellers or caravans (Isa. xxi, 13) passing through their country ; the transition from which to robber}' is so natural that they attach to the latter no disgrace, plundering without mercy all who are un- able to resist them, or who have not secured the pro- tection of their tribe. Their watching for travellers "in the ways," i. e. the frequented routes through the desert, is alluded to Jer. iii, 2 ; Ezra viii, 31 ; and the fleetness of their horses in carrying them into the " depths of the wilderness," beyond the reach of their pursuers, seems what is referred to in Isa. lxiii, 13, 14. Their warlike incursions into more settled dis- tricts are often noticed (e. g. Job i, 15; 2 Chron. xxi, 16 ; xxvi, 7). The acuteness of their bodily senses is very remarkable, and is exemplified in their astonish- ing sagacity in tracing and distinguishing the foot- steps of men and cattle, a faculty which is known by the name of athr. The law of thar, or blood-revenge (q. v.), sows the seeds of perpetual feuds; and what was predicted (Gen. xvi, 12) of the posterity of Ish- mael, the " wild-ass man" (a term most graphically descriptive of a Bedouin), holds true of the whole people. Yet the very dread of the consequences of shedding blood prevents their frequent conflicts from being very sanguinary ; they show bravery in repel-
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ling a public enemy, but when they fight for plunder they behave like cowards. Their bodily frame is spare, but athletic and active, inured to fatigue and capable of undergoing great privations ; their minds are acute and inquisitive ; and, though their manners are somewhat grave and formal, they are of a livelj- and social disposition. Of their moral virtues it is necessary to speak with caution. They were long held up as models of good faith, incorruptible integri- ty, and the most generous hospitality to strangers; but many recent travellers deny them the possession of these qualities ; and it is certain tffat whatever they may have been once, the Bedouins, like all the unsophisticated "children of nature," have been much corrupted by the influx of foreigners, and the national character is in every point of view lowest where they are most exposed to the continual passage of strangers. — Kitto, s. v. See Ishmaelite.
The Bedouins acknowledge that their ancient ex- cellence has greatly declined since the time of Mo- hammed, and there cannot lie a doubt that this decline had commenced much earlier. Though each tribe boasts of its unadulterated blood and pure language, their learned men candidly admit the depreciation of national character. Scriptural customs still found among them must therefore be generally regarded rather as indications of former practices than as being identical with them. Furthermore, the Bible always draws a strong contrast between the character of the Israelites and that of the descendants of Ishmael, whom the Bedouins mostly represent. Yet they are, by comparison with other nations, an essentially un- changeable people, retaining a primitive, pastoral life, and many customs strikingly illustrating the Bible. They are not so much affected by their religion as might be supposed: many tribes disregard religious observances, and even retain some pagan rites. The Wahhabis, or modern Arab reformers, found great difficulty in suppressing, by persuasion, and even by force of arms, such rites ; and where they succeeded, the suppression was, in most cases, only temporary. Incest, sacrifices to sacred objects, etc., were among these relics of paganism (see Burckhardt's Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys). The less changed a tribe, however, the more difficult}' is there in obtaining in- formation respecting it : such a one is very jealous of intercourse with strangers even of its own nation. In Southern Arabia, for instance, is a tribe which will not allow a guest to stay within its encampments be- yond the three days demanded by the laws of hospi- tality. This exclusion undoubtedly tends to preserve the language from corruption, and the people from for- eign influence; but it probably does not improve the national character.