struggled to free themselves from the spears
to which they were tied before the doors of
the tents; young girls, their black hair streaming
in long ringlets on their shoulders,
carried jars of water, or loads of brushwood
on their heads, their thin blue shirts leaving
every movement free, and allowing their
shapes to be exactly defined and clearly seen
—mothers, bearing children in their arms,
crammed others into saddle bags, their
shining black heads peeping out as they
swung on each side the camels, or the mule-
boys driving flocks of lambs, and large herds
of cows and sheep lowing and bleating wound
through the plain— colts galloped free and
far— women screaming the shrill tahlehl, urged
on the men to still greater excitement, for
this is a cry which excites the Arab almost
to madness— all this unbridled life, and wild,
free, fetterless emotion composed a scene
which, for stir and gaiety would make the
busiest European city look dull and still.
The river Khabour, to which Mr. Layard
was bound, the Habor or Chebar of the
Samaritan captivity, is the terrestrial paradise
of the Arabs. It bears three crops, they say,
in the year, and there is perpetual shade and
greensward by its murmuring waters. Many
of their songs turn on the happiness of
those who dwell near it; for perhaps no
people in the world are more easily impressed
with the beauties of nature than the Bedouins.
As Layard says, " Poetry and flowers are
wine and spirits to the Arab. A poem is
equal to a bottle, a rose to a dram." " What
kef," (delight) cried Suttum, the sheikh of
a branch of the Shammar tribe, as he waded
through the grass and flowers, "has God
given us equal to this? It is the only thing
worth living for. Ya Bej! what do the
dwellers in cities know of this happiness, they
have never seen grass or flowers; may God
have pity on them! " And often on this
journey, when they were tired and their
spirits drooped, some of the party would sing
a love-ditty, or set up their loud war-cry, or
they would stop to pick the scarlet poppies
and bright blue flowers that strewed the
ground, to wreathe them among their own
garments and the trappings of their horses,
until the large cavalcade looked like some
great procession of olden times, returning
from their games or solemn sacrifices: and
with such innocent stimulants as these, their
courage would return, and their energy, and
their gaiety. Poetry, flowers, the boundless
desert, plains, and freedom, the sole excitants
necessary for the gay and gentle Arab.

Before starting on his expedition, Mr.
Layard sent to this Suttum, of whom we have
spoken above, to claim his protection through
the desert; and the chief, with a strong body
of his men, himself escorted and guided him.
Suttum was one of the noblest specimens of a
Bedouin. Noble in person, dignified in
carriage, intelligent, daring, honourable, and
faithful, he was no less delightful as a
companion than trustworthy as a friend. His
liveliness, wit, good temper, and conversational
powers whiled away many an hour of fatigue
and pain; and, under his escort, life and
property were as safe in the desert among the
plundering Bedouins as they are in England
under the protection of the law. In this
expedition, Suttum was accompanied by his
rediff. The rediff is generally the person who
sits behind the rider on the dromedary, but
in the Shammar and Sneyza tribes it means
a kind of adopted twin— a friend nearer than
a brother— for the rediff and his patron live
in the same tent, go together to war, see each
other's wives, and are bound by ties stronger
than those of blood. He is usually a man
chosen from a hostile tribe, so that in case of
war the patron may be " dakhal," or protected
by the friends of the rediff should he fall into
their hands, as in turn the friends of the rediff
may be protected by the patron, should they
be taken prisoners by him or his tribe. In
going to war the rediff leads the mare for his
brother, fighting himself from the back of the
deloul, or swift riding camel; in travelling
he rides on the naked back of the animal,
clinging to the hinder part of the saddle with
his legs up to his chin. The saddle itself is
high and profusely ornamented with brass
bosses and nails; and Suttum's was adorned
with the " Baghdad double bags with many-
coloured tassels and fringes of wool," so much
coveted by the Bedouins.

The laws of that same dakhal, or the
claiming and the granting of protection, are
exceedingly curious among the Shammar
tribes, and are religiously observed. To say
to a man that he has violated his dakhal is
an insult never forgiven, as it is a disgrace
never wiped out. Dakhal is claimed by
eating bread and salt, by repeating certain
formulas, and performing certain acts. Among
the Shammar, to seize the end of a thread or
string, of which the enemy holds the other
end, is dakhal— that is, the vanquished is
under the protection of the conqueror; to
touch the canvas of a tent, or to throw at it
something belonging to the person, claims
the dakhal of the owner; to spit on a man,
or to touch anything he has with the teeth—
unless in cases of theft—is dakhal. A woman
can protect any number of persons or huts.
Once a Turk, flying from his pursuers, rushed
into an encampment, and stretching out his
hands to a tent, claimed dakhal. It belonged
to Sahiman Mijwell's eldest brother (Mijwell
was Suttum's brother), who was absent at the
time; but Noura, his beautiful wife, seized
the pole sticks and beat off the pursuers,
though they were Arabs and her guest one of
the hated Turks. She was much praised by
the Shammar for this spirited adherence to
the sacred laws of their desert police. If a
horseman rides into a tent, he and his horse
are dakhal (protected); a stranger eating
with one of the Shammar can give dakhal
to his deadliest enemy, should he fall into his