The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-11-04
The Sons OF the Desert.

DllSth W cli hho DNVh val lOuSAI
estimated at from 10000 to 10000, and
although great things were expected OF
these children of the desert little or
nothing has been heard of their exploits.
The truth is that of late Egyptian Be-
douinS have very much degenerated.
They are the terror of the villagers whose
habitations border on the desert, and in
acts of cruelty and villainy are unsur-
passed. Before the Suez Canal was
built the Bedouins were at liberty to roam
from Beyruth in Syria all through Ara
bia, Egypt and Tripoli, to the great
Sahara Desert and back, but since this
great engineering work has been COM
pleted, the Egyptian Bedouins have been
cut off from their Syrian and Arabian
brethren, and, being at war with the
Tripoltan tribes, have been obliged to
confine themselves to the desert bordering
on the Egyptian, Nubian and Abyssinian
Nile. Although the area of this desert
considerably exceeds 100000 square
miles it has been proved too small for
the roaming disposition of the Bedouins.
When the Egyptian Bedouins could cross
from Africa into Asia, they started on
their voyage with large flocks of lambs
and young camels, which grazed and
grew on their way, and were sold on ar
irving in Arabia or Syria, after march
of one or two years. With the proceeds
the Bedouins bought colts, to be again
sold, and at a large profit, on their re-
turn to Egypt or Tripoli, or even Algiers
or Morocco. Their frequent visits to
Mecca and Medina, which were often on
their way, inspired them with enough
religion to deter them from committing
acts of cruelty and bloodshed, and their
savage natures were somewhat tempered
by contact with civilization at the various
markets they visited.
Now all this is changed and the Egyp-
tian Bedouins, finding themselves cut off
from the outer world, with no prospects
of trade, have become desperate assass-
ms, thieves, kidnaperS and slave deal
ers. The latter is their most profitable
occupation. The Bedouins yet acknowl-
edge their chiefs and pay very great
respect to them. These are either
hereditary, and often have the rank of
Emir, or are selected because of their
age, wisdom or great bravery. Such
chiefs are called Sheiks. The Emir or
Sheik is an absolute monarch with the
right to put to death any member of his
tribe. He makes all treaties with other
tribes, leads in war, buys and sells for
the tribe. and fixes the route, destination
and duration of an expedition. He has
right to claim as his wife the daughter
of any of his subjects, and has the first
choice of any slaves that may be capt
ured. The strength of the tribes varies
from 500 to 1000 or 10000 men.
Their kidnapping and slave dealing are
followed in this way: The Emirs and
Sheiks meet on the borders of the Red
Sea, as near Souakim as possible, in No
vember of each year, when they deter
mine the kidnapping ground of each
tribe, and the roads to be taken, that one
tribe may not interfere with another.
Bonds are given for the fultilment of
this compact, and number of maidenS
are for better security consigned by each
tribe to the Jemmah tribe, which acts as
referee, and keeps them as hostages I'M
til the tribes return, when, if it is proved
that q tribe has broken faith, the mai
dens deposited by that tribe are handed
over to the tribe that has been injured.
break bread, share salt and pass the
narghileh, without which no Bedouin
compact is considered sealed. Each tribe
then starts on the route assigned to il.
SO secret are these plans that, although
the Nubians, Abyssinians and Soudanese
are always on the alert, they seldom
know of the presence of Bedouins until
it is too late. The BedouinS hide for a
few days in the vicinity of each village
which'they intend to raid, and after as
pertaining the number of villagers, their
habits and means of resistance, proceed
on their voyage into the interior until
they arrive at the end of the country
which their agreement entities them to
pillage. The tribe retraces its footsteps
and attacks village after village each &C
corGing to a pre-arranged plan. Vari-
Gus methods are employed. One is to
set fire to village in many places
simultaneously, and as the terrified in
habitants escape from the conflagration
they fall into the hands of the Bedouins,
who invariably murder the old men and
women and the very young children,
but carry off those between five and
twelve years old. The houses and mud
huts which have escaped the fire are ran
sacked and the slaves are made to carry
the booty.
The poor creatures are chained to-
gether, and often carry goods and drive
cattle once their own, They are kept
together in a large circle formed by the
Bedouins on horseback. Another method
of the Bedouins is to fall suddenly on the
women of village, congregated at the
common well, lift them into their saddles,
and gallop off, or to ride through the fields
and carry off all the youths of village
that are found at work. Should there
be no loads for the slaves to carry, a
number of Bedouins ride to the nearest
market town and buy ivory, gums,
shells, ostrich feathers and dyewoods,
with which they load their victims, and
which they sell at large profit on their
return to Souakim. The shameful, cruel,
and atrocious treatment these slaves en-
dure is matter of notoriety in the East,
the sufferings of the younger boys and
girls being especially dreadful. Foreign
anti-slavery societies have repeatedly at
tempted to put stop to this, but have
failed on account of the distance from
| civilization at which these countries lay.
The late Khedive of Egypt employed
Colonel Gordon and Count della Salla
with full power to act, but although they
worked conscientiously and had 5000