The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-08-02


egg which the Aenezeh employed in
robbing Sheik Sidoon of his herd and
horses. 1t was ruse well known to
all Arabs, but believing that no un-
friendly tribes were anywhere near,
the Jebbel Shammar with whom l am
| travelling were easily deceived. The
! attacking party divided itself a small
number only falling suddenly on our
camp at its east end, opposite from
where the large herd of camels and
the mares were rounded up. The
shooting, the wild screams of the wo-
men and the barking of the dogs
quickly drew every man to the east
end of the encampment. And in the
dark, mistaking friend for foe, several
of our younger men ran amuck with
their long knives and injured each
, other. Four of the attacking party
We're killed, tho not till one of them
hurled a lance which struck young
Abdul Sidoon full in the throat, and
stretched him dead on the sand. In
the midst of this confusion the larger
body of Aenezeh swooped down on
the camels and mares at the other end
of the camp. Quickly cutting the
rope hobbies of the mares the thieves
mounted and galloped away. Secur-
ing the slow-moving camels was not
so easy, but in this the Aenezeh also
showed rare ingenuity. Six or eight
men ran among the herd, quickly
sorted out as many COW camels, and
each man seized a cow by the tail.
Twisting the tail with all his might.
| the man behind soon separated his
Cow from the herd and started her,
bawling and galloping. away from the
rest and out into the desert. All the
rest of the camels, impelled by that
same blind folly so characteristic OF
sheep, Joined in the wake of the dis
appearing COW camels, and in few
minutes Shcik Sidoon's whole valu-
able herd was in the hands of the
enemy. The six men sent to sort out
the cow leaders and twist their tails
held on to the tails OF the fleeing cam
els, and were drawn away from oul
camp and out of danger. When they
reached a safe distance they halted
the stolen animals, selected good rid
ing beasts and then began their night
march westward.
Our camp lost three men including
the Sheik's son, twenty blooded Araf
mares, and over two hundred camels
One of our men was killed in his
tent by a stray shot, fired when the
Aenezeh made the first attack.
Such is the daily life of the Nomads
war over pastures, herds, or grow
ing out of blood fueds, is never end
ing. All their talk in the Sheik :
tent at night is about the march next
day, about water, pasture, herds, and
signs of the enemy, or speculatlons
as to whom they themselves may rob
Most every day sees the true Beju-
DIN camped among new surroundings
In the weeks since we left the Eu-
pirates country our camp has never
remained in one place more thon two
or three days At night the head
men of the tribe drop into the Sheik S
tent from force of habit; the water
pipes are brought out, coffee is made,
and a course of travel for the next
day is laid out. The direction of the
"rahla,", or days travel. is always
determined by the location of oasis,
wells, pasturage, enemies, etc. BY
day the men go in advance, usually
driving the focks, and the women and
children follow with the camp bag
gage-meager as it is on the aWk-
ward, shutting cow camels. Often
weak-legged camel calf, or prize
hound whose feet are sore, is put on
the "delul" or pack camel, and rides
there along with the women and
children. Children that die on the
march are buried in the sand beside
the trail. Babies born on the march
interfere not at all with the tribes
progress; with that hardwood char
acteristic of all semi-civilized people,
the women of the Arabs are dellV-
cred without much physical suffering,
and without any attendance. They
merely drop behind for an hour, with
their camel; the new born babe IS
rubbed with clean, dry sand, wrapped
in a "Keffia' or Abba, and the
mother overtakes the tribe and re-
sumes her place in the caravan.
Early each morning the people
watch the Sheik's tent. II the Wo-
men come out at sunrise, and begin
to pull down the tent, it means that
the tribe will move that day. But
if, after the sun is up, the Shelk s
tent is still standing, the people know
that there will be no "rahla' that
day, and they all prepare for a rest.
When the tribe packs up to move the
women fold the tents, pack all the
heavy loads on the kneeling cameis
and do all the rough work. No mat
ter how feeble a wife, or how strong