y with her,
and he supports her in his own camp, but she is regarded simply as a
sister. If she be of another family, he sends her home, and pays her
what her friends demand.

VII. The girls and women have no more religion than the boys and men.
They never pray nor fast, nor make the pilgrimage to Mecca. But the old
women repeat certain prayers, and visit the ziyaras, mazars, and welys,
and other holy places.

VIII. If teachers would come among us, who can live as we do, and dwell
in our camps, and travel with us to the desert, they could teach the
great part of our children to read, especially if they understood the
art of medicine.

Ali spent several weeks among them, sleeping in the camp, and attending
upon their sick. The camp was on the mountains east of the Sea of
Galilee. Fevers prevailed through the entire district from Tiberias to
Damascus, and Ali devoted himself faithfully to the care of the sick.
The Sheikh himself was ill with fever and ague, as were several members
of his family. One day Ali prepared an effervescing draught for him, and
when the acid and the alkali united, and the mixture effervesced, the
Bedawin seated in the great tent screamed and ran from the tent as if
the Ruellas were down upon them! What, said they, is this? He pours
water into water, and out come fire and smoke! The Sheikh himself was
afraid to drink it, so Ali took it himself, and finally, after
explaining the principle of the chemical process, he induced both the
Sheikh and the Sit Harba to drink the draught. On leaving the
encampment, the Sheikh gave Ali a guard, and three Turkish pounds (about
$14,) to pay for his medicines and medical services, saying, that as his
Bedawin were growing poor since they were forbidden to make raids on
other tribes, they could not pay for his services, and he would pay for
all. He offered to give him a goat skin bottle of semin (Arab butter)
and several sheep, but Ali was unable to carry either, and declined the
offer. Ali brought a specimen of Bedawin bread. It is black, coarse, and
mixed with ashes and sand. The Bedawin pound their wheat, and knead the
coarse gritty flour without sifting, and bake it on the heated earthen
ovens.

The Bedawin swarm with vermin. Their garments, their persons, their
tents and their mats are literally alive with the third plague of Egypt,
_lice_! Ali soon found himself completely overrun with them, and was
almost driven wild. The Sitt Harba urged him to try the