Page 141 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

122 SURVEY OF THE [CH.

his kindred is, as in other parts of Arabia, in
full force here. By this barbarous custom,
murder, which all civilized states treat as
an offence against the public, becomes here
a private wrong. The evils of such a system
are sufficiently evident, for quarrels being
thus transmitted from a single individual to a
whole tribe, some of the most merciless and
sanguinary wars recorded by the Arabian
authors have originated in no other source.
Burckhardt gives many curious details of the

compensation occasionally accepted, which,
in the language of the country, is styled “ the
price of blood.”
Amidst the poorer classes a very simple
form of marriage prevails here. The father, in
the presence of the daughter, demands if the
suitor is willing to receive her as his wife,
and his answer in the affirmative is sufficiently
binding; a small piece of wood is sometimes
presented by the father, and worn by the
bridegroom for several weeks after his mar-
nage. In the date season the Bedowins

exercise their national hospitality to its fullest
extent. A stranger who then arrives from any
quarter is supplied with provisions during