dren, who are taught to ride when they are four years old, are the shepherds and keep the animals from straying when moving. When the family is on the march all the flocks of goats kept for the family use are milked at midday into the leathern bottles. At evening after the tents are pitched they are milked

During the . summer wanderings milk is the staple article of diet. It is fermented into "koomis," which tastes much like our buttermilk. It is also made into butter and cheese. The best conditions possible are provided by the Arabs for their domestic animals, for the life of the entire tribe depends upon them. As summer advances the plain becomes

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood.

BEDOUIN WOMEN MILKING GOATS

very hot and swarms of insects torment both animals and people.

"Still waters."-The shepherds move their flocks and herds to the higher part of the steppes, but must go where water is to be found in wells and springs. It was from one of these wells that Moses helped the seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian, water their flocks when the herdsmen tried to drive them away. He married one of these girls and dwelt forty years in Midian before God called him back to Egypt to deliver the children of Israel (Exod. 1 and 2).

I

As winter approaches, the Arabs move to lower lands, usually finding their winter quarters in the same place year after year. If one group trespasses on another's right, there is sure to be

trouble.

I. Look in the book of Genesis for the name of another young man besides Moses who met his future wife at a well. Tell the story to the class in your own words, trying to picture the scene. 2. Hunt in your Bible for the best description of the life of a child who lived in a tent and read it to your classmates. 3. Why does the shepherd move to the higher parts of the steppes in summer?

THE HOMES OF THE NOMADS

The summer tent of the richer Arab is often a fine one. Its material is durable and valuable and forms part of the wealth of the steppe dweller. The interior is furnished with rugs, cushions, and carpets. Many tents of the poorer nomads are made of black goat's-hair cloth set up on long poles and contain very few furnishings.

When wanderers live in houses. Some winter dwellings, as those in the lower Euphrates Valley, are made of plaited willows or bundles of reeds which grow along the streams or on the banks of the old canals. The roof is of thatch made of reeds. Dried manure is piled up, usually by the little girls, and

used for fuel. Water and hay must be available.

The grass

for the hay is often mowed at a distance and taken home on camels.

1. If you were invited to visit in the home of a Bedouin boy or girl for one week, in which season of the year would you choose to make your visit? Why?

State your reason fully.

PEOPLE, THEIR LIFE AND

GOVERNMENT

Bedouins in Mesopotamia usually have only one wife, but sometimes they have more, as their religion. allows them four. An Arab does not marry more than one wife unless he is able to support his family in comfort. When the grown sons marry they remain with the father, so the family group is usually a large one and a man's servants may often be his relatives. (Read Genesis 46 to learn the size of Jacob's family when he took them all into Egypt to escape famine.) This relationship develops the spirit of brotherhood, therefore hospitality is shown to strangers.

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood.

Children who serve. The Bedouins are fond of their children and have large families. They never practice infanticide, or killing of babies, as do many uncivilized peoples. Life is nevertheless a rather serious and sober affair for children in the desert. They have few games, and do not play as do our Western children. They have no schools, and are only taught the simple occupations of their tribe. While still a mere child the boy becomes a member of the tribal council.

The girl too has her part to perform. In early life she serves

her father, and when only eight or ten years of age tends the sheep and goats, often going alone on the desert miles from camp. Later she works for her husband, milks the goats and camels, grinds grain in a hand mill, churns butter in a goat skin hung from a tripod, and weaves clothes from hair and fiber. While she is busy at these tasks, as well as those that naturally fall to the lot of the wife and mother, her husband

BUTTERMAKING IN SOUTHWEST
ASIA

often sits in the sand in front of

the tent and smokes.

A wedding among the Arabs. "Bedouin girls enjoy more freedom in courtship than do their sisters of the East. The Bedouin father feels a warm affection for his daughter, and rarely accepts a price for her hand. When a young man of the tribe thinks he has found his mate, he pays repeated visits to her father's tent and is often permitted to see the girl. On the day agreed upon for the wedding, a festive procession threads its way from

the home of the bridegroom to the tent of the bride. The men carry swords and spears and are mounted on spirited horses. The girls in finery and silver ornaments ride on camels richly adorned with colored silk and trappings. The men hold a mock tournament before the tent of the bride, and the girls enter the woman's apartment to dress her in her new silk and wool robes. Then the procession returns to the bridegroom's home, where there is elaborate feasting and wild dancing all night around a great bonfire."1

"Inheritors of Canaan," Asia, vol. xix, No. iii, page 1230.

Illiteracy. The Arabs of the plain are the least developed of all the people in this region. Probably not more than one per cent of them can read. Mrs. Simpich, who spent some time in Mesopotamia, says. she never heard of an Arab woman who could read or write. The Bedouins would call educating a woman a foolish waste of money.

Pestilence among their flocks, long, cold winters, and great droughts often make the Arabs very poor. If the steppes are too dry for agriculture, population can expand only by invading neighbors' lands. History is full of these instances of invasion by Tartars, Turks, and Arabs.

Government.-The Bedouins are a proud, independent people, and despise a settled life with its agricultural and commercial pursuits. The government among the people of the steppes is largely patriarchal, as it was in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Pastoral peoples prefer personal leadership rather than an organized government, so they do not care for a large number of officials and codes of law. Under these conditions it is hard for the nations of the West to govern the East or to sympathize with its ideas.

1. Imagine yourself an Arab boy and describe the scene as you lounge with your father and his friends in the tent at the close of a hard day. Where would your mother and sisters be during the evening? Why is the Arab boy given much more careful training than his sisters?

2. Explain why a pestilence is more apt to break out among the flocks and herds of the Arab than among those of our Western ranchmen. In which case would the trouble be overcome the more quickly and why? What department of our government aids the ranchmen and farmers in our country? 3. Why do the Bedouins look with contempt on the Arabs of the villages in Mesopotamia?

4. If you do not know the meanings of the following words, hunt them in your dictionary and write sentences containing them: illiteracy, pestilence, trespasses.