Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/87

Rh his tent, and then for the first time may uncover her face, and see before her her husband."

"And how are these arrangements made?"

"If a man of the tribe applies for the hand of a woman, he makes a bargain as if he were buying a sword or a gun. The father expects compensation, which varies according to the wealth of the bridegroom and the rank of the bride. The price is generally reckoned, not in money, but in camels, which constitute almost the only wealth of the desert. If the suitor be one of the maiden's own relatives or near friends, a single camel may be a sufficient compensation, where two camels would be expected from a stranger. The latter is a large price, for a man on the desert who owns six or eight camels is accounted rich. A poor fellow" (such as would be called in our Southern States one of the "low down whites") "might get a girl of his own inferior class for one or two Turkish pounds" (five or ten dollars).

"In fixing the value of a bride, I suppose chief regard is paid to beauty?"

"Not at all. Beauty scarcely enters into the account. The supreme consideration is the rank of her family. The Arabs are very proud of their family, and she who can boast of belonging to the first of her tribe is more prized than she who is only fair to look upon." This took me quite by surprise. I could not understand how the consideration of rank could have place among these barefooted children of the desert. They all seemed to me to stand on a common level of poverty. It was like an aristocracy among beggars. But Dr. Post assured me that it was so — that distinctions of rank are as marked among them as in the nobility of any country in Europe. He said the Arab families traced back their line through generations, and were very proud of their long descent — a pride which