Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates Vol 2 - The Search For Mecca

22 2 Bedouin Tribes of the Eitphrates. [ch. xxvi.
Of tlie past and of the future we thought little, but
of our immediate prospects of dinner much. As we
sat hour after hour in our saddles, watching the
horizon turn slowly round us, or marking the sun's
progress by the shadows of our camels' necks, we
acknowledged that we could not think. Our hopes
were bounded by the Avell which we might reach at
evening, our fears by the low line of hills which
might conceal an enemy. The interest of the
moment and the bare pleasure of living absorbed all
our fancy. A vivid present shut out past and future,
and even in moments of danger we had not time for
the thouo'ht of death.
Thus it is with the Bedouins in youth ; but in
old aofe, even when health fails them and their
strength, they are no better circumstanced. A
Bedouin may perfectly well pass all his days from
the cradle to the grave and never have spent a single
one of them alone. His life is a life of society.
In the outer tent, if he be a rich man, no hour ot
the day nor any day in the year, will he find less
than half a dozen friends or dependents ; while in
the inner tent, women and children, slaves and
relations are constantly present. If he is a poor
man, he will sit all day in the tents of others. No
Bedouin rides, even for a few miles, alone ; and
like his mare, if he finds himself without his fellows,
the bravest is frightened.
Another reason too why in Europe we so greatly
appreciate and fear death, is that all of us have at