Several years ago I spent, some time with Arabs in North Africa, in
Tunisia and Algeria, and I found them first-rate fellows, They were
very fond of any kind of adventurous sport, and were hospitable and
courteous.
Numbers of them used to come out with their dogs to help me to find
game, and after a long day's beating in the thorn bush and high grass,
when we finished hunting, they used to shake hands and go off home,
quite happy if I had had a good day, and not expecting or seeking for
a tip or a reward as is so generally the case, I am sorry to say, in
England. Men here seem to think that they ought to be paid for every
blessed thing they do.
The Arab chiefs, too, were kindly hosts, they gave me the best of
food, generally a sort of Irish stew of chickens and rice, and made me
comfortable in their own tents at night under their blankets.
They are very clean people, very brave, very courteous and very
honourable. So they are true Scouts of the Desert. They have a number
of little camp customs which Scouts ought to know--and many of them
are like those practised by scouts.
Arabs are always very strict in saluting each other.
The custom of saluting came, as you know, from the old times, when
everybody carried weapons, and the act of raising the right hand on
meeting another man was meant to show that you had not got a weapon in
that hand, and were therefore a friend.
It is exactly the same to this day with the Zulus and other South
African tribes, who carry clubs and assegais; on meeting each other
they pass their weapons into the left hand, and raise their right to
show that it is empty, and that therefore they don't mean to fight
you.
So it is, too, with the Arabs.
If a horseman meets a man on foot, the horseman salutes first, because
he is in the more powerful position, and it is only fair that the man
on foot should therefore have his weapon ready till he knows that the
mounted man is friendly.
In the same way, if a man is sitting down and another walks up to him,
the man who is walking is in the better position for attacking, so he
salutes first to show that he is friendly.
It is very bad form to pitch your tent close to the water supply of
the camp, because it looks as if you were taking possession of the
spring, and that anyone else wanting to use it would have to get your
permission or be liable to be attacked by you when getting his water.
So an Arab always pitches his tent at some little distance away from
the spring or well, in order to show that it is free to all.
When an Arab comes to a strange camp he rides up to the largest tent
and dismounts., and walks straight to the fire around which the
inhabitants are sitting. He then says in a loud voice:
"Peace be with you."
All those sitting round the fire get up and reply:
"And with you, peace."