I. The Bedawin Arabs ought to learn to read and write, in order to learn religion, to increase in understanding, and to become acquainted with the Koran.  They profess to be Moslems, but in reality have no religion.

II.  The reason why so few of the Bedawin know how to read, is because it is out of their line of business.  They prefer fighting, plundering, and feeding flocks and herds.  Reading and books are strange and unknown to them.

III.  If they wished to learn to read, the true time and place would be in the winter, when they migrate to the East in the Jowf, where they are quiet and uninterrupted by government tax-gatherers.

IV.  I learned to read in the vicinity of Hums.  My father brought for my instruction a Khoteeb or Moslem teacher, who taught me reading.  His name was Sheikh Abdullah.  The Sheikh Mohammed taught me writing.

V. The Bedawin esteem a boy better than a girl, because the boy may rise to honor, but the girl has nothing to expect from her husband, and his parents and relatives, but cursing and abuse.

VI.  A man may marry four wives.  If one of them ceases bearing children, and she be of his family, he makes a covenant of fraternity with her, and he supports her in his own camp, but she is regarded simply as a sister.  If she be of another family, he sends her home, and pays her what her friends demand.

VII.  The girls and women have no more religion than the boys and men.  They never pray nor fast, nor make the pilgrimage to Mecca.  But the old women repeat certain prayers, and visit the ziyaras, mazars, and welys, and other holy places.

VIII.  If teachers would come among us, who can live as we do, and dwell in our camps, and travel with us to the desert, they could teach the great part of our children to read, especially if they understood the art of medicine.

Ali spent several weeks among them, sleeping in the camp, and attending upon their sick.  The camp was on the mountains east of the Sea of Galilee.  Fevers prevailed through the entire district from Tiberias to Damascus, and Ali devoted himself faithfully to the care of the sick.  The Sheikh himself was ill with fever and ague, as were several members of his family.  One day Ali prepared an effervescing draught for him, and when the acid and the alkali united, and the mixture effervesced, the Bedawin seated in the great tent screamed and ran from the tent as if the Ruellas were down upon them!  What, said they, is this?  He pours water into water, and out come fire and smoke!  The Sheikh himself was afraid to drink it, so Ali took it himself, and finally, after explaining the principle of the chemical process, he induced both the Sheikh and the Sit Harba to drink the draught.  On leaving the encampment, the Sheikh gave Ali a guard, and three Turkish pounds (about $14,) to pay for his medicines and medical services, saying, that as his Bedawin were growing poor since they were forbidden to make raids on other tribes,