278 Marriage Customs of the Bedu and Fellahin.
paid, the sum in question being then regarded as the estimated value of the lady and the process of valuation as honorific or possibly for future reference, as, for example, in case she should merit divorce for physical defect or lightness of conduct. One may not question the accuracy of such an observer as Doughty, but such paternal liberality would be difficult to find elsewhere. Nimr, the Bedawi poet already referred to and a powerful Shech of the Adwan, obtained the peerless Watha without price as a reward for chivalrous conduct towards her, but he probably paid the usual terms for the remaining eighty matrimonial experiments made after her death. Even Watha, how- ever, on more than one occasion returned at her own caprice to her tribe, and this is a contingency to be guarded against. The bridal price having been agreed upon, a forfeit in case of such desertion on the part of the untamed beauty of the desert must be arranged. This is, as a rule, double the value of the bride, — two camels, mares, sheep, etc., for every one of the dowry. This is sworn to in the presence of witnesses, but, as such a condition might be an incentive to ill-treatment, her father adds, — " If, however^ which may God forbid, thou maltreatest my daughter^ I will take her back, and thy hand shall remain empty. This is custom and law. Neither to thy tribe nor to thyself shall enmity arise from this." It may of course happen that the father of the maiden refuses to give his consent. This, however, is not an insurmountable obstacle, provided only that the lady is willing and the would-be bridegroom has means to pay the bridal price, as popular feeling is in favour of matrimony as tending to the honour and preservation of the tribe. In such a case, the representatives, having received their refusal, will return reinforced in numbers and bearing with them, or more probably driving before them, the bridal price. A formal demand is again made by the spokesman of the young man, and on meeting a second refusal he conveys the
