At the first camp in which my wife and I pitched our tent among the Bedouin, a sheep was brought in for slaughter shortly after our arrival. This slaughter was to be both in recognition of our visit and that we were going to pitch our tent in the camp. Several hours passed before we, in company with all the adult males of the small camp, ate the meal. In the meantime carpets were laid out for us, on which to recline, and our host fussed about us, pushing cushions around us until he was satisfied that we were comfortable. All the people of the camp, women included, came to greet us. Thereafter, we exchanged the long sequence of conventional, but charming greetings with which we had come prepared; and after one round of exchanges had been completed with our constant host, he would begin again; until, after several repetitions, we were left to rest. The journey to the camp had lasted from dawn to sunset, and, tired as we were then, I thought it a very considerate courtesy to be left to rest. When the meal was brought to that part of the tent in which guests are entertained – the part also occupied by males, and which has the marital ‘bed’ (a straw mat) in it – we all sat around the bowl (the qasʿa) and ate without conversing, while the host urged us to eat more and more.