9θ HEBREW LIFE AND CUSTOM
being open to anybody to watch, and there being no secrecy
or staging of any kind. . . .
‘ In the particular instance in which the writer was an eye-
witness, one Arab from Southern Palestine had accused another
Arab from Khan Yunis of murdering his son. The boy had been
found dead in the desert, and the body had been examined by
the Government doctor, who had found no signs of violence
whatsoever. . . . The accused protested his innocence and chal-
lenged the other to support his charge by evidence.
c In spite of the entire absence of evidence, the father persisted
in his accusation, and threatened that reprisals would be taken.
The accused—apparently unwillingly—eventually consented to
undergo the trial by ordeal, and the other agreed that if the
Bisha decided in favour of the accused he would drop his claim.
Arrangements were duly made, the sheikh of the Bisha came
from his house in Central Sinai up to El Arish to meet the liti-
gants half-way, and paid an official call on the writer, whom he
invited to be present at any time or place convenient. The
meeting was fixed for late afternoon, in the shade of a tree near
the Government offices. A charcoal fire was burning, and a
group of fifteen or twenty onlookers squatted in a semi-circle
round the fire, in company with the accuser and the accused,
their mutual assessor, and the two chosen by the sheikh himself.
In the centre of the group, two or three paces in front of the rest
of the assembly, sat the sheikh, stoking up his charcoal fire, on
which the “ sp∞n ” was laid, with the sticks of charcoal built up
round it. Some of the men were smoking cigarettes, others
puffed contentedly at their enormous pipes, and the shadows
from the big tree over the yellow sand completed the peaceful
scene. It was difficult to believe that in a few moments one of
those present would be tried for his life, his fate hanging on the
ugly iron sp∞n in the charcoal fire.
‘ The buzz of conversation suddenly stopped, as one of those
present made a last effort to reconcile the litigants, and appealed
to the accuser to accept some form of compromise. His effort
was unsuccessful, the accused himself, a swarthy Arab with finely
chiselled features and a short black beard, declaring that he
would not shirk the ordeal at this stage of the proceedings. He
seemed quite unconcerned, took out a cigarette and lit it from a
burning stick at the edge of the fire.
‘ After a few minutes the sheikh of the Bisha intimated that the
spoon was hot enough, and directed the accused to come and
kneel just behind his left shoulder.
TRIAL BY ORDEAL 97
‘ “ In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate ”
crooned the sheikh, as he quietly said a prayer, in which all
present reverently joined. A small pot of water was then passed
to the accused, who rinsed his mouth and spat noisily, after which
the three assessors carefully examined his mouth, lips, and tongue.
Taking the handle of the spoon in his right hand, the sheikh
withdrew the spoon from the fire, flicked the ashes off its up-
turned bottom with his other hand, and presented it glowing red
to the accused at his left elbow.
‘ For one brief moment the accused paled, his dusky skin
showing ash-grey ; and then, pulling himself together and tightly
grasping his sword with both hands, he put out his tongue and
licked the hot spoon. As his tongue returned to his mouth, the
black mark of the ashes was clearly seen. “ Again ” called the
crowd ; and this time rather frightened and unwilling he forced
himself to comply. A third time he leant forward—this time
recklessly—and licked the spoon, while the onlookers strained
forward eagerly to watch the ordeal.
‘ The sheikh passed the pot of water to the accused, who had
by now released his nervous grasp on his sword ; and after again
rinsing out his mouth, the accused returned the water to the
sheikh, and squatted on the ground. The sheikh poured some
water into the spoon, and the noisy boiling and the steam, to-
gether with the complete disappearance of the water, satisfied
any doubts as to its temperature. Three times the sheikh poured
water into the belly of the spoon—twice it boiled away
immediately, and once it remained. Then he poured more
water into the cup-like depression at the base of the handle, and
again the water boiled away. When the spoon had been com-
pletely cooled, the sheikh called together his two witnesses and
the assessor nominated by both litigants, and the four then
ordered the accused to put out his tongue. With supreme self-
confidence he obeyed, and clearly visible to all was his tongue
looking perfectly healthy and natural. “ Clean,” declared the
sheikh ; “ Clean,” echoed the witnesses, and a group of onlookers
(including the writer) went up to examine his tongue and mouth
more closely. On closer inspection the faintest possible trace of
a black ashy smudge was just visible in the centre of his tongue,
which was otherwise perfectly healthy and normal every way.’
[I do not remember that Professor Kennett made any
further peroration or summing up of his three Lectures.
The dramatic narrative of Mr. Austin Kennett (now, alas,
о