began their career as a tribe of shepherds on the border of the north
Arabian desert. The Arab shepherds of to-day, still living in tents
and wandering to and fro on the fringes of the settled territory of
Palestine, or to the south and west of Bagdad, represent almost
perfectly what the wandering Hebrew shepherds used to be.

The Arabs of to-day are armed with rifles, whereas Abraham's warriors
cut down their enemies with bronze swords. Otherwise, in customs,
superstitions, and even to some extent in language, the modern desert
Arabs may stand for the ancient Hebrews in their earliest period. They
were nomads with no settled homes. Every rainy season they led out
their flocks into the valleys where the fresh green of the new grass
was crowding back the desert brown. All through the spring and early
summer they went from spring to spring, and from pasture to pasture
seeking the greenest and tenderest grass. Then as the dry season came
on and the barren waste came creeping back they also worked their way
back toward the more settled farm lands, until autumn found them
selling their wool to the nearby farmers and townspeople in exchange
for wheat and barley and some of the other necessaries of life.


THE SHEPHERD'S DAILY LIFE

Sheep-raising might seem at times a peaceful and even a somewhat
monotonous business. The flocks found their own food, grazing in the
pastures. Morning and night they had to be watered, the water being
drawn from the well and poured into watering troughs. Once or twice a
day also the ewes and shegoats had to be milked. When these chores
were done it was only necessary to stand guard over the flock and
protect them from robbers or wild animals. This, however, had to be