There are brief references to the Qedar in the writings of Western travellers to the Levant in the 19th century . Drawing on biblical motfis , comparisons are made between the Bedouins and the Qedar . For example , Albert Augustus Isaacs describe the imposing spectacle of a Bedouin encampment on a plain upon which , " the black tents of Kedar was spread far and wide . " An earlier account by Charles Boileau Elliot describe the Arabs as falling into two main groups , Fellahs and Bedouins , and identify the latter with Ishmael and the Qedar as follow :