The degel, “standard,” was the large field sign which belonged to each division of three tribes, and was also the banner of the tribe at the head of that division. The oth,”ensign,” was the small flag or banner which was carried at the head of each tribe and of each subdivision of a tribe. The Bible gives us no intimation of the form of these different signals. They probably bore some general resemblance to the Egyptian military signals, representations of which are to be found on the monuments. These were not at all like our modern flags or banners. They were made of wood or metal, and ornamented with various devices, and shaped in the form of some sacred emblem. Some illustration of the mode of using these signals may perhaps be obtained from the account which Pitts gives of the signals which are carried on the top of high poles in an Arabian caravan, not only by day, but also at night, at which time they are illuminated. “They are somewhat like iron stoves, into which they put short dry wood, which some of the camels are loaded with; it is carried in great sacks, which have a hole near the bottom, where the servants take it out as they see the fires need a recruit. Every cottor [that is, company] hath one of these poles belonging to it, some of which have ten, some twelve, of these lights on their tops, more or less. They are likewise of different figures as well as numbers; one, perhaps, oval way, like a gate; another triangular, or like an N or an M; so that everyone knows by them his respective cottor” (Religion and Manners of the Mahometans, p. 43).