"Yet one kind kiss before we part,
Drop a tear, and bid adieu."
To be the wife of a true believer, in whatever state of society, from
the most refined to the most barbarous, is to be cursed in the fullest
acceptation of the word. But of the two extremes, many, if the choice
were given, would doubtless prefer the drudgery that falls to the lot of
the partner of the untaught savage, with all the manifold discomforts
attending precarious subsistence, to the immolation and seclusion, which
in civilised Mohammadan countries, is imposed upon the fairest of God's
works. Taking no part with her lord in the concerns of this world--
taught to expect no participation in the happiness of that which is to
come--she is a prisoner kept to minister to the lusts of the flesh; and
the higher the state of cultivation--the more exalted the rank of the
captive--so much the more rigorous is the restraint imposed.
In the European acceptation of the term, small traces are here to be
found of the sentiment of love; and jealousy, when it does exist, would
seldom appear to arise from any regard for the object that has created
the feeling. The Dankali female has contrived to retain her natural
right of liberty; and so long as the wife performs the labour required
at her hands, she is at full liberty to flirt unreproved, to the full
extent of her coquettish inclinations. Upon Baileela devolves the task
of leading the foremost camel, or carrying the heavy burthen slung by a
sharp rope which passes across her breast. She fetches water and wood,
prepares the milk, and boils the meat. She it is who weaves mats of the
date-leaf for the use of her listless and indolent lord; tends his
flocks of sheep and goats, dismantles and erects his wigwam when
migrations are undertaken to distant pools and pastures; and, seated at
his feet, chases away the flies which disturb his repose beneath the
shade of the palm. Here, however, the needle is monopolised by the
male, and he is sometimes to be seen industriously stitching a new
leathern petticoat for his hard-worked partner, who, conscious of the
fleeting nature of her charms, makes the utmost of her short lease; and
in the nature of her occupation finds ample opportunities for
indulgence.
The features of the Bedouin damsel, although degenerate, resemble those
of the Arabian mother, from whom she claims descent; and so close a
similarity pervades the community at large, that one mould would appear
to have been employed for every individual composing it. Nature being
suffered to model her daughters according to her will, their figures
during a brief period are graceful; but feminine symmetry is soon
destroyed by the constant pressure of heavy loads against the chest, and
under the fiery heat of her native sands, the nymph is presently
transformed into the decrepit hag, with bent back and waddling gait. A
short apron of bullock's hide, with frilled edges, is tied above the
hips with a broad band, the sport of every wanton whirlwind; but from
the waist upwards the person is unveiled. A coif of blue calico covers
the head of those who have entered the conjugal state, whilst that of
the virgin is unattired; but the hair of all is arranged in an infinity
of elaborate plaits falling to the shoulders, and liberally greased. So
are also sundry narrow bands of raw hide, which are usually tied above
the ankles by way of charms to strengthen the legs, and which,
contracting as they dry, sink deep below the surface of the part
compressed.
A petalled sprig, appearing to grow out of the waistband, ascends on
either side of the spine, in tattooed relief, resembling tambour work,
and diverging across the ribs, finishes in fancy circles around the
bosom according to the taste of the designer. This is a constant
quantity, and the charms of many a belle are further heightened by
scarification--an angle to break the evenness of the smooth forehead, or
the arc of a circle to improve the dimple on the cheek, being favourite
devices. From the ears of all who can afford personal ornament, depend
two conical drops wrought of thick brass wire spirally coiled, resting
on a curved iron base, and separated by two broad horizontal bands of
pewter. When the wearer is in activity, the flapping of these cumbrous
metallic appendages is ridiculous enough, and the rattle may be heard to
a considerable distance as they come into violent collision with a
necklace composed of a medley of beads, bones, cowrie shells, jingles,
and amulets, strung in many rows upon a leathern collar embedded in dirt
and grease, and terminating in a large rhomb of pewter. Bracelets and
anklets of the same metal are usual, and the ornament of a squalling
brat with inflamed weasel-like eyes slung over the back, is rarely
wanting to complete the figure--a jerk to the right or to the left
bringing it readily across the shoulder when occasion demands.
The Bedouin wigwam--a rectangle of eight feet in length by six broad,
and five high--is constructed of a succession of branches in couples,
curved before the fire, and lashed in the form of a lip-arch. A mat
composed of date leaves forms the roof; and the whole fabric, wherein
the hand of no master builder is visible, is thus readily transferred
from place to place. "_Omnia mea mecum fero_" should form the motto of
the wandering Dankali, whose only furniture consists of a tressel
hollowed at the top to serve as a pillow--a luxury restricted to the
male sex. In the huts of the more wealthy, wooden platters and ladles
sometimes form part of the household gear, together with closely-woven
mat baskets to contain milk; but this beverage is more usually consigned
to a bag of sheep or goat skin--sun-dried flesh, grease, grain, and
water, being lodged also in similar receptacles.
Milk forms the principal diet of this Arcadian race; and they deride the
dwellers in cities for eating birds or fowls, declaring that the flesh
must have travelled upon four legs during life to be at all palatable.
An ancient camel, a buck goat, or a bull calf, is occasionally
slaughtered with a _Bismillah_, and the flesh not immediately consumed
cut into long thin collops, and dried in the sun to be stuffed again
into the skin for future use. Meat is broiled among the embers upon
closely-packed pebbles, which prevents it coming into contact with the
ashes; and the master of the house, taking his seat upon the ground
beside a lump of raw liver, places a wedge-shaped stone under either
heel, in order to impart a slight inclination to the body, and thus
preserve the balance without personal exertion. Picking the bones one
by one out of the fire, he seizes alternate mouthfuls of the grilled and
the raw flesh between the teeth, and with an upward motion of the
creese, divides them close to his nose.
It may be received as an axiom that no Bedouin will speak the truth,
although the doing so might prove to his obvious advantage. He is not
only a liar by the force of rooted habit and example, but also upon
principle, and his oaths are simple matters of form. The name of God is
invoked, and the Koran taken to witness, in falsehoods the most
palpable; and to have sworn with the last solemnity is far from being
regarded in the light of a binding obligation. A stone having been cast
upon the earth, fire is quenched in water, and the adjuration repeated:
"May this body become petrified, and may Allah thus extinguish me if I
utter that which is not true!"
In conversation a portion of every sentence is invariably taken up by
the person addressed--the last word being generally considered
sufficient, or even an abbreviation to the final syllable. The
salutation of the tribes, between whom little bond exists, beyond
identity of language, is a cold forbidding touch of the fingers, fully
indicative of the unfriendly sentiments of the heart. All prey upon
each other, and every individual in whatever rank is by nature, as well
as by habit and inclination, an assassin. None will hesitate to
mutilate or barbarously put to death any member of another clan whom he
may find at advantage, either sleeping or at a distance from succour--
the appetite for plunder, and the thirst for blood, inherent in the
breast, being quite sufficient to dictate every act of atrocity, and to
impel every dastardly outrage, that a savage can devise or commit.
Dwelling in a scene of aridity, hostility, and bloodshed, traversed by
barren chains bearing the impress of volcanic desolation, and cursed
with a soil rarely susceptible of cultivation, but still more rarely
cultivated, the hand of the roving Bedouin is against every man, and
every man's hand is against him. The truth of the Scriptural prophecy
respecting the untameable descendants of Ishmael, here as elsewhere is
well maintained; nor were the words of the poet ever more truly
exemplified than in the hot weary wastes of the Adaiel--
"Nothing save rapine, indolence, and guile,
And woes on woes, a still revolving train.
Whose horrid circle has made human life
Than non-existence worse."
Arrogant, treacherous, and degraded barbarians, bound in the fetters of
idleness and superstition--dissemblers, whose every word is a lie, and
whose overbearing and unaccommodating disposition, grafted upon bigoted
intolerance, was displayed on every occasion to the personal discomfort
of those by whom they were paid and entertained--there was never
throughout the long, tedious, and trying journey, either on the part of
elders, escort, or camel-drivers, the slightest wish or effort, either
to honour or oblige; and it was only on occasions when fire-arms, which
they could not gainsay, might prove of service to themselves, that the
blubber lip did not swell in scorn at the Christian Kafirs, who were
sneered at even in conversation. And these, too, were savages who
scarcely knew the use of bread, who rarely employed water for the
ablution of their filthy persons, and who kept their heads and bodies
floating in a perpetual sea of sheep's-tail fat. On taking leave of the
tormenting fraternity at this the happy termination of a weary and
perilous pilgrimage, which had been performed without once taking off
the clothes, it may safely be averred that no member of the British
Embassy had ever passed so long a period with so large a party, without
desiring to make further acquaintance with at least one individual: but
the last touch of the cold palm was for once received with heartfelt
satisfaction, and each bade adieu to the whole community with an inward
hope that it might never fall to his evil lot to see their scowling
faces more.
Volume One, Chapter XL.