LIFE AMONG THE ARABS
We must now turn our attention to the inner life among the Arabs,
to their customs, to their religious observances; and though it is
always difficult for a foreigner, and especially a foreigner in a
Mohammedan country, really to see the life as lived by its people,
it is believed that sufficient intimacy has been developed between
the author and the Arabs to give a very accurate picture of what
goes on among them.
The word “Arab” will be used, as it is not intended in
this chapter to touch again on the subject of the pure Berber,
mentioned before; neither is it considered necessary to mention the
Europeanized natives who have adapted themselves to a great extent
to the life of the big commercial towns of the north and who are
all in favor of the Young Turk Movement and the modernizing of the
excellent systems handed down to them by their ancestors.
These pages will be devoted to the average Arab household living
either in the native quarters of the smaller _communes mixtes_,
in the farms or away in the southern oases and under the tent in
the Sahara.
The first thing which strikes one very forcibly is the extraordinary
respect shown to the head of the family. It is usual for a great
many people of one family to live in the same house, but it is
only the head who counts. Moreover, among the nomads the _caïd_
of the tribe estimates his people by heads of families. In the home
the father reigns supreme; he usually has his meals apart or with
his eldest son. In some cases there are three groups of diners,
the chief with the older men and the guests, the sons and their
friends, and the retainers. The food is brought in and placed before
the first group, who eat what they want, then it is passed to the
second group, and finally to the third. After dinner the older men
talk and laugh and smoke, but the younger men will either sit quiet
or, if they want to talk and smoke, they will go outside. In the
presence of the head of the family the younger generation show
the utmost deference; it is unusual for them to sit down when in
conversation with their father, and they never smoke in his presence.
If a dinner-party is being given and some light or inappropriate
subject of conversation is brought up in the presence of the
father and son, the son will endeavor to change the subject or
even leave the room. Apart they will tell as good a story as any
one, but together it is not considered respectful. Should a chief
come into a café with friends, and a younger member of the family
happen to be there, the latter will leave immediately so as to lay
no restraint on the older man. Many is the time when Europeans,
ignorant of all this etiquette, have asked a party of Arabs to
dinner and have suddenly found that four or five of the party have
not put in an appearance. The host may be hurt, he may be puzzled,
but the solution of the riddle is easy—those four or five guests
have found out that one of the party was a senior man with whom
they could not sit down at table.
In return for all this the head of the family looks after the whole
of the welfare of his descendants, and any relatives are welcome
to eat and reside in his house or tent as long as they like.
By nature the Arab is very easy-going. Even the shopkeepers do not
worry people to buy, and will often tell a customer that the article
he requires is not stocked rather than interrupt a conversation with
a friend over the counter. Their prices are usually rather vague,
and bargaining is quite normal, the result of the deal depending
a great deal on the mood of the shopkeeper. If the deal is not
brought off there is no ill-feeling, and the customer will often
be asked to come in and drink a cup of tea.
The very poor people, and there are a great many, live on charity
and the wages of odd jobs, but it is amazing to see how body and soul
hang together with practically no clothes or substantial nourishment.
Their occupations and pastimes are varied. They are either landowners
in the northern districts, or sheep-farmers and date-growers in the
south—all very profitable occupations and the source of great
fortunes quite unsuspected by the visitor. In their leisure they
ride and hunt with falcons, and shoot; they enjoy horse-racing
and everything to do with riding, and though a great many of them
have motor-cars they consider them merely as conveniences, and the
greatest ambition of a young Arab is to own a horse.
As in all Oriental countries, European vices become exaggerated,
and once a native starts gambling or drinking he does little else.
Otherwise their existence is very simple, and the way they spend
their days is adapted to nature and very healthy. An Arab gets up
early and also quickly. This is due to two reasons. The first is that
he does not usually sleep in a bed, but on a rug on the floor with
another rug over him; the second is that he does not wash on rising,
and he very often goes to sleep in his clothes. How many times have
I been away in out-of-the-way places with Arab friends, either
shooting or attending sheep-markets; coffee has been ordered for
five A. M. They have somehow vaguely wakened me at four-forty-five,
and at four-fifty-five my companions have appeared, all dressed,
to ask why I wasn’t ready! And my reply has always been the same:
“Because I have a strange and curious habit of undressing when I
go to bed and of shaving when I rise.” And it _is_ considered a
strange and curious habit. But that does not mean that these Arabs
are dirty in their persons—far from it. Before and after meals
they wash their hands and faces, before their prayers they do the
same; sometimes they take a bath. Regularly once a week they go to
the _hammam_, or steam bath, where there is an unlimited quantity
of hot water, and where they wash from head to foot, and there is
nothing cleaner than washing in a Turkish bath. Moreover, there
are first-rate masseurs who for a moderate fee take pounds of fat
off the patient in an hour.
What I have never been able to discover is how often the average Arab
changes his underclothing. The exterior dress is often sent to the
laundry and I have an idea that in many cases the change is made
four times a year, at the various seasons. Speaking of clothes,
it may perhaps interest the reader to know of what an Arab’s
garments consist:
Next to the skin there is a shirt; there are socks, there are
sometimes drawers, a pair of baggy trousers and leather slippers,
rather like unfinished pumps and not embroidered as may be
supposed. Embroidery on shoes is considered effeminate and can
only be worn on the long red boots used for riding. Over the shirt
is usually a sweater and over that a jacket; it may be a smart
embroidered affair with many buttons, or it may be a simple tunic,
or it may be a European coat, but it does not matter much as it
is entirely covered by the _gandourah_, which is like a long white
nightgown with a low neck, made of wool or silk or cotton.
On the head is a turban which consists of three separate pieces—the
_gannoure_, which is the high framework made of felt on which is
placed the _chech_, which entirely covers it, surrounds the face,
covers the neck, and is tucked away inside the coat. Round the
_chech_ is wound either a band of silk or else the camel’s hair
cords, known as _khiete_. The origin of the wearing of cords was
for the purpose of always having a rope handy to attach to any
receptacle to draw water from the wells in the Sahara.
Over the whole thing the Arab wears one or two burnouses. These are
long cloaks with a hood and are made of wool, camel’s hair, silk
or cloth. The poor shepherd possesses only a woolen or camel’s
hair cloak, but the well-to-do chief has in addition to his rough
burnous for country wear one made of silk over which he wears one
of blue or green or maroon cloth embroidered with silver or gold.
It is a most convenient garment, as in winter it keeps the wearer
warm and the hood pulled over the turban protects him from rain.
Moreover, when it gets hot one or both burnouses can be removed. At
night they take the place of rugs or blankets.
During the morning the Arab will go about his business either in
the town or out on the plain. If he is at home he will eat a light
lunch at eleven-thirty, but this is not an important meal, and
out on the Sahara he will content himself with a piece of bread
and some milk. Time to an Arab is a very vague convention once
he has got up. At first it exasperates the European who has been
brought up to regular habits, but one realizes little by little that
one’s exasperation is a complete mystery to them, and one gives
up worrying about punctuality. It is very annoying sometimes when
one has made all one’s plans to begin a long excursion early in
the morning to find the start fixed for noon, or to invite a lot of
men for dinner at seven-thirty and find some arrive at six-thirty,
some at eight-thirty, and some not at all!
[Illustration: _Photographs by Mr. Julian Sampson_
A “Propriétaire”]
[Illustration: Numidian Type: Musician of a Marabout]
[Illustration: A Moorish Villa]
That is another custom which it takes a long time to understand,
and one is left hurt that people invited do not arrive, and often
do not even make an excuse or consider that one is necessary. It
comes from the fact that in all their houses dinner is always going
for a dozen or so of people, and one more or less does not count.
Every one sits down when the meal is ready, and no one troubles
to count the guests. Of course this does not apply to a regular
invitation to dinner made with the definite purpose of meeting
some one or listening to music; in cases like that no one would
dream of being discourteous. At the same time it is very rare
for an Arab definitely to accept or refuse an invitation. To your
request that he will take a meal with you to-morrow he will reply,
_“Inch Allah”_—“If God wills it”!
Against this, if you are on friendly terms with the Arabs, you can
arrive about meal time—no surprise will be shown, and you will
squat down and share the meal as if it were your daily habit. In
the same way, if some man came in to see one about six-thirty in
the evening he would expect to be asked to dine, which is often
awkward in a European household.
If the Arab has eaten a midday meal he will probably sleep for an
hour after, and then continue doing what he has to. About six-thirty
comes the dinner, and this meal is important. There is always the
highly spiced soup with pieces of meat floating about, usually
another dish of meat and vegetables, and always the _kous-kous_,
with more meat. They drink water or milk, for even those who are
in the habit of taking wine and spirits rarely do so in their own
houses if Europeans are not there. After dinner they drink their
mint tea or coffee, and friends come in to see them, or they go
out themselves and sit in the shops or cafés and drink more tea,
and talk and laugh until it is time to go to bed.
Their meals are eaten on the floor. They keep a kind of narrow
mattress on which they sit, and the dishes are placed on a small
table about a foot high known as a _maïda_. A common napkin some
eight feet long is placed on their knees all round the circle. All
the food, except the soup and sometimes the _kous-kous_, is eaten
with the hand, and before the meal and after, soap and warm water
are carried round and every person washes his hands and face. It
is said that these ablutions bring prosperity. There are usually no
glasses, and a common mug is handed round from which sips are taken.
Of course, when receiving guests of note, or Europeans, the meal
is much more sumptuous, and among the Europeanized chiefs there
is a gaudy dining-room kept for the friends from over the seas.
Crockery of all kinds is produced, knives and forks, a jumble of
wines and a general atmosphere of inconsequent confusion. But the
meal is excellent, though sometimes a trifle long.
This is an average menu for a short dinner:
_Chorba_. Soup with vermicelli, highly spiced.
_Bourak_. Mutton minced with mint and sage, rolled up in a
light pastry—this is a kind of sausage roll.
_Leham Lalou_. A kind of mutton stew in a dark sauce, cooked
with prunes and sweet almonds. The words mean sweetmeat.
_Mechoui_. The lamb roasted and served whole. Even to Europeans
no knives or forks are issued, and it must be torn to pieces with
the hands.
_Kous-kous_. Looks like semolina and is made of hard wheat
kneaded into tiny round balls and steamed. With it is served a kind
of vegetable soup called _marga_, a highly spiced sauce, and often
mutton or chicken. There are countless varieties of _kous-kous_
varying according to localities.
_Heloua_. Sweets and cakes made of flour and honey and almond
paste and orange water.
There are many other alternative dishes; game often appears, but
as a general rule the _chorba_, the _mechoui_, and the _kous-kous_
are _de rigueur_ for the set dinner. In the place of the sheep
there may occasionally appear a gazelle, and if an Arab wants to
show his deepest respect for you he will serve a baby camel roasted
whole. But this is very rare.
Generally speaking, therefore, the Arab’s life is very simple
and peaceful. He is courteous and hospitable, a rather lazy country
gentleman, not very intelligent, but wiser and more philosophical
than many Europeans on problems of daily life. Men who lay tremendous
stress on points of honor, and who rarely forgive an injustice or
an insult, disliking any sort of encroachment by non-Mohammedans,
they have drifted into inertia behind the precepts of the Koran.
“What Allah has destined will occur, so why worry?”