people when necessity renders them industrious, find great advantage.
The shepherds, mule drivers, camel drivers, and travellers, gather the
leaves, of which they make mats, fringes, baskets, hats, shooaris or
large wallets to carry corn, twine, ropes, girths and covers for their
pack saddles. This plant, with which also they heat their ovens,
produces a mild and resinous fruit, that ripens in Sept. and Oct. It is
in form like the raisin, contains a kernel and is astringent, and very
proper to temper and counteract the effects of the watery and laxative
fruits, of which these people in summer make an immoderate use. That
Power which is ever provident to all, has spread this wild plant over
their deserts to supply an infinity of wants that would otherwise
heavily burthen a people so poor.
_Chenier._
[46] "We passed two of those vallies so common in Arabia, which when
heavy rains fall, are filled with water, and are then called _wadi_ or
rivers, altho' perfectly dry at other times of the year.--We now drew
nearer to the river of which a branch was dry, and having its channel
filled with reeds growing to the height of 20 feet, served as a line of
road which was agreably shaded by the reeds.
_Niebuhr._
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of
brooks they pass away.
Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid:
What time they wax warm they vanish; when it is hot they are consumed
out of their place.
The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing and perish.
_Job._ VI. 15.
[47] The simplicity, or, perhaps, more properly, the poverty, of the
lower class of the Bedouins, is proportionate to that of their chiefs.
All the wealth of a family consists of moveables, of which the following
is a pretty exact inventory. A few male and female camels, some goats
and poultry, a mare and her bridle and saddle, a tent, a lance sixteen
feet long, a crooked sabre, a rusty musket, with a flint or matchlock; a
pipe, a portable mill, a pot for cooking, a leathern bucket, a small
coffee roaster, a mat, some clothes, a mantle of black woollen, and a
few glass or silver rings, which the women wear upon their legs and
arms; if none of these are wanting, their furniture is complete. But
what the poor man stands most in need of, and what he takes most
pleasure in, is his mare; for this animal is his principal support. With
his mare the Bedouin makes his excursions against hostile tribes, or
seeks plunder in the country, and on the highways. The mare is preferred
to the horse, because she does not neigh, is more docile, and yields
milk, which on occasion, satisfies the thirst and even the hunger of her
master.
_Volney._
The Shaik, says Volney, with whom I resided in the country of Gaza,
about the end of 1784, passed for one of the most powerful of those
districts; yet it did not appear to me that his expenditure was greater
than that of an opulent farmer. His personal effects, consisting in a
few pelisses, carpets, arms, horses, and camels, could not be estimated
at more than fifty thousand livres (a little above two thousand pounds);
and it must be observed that in this calculation four mares of the breed
of racers are valued at six thousand livres, (two hundred and fifty
pounds), and each camel at ten pounds sterling. We must not therefore,
when we speak of the Bedouins, affix to the words Prince and Lord, the
ideas they usually convey; we should come nearer the truth by comparing
them to substantial farmers, in mountainous countries, whose simplicity
they resemble in their dress as well as in their domestic life and
manners. A Shaik, who has the command of five hundred horse, does not
disdain to saddle and bridle his own, nor to give him his barley and
chopped straw. In his tent, his wife makes the coffee, kneeds the dough,
and superintends the dressing of the victuals. His daughters and
kinswomen wash the linen, and go with pitchers on their heads, and veils
over their faces, to draw water from the fountain. These manners agree
precisely with the descriptions in Homer, and the history of Abraham, in
Genesis. But it must be owned that it is difficult to form a just idea
of them without having ourselves been eye witnesses.
_Volney._
[48] Thus confined to the most absolute necessaries of life, the Arabs
have as little industry as their wants are few; all their arts consist
in weaving their clumsy tents, and in making mats and butter. Their
whole commerce only extends to the exchanging camels, kids, stallions
and milk; for arms, clothing, a little rice or corn, and money, _which
they bury._
_Volney._
[49] The chief manufacture among the Arabs is the making _of Hykes_ as
they call woollen blankets, and webs of goat's hair for their Tents. The
Women alone are employed in this work, as Andromache and Penelope were
of old; who make no use of a shuttle, but conduct every thread of the
woof with their fingers.
_Shaw._
[50]
If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I
have laid wait at my neighbour's door.
Then let my wife grind unto another.
Job. XXXI. 9. 10.
[51] I was much amused by observing the dexterity of the Arab women in
baking their bread. They have a small place built with clay, between two
and three feet high, having a hole at the bottom, for the convenience of
drawing out the ashes, something similar to that of a lime kiln. The
oven (which I think is the most proper name for this place) is usually
about fifteen inches wide at the top, and gradually grows wider to the
bottom. It is heated with wood, and when sufficiently hot, and perfectly
clear from smoke, having nothing but clear embers at bottom (which
continue to reflect great heat), they prepare the dough in a large bowl,
and mould the cakes to the desired size on a board or stone placed near
the oven. After they have kneaded the cake to a proper consistence, they
pat it a little, then toss it about with great dexterity in one hand,
till it is as thin as they choose to make it. They then wet one side of
it with water, at the same time wetting the hand and arm, with which
they put it into the oven. The wet side of the cake adheres fast to the
side of the oven till it is sufficiently baked when if not paid
sufficient attention to, it would fall down among the embers. If they
were not exceedingly quick at this work, the heat of the oven would burn
the skin from off their hands and arms; but with such amazing dexterity
do they perform it, that one woman will continue keeping three or four
cakes at a time in the oven till she has done baking. This mode, let me
add, does not require half the fuel that is made use of in Europe.
_Jackson._
[52] Tamarinds grow on great trees, full of branches whereof the leaves
are not bigger than, nor unlike to the leaves of pimpernel, only
something longer. The flower at first is like the peaches, but at last
turns white, and puts forth its fruit at the end of certain strings: as
soon as the sun is set, the leaves close up the fruit, to preserve it
from the dew, and open as soon as that luminary appears again. The fruit
at first is green, but ripening it becomes of a dark grey, drawing
towards a red, inclosed in husks, brown or twany, of taste a little
bitter, like our prunelloes. The tree is as big as a walnut-tree, full
of leaves, bearing its fruit at the branches, like the sheath of a
knife, but not so straight, rather bent like a bow.
_Mandelslo._
[53] I have often, says Niebuhr, heard the Sheiks sing passages from the
Koran, they never strain the voice by attempting to raise it too high,
and this natural music pleased me very much.
The airs of the Orientals are all grave and simple. They chuse their
singers to sing so distinctly that every word may be comprehended. When
several instruments are played at once and accompanied by the voice, you
hear them all render the same melody, unless some one mingles a running
base, either singing or playing, always in the same key. If this music
is not greatly to our taste, ours is as little to the taste of the
Orientals.
_Niebuhr. Description._
[54] The Mosques, which they pronounce Mesg jid, are built exactly in
the fashion of our Churches, where instead of such Seats and Benches as
we make use of, they only strew the Floor with Mats, upon which they
perform the several sittings and prostrations that are enjoyned in their
religion. Near the middle, particularly of the principal Mosque of each
city, there is a large pulpit erected, which is ballustraded round, with
about half a dozen steps leading up to it. Upon these (for I am told
none are permitted to enter the pulpit) the Mufty or one of the Im-ams
placeth himself every Friday, the day of the congregation, as they call
it, and from thence either explaineth some part or other of the Coran,
or else exhorteth the people to piety and good works. That end of these
Mosques, which regards Mecca, whither they direct themselves throughout
the whole course of their devotions, is called the Kiblah, in which
there is commonly a nich, representing as a judicious writer
conjectures, the presence, and at the same time the invisibility of the
Deity. There is usually a square tower erected at the other end, with a
flag-staff upon the top of it. Hither the cryer ascends at the appointed
times, and displaying a small flag, advertised the people with a loud
voice, from each side of the battlements, of the hour of prayer. These
places of the Mahometan worship, together with the Mufty, Im-ams and
other persons belonging to them, are maintained out of certain revenues
arising from the rents of lands and houses, either left by will or set
apart by the public for that use.
_Shaw._
All the Mosques are built nearly in the same style. They are of an
oblong square form, and covered in the middle with a large dome, on the
top of which is fixed a gilt crescent. In front there is a handsome
portico covered with several small cupolas, and raised one step above
the pavement of the court. The Turks sometimes in the hot season,
perform their devotions there; and between the columns, upon cross iron
bars, are suspended a number of lamps, for illuminations on the Thursday
nights and on all festivals. The entrance into the Mosque is by one
large door. All these edifices are solidly built of freestone, and in
several the domes are covered with lead. The minarets stand on one side
adjoining to the body of the Mosque. They are sometimes square, but more
commonly round and taper, the gallery for the maazeen, or cryers,
projecting a little from the column near the top, has some resemblance
to a rude capital; and from this the spire tapering more in proportion
than before, soon terminates in a point crowned with a crescent.
_Russel's Aleppo._
[55] The Keabe is the point of direction and the centre of union for the
prayers of the whole human race, as the Beith-mamour[d] is for those of
all the celestial beings; the Kursy[e] for those of the four Arch
angels, and the Arsch[f] for those of the cherubims and seraphims who
guard the throne of the Almighty. The inhabitants of Mecca, who enjoy
the happiness of contemplating the Keabe, are obliged when they pray to
fix their eyes upon the sanctuary; but they who are at a distance from
this valuable privilege are required only during prayer to direct their
attention towards that hallowed edifice. The believer who is ignorant of
the position of the Keabe must use every endeavour to gain a knowledge
of it; and after he has shown great solicitude, whatever be his success,
his prayer is valid.
_D'Ohsson._
[d] Beith mamour, which means the house of prosperity and
felicity, is the ancient Keabe of Mecca, which according
to tradition, was taken up into heaven by the Angels at
the deluge, where it was placed perpendicularly over
the present sanctuary.
[e] Kursy, which signifies a seat, is the 8th firmament.
[f] Arsch is the throne of the Almighty, which is thought
to be placed on the ninth, which is the higher of the
firmaments.
[56] The Bedoweens live in tents, called _Hhymas_, from the shade they
afford the inhabitants, and _Beet el Shar_, Houses of hair, from the
matter they are made of. They are the same with what the Antients called
Mapalia, which being then, as they are to this day, secured from the
heat and inclemency of the weather, by a covering only of such hair
cloth, as our coal sacks are made of, might very justly be described by
Virgil to have thin roofs. When we find any number of them together (and
I have seen from 3 to 300) then they are usually placed in a circle, and
constitute a Dou-war. The fashion of each tent is the same, being of an
oblong figure, not unlike the bottom of a ship turned upside down, as
Satlust hath long ago described them. However they differ in bigness,
according to the number of people who live in them: and are accordingly
supported, some with one pillar, others with two or three: whilst a
curtain or carpet placed, upon occasion, at each of these divisions,
separateth the whole into so many apartments. The pillar which I have
mentioned, is a straight pole, 8 or 10 feet high and 3 or 4 inches in
thickness, serving, not only to support the tent, but being full of
hooks fixd there for the purpose, the Arabs hang upon it their cloaths,
baskets, saddles, and accoutrements of war. Holofernes, as we read in
Judith, 13. 16. made the like use of the pillar of his tent, by hanging
his fauchin upon it, it is there called the _pillar of the bed_, from
the custom perhaps, that hath always prevailed, of having the upper end
of the carpet, matrass, or whatever else they lie upon, turned from the
skirts of the tent that way. But the [Greek: Konopeion], Canopy as we
render it (ver. 9) should I presume, be rather called the gnat or
muskeeta net, which is a close curtain of gauze or fine linnen, used all
over the Levant, by people of better fashion, to keep out the flies. The
Arabs have nothing of this kind; who in taking their rest, lie
horizontally upon the ground, without bed, matrass or pillow, wrapping
themselves up only in their _Hykes_, and lying, as they find room upon a
mat or carpet, in the middle or corner of the tent. Those who are
married, have each of them a corner of the tent, cantoned off with a
curtain.
_Shaw._
The tents of the Moors are somewhat of a conic form, are seldom more
than 8 or 10 feet high in the centre, and from 20 to 25 in length. Like
those of the remotest antiquity, their figure is that of a ship overset,
the keel of which is only seen. These tents are made of twine, composed
of goat's hair, camel's wool, and the leaves of the wild palm, so that
they keep out water; but, being black, they produce a disagreable effect
at a distant view.
_Chenier._
[57] In the kingdom of Imam the men of all ranks shave their heads. In
some other countries of Yemen all the Arabs, even the Sheiks themselves,
let their hair grow and wear neither bonnet nor _Sasch_, but a
handkerchief instead, in which they tie the hair behind. Some let it
fall upon their shoulders and bind a small cord round their heads
instead of a turban. The Bedouins upon the frontiers of Hedsjas and of
Yemen wear a bonnet of palm leaves, neatly platted.
_Niebuhr._
[58] The music of the Bedoweens rarely consists of more than one strain,
suitable to their homely instruments, and to their simple invention. The
Arabebbah as they call the bladder and string, is in the highest vogue,
and doubtless of great antiquity, as is also the Gaspah, which is only a
common reed, open at each end, having the side of it bored, with three
or more holes, according to the ability of the Person who is to touch
it: tho' the compass of their tunes rarely or ever exceeds an octave.
Yet sometimes, even in this simplicity of harmony, they observe
something of method and ceremony, for in their historical _Cantatas_
especially, they have their preludes and symphonies; each stanza being
introduced with a flourish from the Arabebbah, while the narration
itself is accompanied with the softest touches they are able to make,
upon the Gaspah. The Tarr, another of their instruments, is made like a
Sive, consisting (as Isidore describeth the Tympanum) of a thin rim or
hoop of wood, with a skin of parchment stretched over the top of it.
This serves for the Bass in all their Concerts, which they accordingly
touch very artfully with their fingers, and the knuckles or palms of
their hands, as the time and measure require, or as force and softness
are to be communicated to the several parts of the performance. The Tarr
is undoubtedly the Tympanum of the Antients, which appears as well from
the general use of it all over Barbary, Egypt and the Levant, as from
the method of playing upon it, and the figure of the instrument itself,
being exactly of the same fashion, with what we find in the hands of
Cybele and the Bacchanals among the Basso Relievos and Statues of the
Antiets.
_Shaw._
The Arabs have the _Cussuba,_ or cane, which is only a piece of large
cane, or reed, with stops, or holes, like a flute, and somewhat longer,
which they adorn with tossels of black silk and play upon like the
German flute.
_Morgan's Hist. of Algiers._
The young fellows, in several towns, play prettily enough on pipes made,
and sounding very much like our flagelet, of the thigh bones of cranes,
storks, or such large fowl.
_Morgan's Hist. of Algiers._
How great soever may have been the reputation the Libyans once had, of
being famous musicians, and of having invented the pipe or flute, called
by Greek author _Hippophorbos_, I fancy few of them would be now much
liked at our Opera. As for this _tibicen_, flute or pipe, it is
certainly lost, except it be the _gayta_, somewhat like the hautbois,
called _zurna_, in Turkish, a martial instrument. Julius Pollux, in a
chapter entitled _de tibiarum specie_, says, _Hippophorbos quam quidem
Libyes Scenetes invenerunt_, and again, shewing the use and quality
thereof, _haec vero apud equorum pascua utuntur, ejusque materia
decorticata laurus est, cor enim ligni extractum acutissimam dat sonum_.
The sound of the _gayta_ agrees well with this description, tho' not the
make. Several Poets mention the _tibicen Libycus_ and _Arabicus_: and
Alhenaeus quotes Duris, and says, _Libycas tibia Poetae appellant, ut
inquit Duris, libro secundo de rebus gestis Agathoclis, quod Scirites,
primus, ut credunt, tibicinum artis inventor, e gente Nomadum Libycorum
fuerit, primusque tibiae Cerealium hymnorum cantor._
_Morgan's Hist. of Algiers._
[59] Persae "pulcherrima usi translatione, pro _versus facere_ dicunt
_margaritas nectere;_ quemadmodum in illo Ferdusii versiculo "_Siquidem
calami acumine adamantine_ margaritas nexi; _in scientiae mare penitus me
immersi_."
_Poeseos Asiaticae Commentarii._
This is a favourite Oriental figure. "After a little time lifting his
head from the collar of reflection, he removed the talisman of silence
from the treasure of speech, and scattered skirts-full of brilliant gems
and princely pearls before the company in his mirth-exciting
deliveries."
_Bahar Danush._
Again in the same work--"he began to weigh his stored pearls in the
scales of delivery."
Abu Temam, who was an excellent poet himself, used to say, that, "fine
sentiments delivered in prose were like gems scattered at random; but
that when they were confined in a poetical measure, they resembled
bracelets and strings of pearls."
_Sir W. Jones. Essay on the Poetry of the Eastern nations._
In Mr. Carlyle's translations from the Arabic, a Poet says of his
friends and himself
They are a row of Pearls, and I
The silken thread on which they lie.
I quote from memory, and recollect not the Author's name. It is somewhat
remarkable that the same metaphor is among the quaintnesses of Fuller.
"Benevolence is the silken thread, that should run thro' the pearl chain
of our virtues."
_Holy State._
It seems the Arabs are still great rhymers, and their verses are
sometimes rewarded, but I should not venture to say that there are great
Poets among them. Yet I was assured in Yemen that it is not uncommon to
find them among the wandering Arabs in the country of Dsjaf. It is some
few years since a Sheik of these Arabs was in prison at Sana: seeing by
chance a bird upon a roof opposite to him, he recollected that the
devout Mohammedans believe they perform an action agreable to God in
giving liberty to a bird encaged. He thought therefore he had as much
right to liberty as a bird, and made a poem upon the subject, which was
first learnt by his guards, and then became so popular that at last it
reached the Imam. He was so pleased with it that he liberated the Sheik,
whom he had arrested for his robberies.
_Niebuhr. Desc. de L'Arabie._
[60] They are fond of singing with a forced voice in the high tones, and
one must have lungs like theirs to support the effort for a quarter of
an hour. Their airs, in point of character and execution, resemble
nothing we have heard in Europe, except the Seguidillas of the
Spaniards. They have divisions more laboured even than those of the
Italians, and cadences and inflections of tone impossible to be imitated
by European throats. Their performance is accompanied with sighs and
gestures, which paint the passions in a more lively manner than we
snould venture to allow. They may be said to excell most in the
melancholy strain. To behold an Arab with his head inclined, his hand
applied to his ear, his eye brows knit, his eyes languishing; to hear
his plaintive tones, his lengthened notes, his sighs and sobs, it is
almost impossible to refrain from tears, which as their expression is,
are far from bitter: and indeed they must certainly find a pleasure in
shedding them, since among all their songs, they constantly prefer that
which excites them most, as among all accomplishments singing is that
they most admire.
_Volney._
All their literature consists in reciting tales and histories, in the
manner of the Arabian Nights Entertainments. They have a peculiar
passion for such stories: and employ in them almost all their leisure,
of which they have a great deal. In the evening they seat themselves on
the ground at the door of their tents, or under cover if it be cold, and
there, ranged in a circle, round a little fire of dung, their pipes in
their mouths, and their legs crossed, they sit awhile in silent
meditation, till, on a sudden, one of them breaks forth with, _Once upon
a time_,--and continues to recite the adventures of some young Shaik and
female Bedouin: he relates in what manner the youth first got a secret
glimpse of his mistress, and how he became desperately enamoured of her:
he minutely describes the lovely fair, extols her black eyes, as large
and soft as those of the gazelle; her languid and empassioned looks; her
arched eye brows, resembling two bows of ebony; her waist, straight and
supple as a lance; he forgets not her steps, light as those of the
_young filley_, nor her eye-lashes blackened with _kohl_, nor her lips
painted blue, nor her nails, tinged with the golden coloured _henna_,
nor her breasts, resembling two pomegranates, nor her words, sweet as
honey. He recounts the sufferings of the young lover, _so wasted with
desire and passion, that his body no longer yields any shadow_. At
length, after detailing his various attempts to see his mistress, the
obstacles on the part of the parents, the invasions of the enemy, the
captivity of the two lovers, &c. he terminates, to the satisfaction of
the audience, by restoring them, united and happy, to the paternal tent,
and by receiving the tribute paid to his eloquence, in the _ma sha
allah_[g] he has merited. The Bedouins have likewise their love songs,
which have more sentiment and nature in them than those of the Turks,
and inhabitants of the towns; doubtless because the former, whose
manners are chaste, know what love is; while the latter, abandoned to
debauchery, are acquainted only with enjoyment.
_Volney._
[g] An exclamation of praise, equivalent to _admirably well_!