474 CHARACTKR AND DISPOSITION. [184S. 



bine tassel at the crown, round which is bound a shawl or 

 turban. Some, instead of the latter, wear the kejjleh, which 

 is ;i handkerchief, often of rich colors, placed diagonally open 

 over the head. The foremost corner is thrown back, and the 

 whole is left to fall in graceful folds over the shoulder, and 

 bound round the temples by a fillet of camel's hair twisted 

 into a rope. This latter head-dress is far more common 

 among the Arabs on both sides of the river Jordan, than 

 among those of the more southern parts of the Desert. The 

 attire of all Beda win, except the very poorest, is completed 

 by an outside flowing mantle, of a very graceful shape — some- 

 times blue, now and then crimson — but more commonly of a 

 fawn color, marked with broad .stripes of dark brown. The 

 former are generally of woolen cloth ; the latter of camel's 

 hair. They commonly go barefoot ; but those who can afford 

 such a luxury, have sandals of fish skin, which are made at 

 Tor, in the peninsula of Sinai. They, however, use them 

 only occasionally, when the sands are intensely hot, or the 

 mountain passes sharp and rugged. With such a costume — 

 so picturesque and graceful, it is no wonder that they should 

 produce, at first, a startling edect upon a European mind, 

 when seen in connection with their wild-bird-o' l -tJi > -wilderness 

 bearing. Their garments appear as if they had never been 

 new — they are so frayed and worn ; and often are little better 

 than rags — yet not the less graceful for that ; and their 

 weapons, doubtless, have passed from father to son, for several 

 generations.*'* 



The remarks of Mr. Fisk are more particularly applicable 

 to those tribes inhabiting the peninsula of Sinai; the male 

 members of which usually compose the escorts of caravans, 

 or of parties of travellers, proceeding to Jerusalem, by way 

 of Mount Sinai, Akabah, "VVady Mousa, and Hebron. But 

 all these different families of the descendants of Ishmael re- 

 semble one another in their more important and most striking 

 characteristics; and each individual is a type of his class. 

 Bold, fierce, and courageous; proud and intractable; possess- 



* Fisk's Memorial of the Holy Land. 



