278 Proceedings of th< Albany Institute, 



The Orientals are at the antipodes of western culture, 

 grasping all ideas al the wrong end, as Arabs seize their 

 horses' tails and swing themselves into the saddle. Their 

 women therefore are of necessity degraded, their sons ap- 

 plying the rod sometimes in strange reversal of King 

 Solomon's suggestion, making it "spare the rod if you 

 would spoil your mother." 



Their animals likewise partake of the rude and uncivil- 

 ized condition of things, wearing their tail- of ten or a 

 dozen pounds in weight 



The praying -Mussulmans differ from men of western 

 churches, in being proud of their prayers and praying 

 everywhere and at all times, thus giving rise to the Mos- 

 lem proverb: " If your neighbor prays one time a day, 

 avoid him; if twice, let him alone ; if three times, move 

 into another street." 



The maidenhood of Oriental women is passed in balanc- 

 ing water jars, gossiping, and wearing all their dowry on 

 their heads ; occasionally interrupted by coy flirtations with 

 Howadjis strolling through the land. 



The Arabs of the Jordan and Dead sea remind one of 

 Sir Walter Scott's tales of crusading times, and are every 

 whit as nimble, thievish and intelligent as their Arab 

 steeds. The Dead sea (all former chronicles to the con- 

 trary notwithstanding) will allow a man to drown if he has 

 a mind to. If one bathes in it, however, his ears are sail 

 cellars; his eyes, a sea of briny iirc ; all abrasions of 

 his flesh a perfect Sodom and Gomorrah to his feelings; 

 and it' the water chances to get into him in any quantity, the 

 result is better fancied than described. 



The doctors of the east were humorously alluded to by 

 Mr. Twombly, as enjoying a Lucrative profession, and not 

 like the hakims of the Hindoos, obliged to take their own 

 doses, and to die with any of their patients whom they 

 overdose; but, giving simple remedies according to the 



