418 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953 



who comes back "rich" from America or Africa there are many who 

 have not prospered markedly, but the villagers see and envy the one 

 successful returned emigrant, not the ninety-and-nine who do not get 

 rich enough to return or to send money home. The returned emigrant 

 helps to inflate land values by buying and developing lands near his 

 village which are for sale, not necessarily the most productive lands 

 available in the country. But the returned emigrant usually does 

 more for the country than those who merely send remittances home, 

 which in many instances merely serve to support in relative idleness a 

 riumber of able-bodied people at the bare subsistence level. It was a 

 common experience during World War II, when remittances were cut 

 off, to find that many families whose members had done no work for a 

 long time, were forced to get out their tools and start working the 

 land again. 



Some of the villagers, as is to be expected, strike notes of pessimism. 

 One of them said cynically, "Living is merely absence of death." But 

 when asked why he did not live in Jibrail or even in Tripoli, he replied 

 that there were a lot of places other than Dahr in which he might like 

 to live, but where he would lack certain perquisites — a house on which 

 he paid no rent, a living, such as it was, sympathetic friends and mem- 

 bers of his family, and so on. When it was pointed out that he had a 

 lovely view from his house over the valley and mountains beyond, he 

 suggested that I try living there for 2 months without an income and 

 see how beautiful I found it then. His final connnent was, "The Devil 

 must be very busy. He hasn't had time yet to come for us at Dahr." 



On the other hand, the former mouhhta'>\ twice a widower, and 85 

 years of age, is vigorous, cheerful, and hardworking, as are the other 

 members of his family. His industry and sense of humor are conta- 

 gious. The children by his second marriage, a girl of 7 and a boy of 

 10, are already performing their share of family duties ; the little girl 

 does chores around the house and brings water from the spring in the 

 two big earthern jars on the donkey's back, and her brother makes a 

 good "hand" at farm tasks. When asked what the striking differences 

 were between today and yesteryear, the old man replied, "People now 

 have more money, they travel more, but there is less happiness and sat- 

 isfaction with one's lot because of jealousy of those better off. There 

 is more display of wealth now than there was two generations ago, 

 when there was less visible difference between the rich and the poor." 

 He smiled at his recollections as he continued, "Fifty years ago 

 rich and poor alike 'hobbled' into Tripoli on the old family donkey, 

 taking a day to go and a day to come, but one went there only when it 

 was strictly necessary. It was a place to go to on urgent business only, 

 not a place to stay in long, for it was inhabited by 'savages' ! We did 

 not then consider it a center of civilization." 



