532 LECTURES AND ESSAYS [1880- 



pletely concealed as that of his wife with her face veil ; 

 and one is tempted to ask whether the latter fashion was 

 adopted purely to maintain the principle of female 

 seclusion, or partly from reasons of comfort. The fully 

 developed face veil, with nothing but holes for the eyes, 

 is no doubt part of the Hareem principle. But it is not 

 used everywhere. Among the Oteibe, for example, the 

 burko only covers the mouth and lower part of the face. 

 At all events, the inconvenience which we suppose to 

 lie in the use of the veil is very much imaginary. The 

 heavy semada, or the great dingy wrapper which takes 

 its place among the poorer classes, is equally cumbrous 

 at first sight. But the Arabs, like other simple peoples, 

 use the same dress in all seasons, and have, therefore, 

 chosen a covering for the head which, with a slight change 

 in the way of wearing it, protects from the sun in summer 

 and the cold in winter. After an hour s journey we 

 found ourselves at the opening of a real mountain pass, 

 rough, steep, and stony. The camels were very indignant, 

 and protested with loud grunts, which were renewed 

 more emphatically when they reached the top and found 

 that they were expected to go down on the other side. 

 We had indeed lost our way northward into Wady Marr 

 by a long and rough bypath. The rocky road was very 

 trying to our dromedaries, and they gave vent to their 

 feelings on the subject by roaring, occasionally halting, 

 and generally expressing their contempt for our ignorance 

 of the right path. The camel always walks with his nose 

 in the air to express his disgust at the human race, 

 which he consents to serve only under protest. Like 

 the true Briton who, if there is anything in Darwinian- 

 ism, is certainly of the camel stock he does his duty 

 regularly and well, but can neither begin nor stop work 

 without a grumble. He is equally unwilling to get on 

 his legs at starting and to kneel when asked to stop, and 

 the least interruption in the routine of his duties is received 

 with a grunt which intimates that this sort of thing is 



