258 THE ARAB'S CLOTHES 



piece and sewed up bag - fashion, with holes made in it 

 for the head and arms, now and then affording the luxury 

 of short sleeves ; and which under no circumstances what- 

 soever is b'iled until age has withered and custom staled it 

 into actual rags. Item : if well off, a sleeveless buttoned 

 vest. Item : real " bags," to adopt our young hunting 

 swell's term, for trousers. Sartorially speaking, these are 

 made of cotton, and are literally like a bag whose depth 

 is equal to a little more than the distance from waist 

 to knee, and whose width equals thrice or more times the 

 distance a man can stretch apart his legs. Cut out the 

 two corners of the bottom of the bag, step through the 

 holes, and tie the stuff hemmed or not according to fancy 

 around the knees ; then gather up the mouth around 

 the waist, and you have the Plymouth Rock pants du 

 2}ays. There is thus left pendent between the Arab's legs 

 a bag big enough to hide himself in. Less stuff will suffice 

 if there be not enough on hand. The origin and utility of 

 this leg-gear it were vain to inquire. Item : one scarf to go 

 a number of times round the waist. Item : if cold, an ad- 

 ditional shirt-like garment of woollen goods coming down 

 below the knees. Item : one burnoose, or peculiarly-cut 

 cloak of white or, in Tunis, blue woollen stuff, with a 

 very roomy hood, exceeding loose, so as to wrap about 

 one and throw over the shoulder. Item : one fez, with 

 some cotton cloth twisted up rope-fashion to wrap around 

 it in the guise of a turban. Item : one pair of shoes (or 

 not, as the case may be), made of anything from woven 

 rushes to Morocco leather. 



There are some variations to all this, but they are slight. 

 The Arab is everywhere clothed in bags, right or wrong 

 side up. In this dress, or so much of it as he can afford, 

 the native lives day and night, from early manhood to 

 old age, and when he dies he is buried in it, or the gar- 



