256 THE ARAB AS A MAN 



that all his ancestors are in sheol, whether you yourself be- 

 lieve the statement or not. The more natural process, it 

 seems to me, would be first to dump him into a bath-tub, 

 or the equivalent most handy ; then to fill his stomach ; 

 last, to bring up the religious question. The word bath- 

 tub is generic ; it denotes every physical means of cleanli- 

 ness. Unquestionably, a well -scrubbed, well-fed savage 

 would be more apt to take to the truths of theology than 

 a hungry one grovelling in his native filth. But let us 

 taboo religious discussion as well as political. I may be 

 treading on some good horse friend's toes, though I have 

 found most horsemen liberal in their dogmas, even if old- 

 fashioned in their faith. 



Despite his good looks and well-knit frame, the value of 

 the Arab as a laborer is not great. He works by fits and 

 starts, and the intervals between fits are long. He can 

 and does at times work hard and fast, but it is only to 

 indulge the longer in laziness by- and -by. Many of the 

 pastoral Arabs who own flocks gauge his value closely ; 

 they hire herdsmen for their food, three dollars, and two 

 sheep a year. Lodging is alfresco most of the time. The 

 shepherd is expected to get along in any weather which 

 will not kill off his herd ; and as to clothing, an Arab 

 herdsman can get on with a minimum. So long as the 

 warp and weft of a bit of cotton cloth will hold together, 

 he can, with the use of thorns for pins, fashion a garment 

 which meets all his requirements. In cold weather he and 

 his sheep or goats herd together in any convenient shelter 

 — under the brow of a hill or behind a clum]) of rocks, or 

 in one of the natural caverns which abound in a slat\" 

 country — and he gets a great part of his warmth from 

 them. Most of the year he can bask in more sunshine 

 than we should like. 



One can have a deal too much of a good thing, even of 



