THE CAMEL. 195 



from that ancient volume which contains many interesting 

 sketches of the earliest ages of society. Leah, Rachel, 

 and their maidens had separate ones, but these were 

 smaller and more simple than the statelier tent of the pa- 

 triarch or chieftain. 



The -Bedouins call these primitive erections khymas, or 

 coverings, from the grateful shelter they afford, and beet el 

 char, or houses of hair. They are similar to those men- 

 tioned by Virgil, which being then, as now, secured from 

 the heat and inclement weather by merely a covering of 

 hair cloth, might justly be described as having thin roofs. 

 But however numerous, or differing in size ; whether 

 erected by the inhabitants of the plain and mountains, or 

 by the wandering Arabs of Arabia or Sahara, they are uni- 

 formly similar ; they are all supported with one or more 

 pillars, while in the larger tents a curtain or carpet is so 

 suspended as to separate the whole into compartments. 

 This pillar is sometimes, as we have just noticed, merely 

 a block, at others a straight pole, eight or ten feet high, and 

 three or four inches thick ; it serves not only to support the 

 tent, but is also covered with hooks upon which the Arabs 

 hang their baskets, skin bottles, saddles, clothes, and war- 

 like accoutrements. Holofernes hung his falchion upon 

 this pole, which is called in our translation the pillar of the 

 bed, from a custom that prevails in eastern countries, of 

 turning the upper end of the carpet towards the pole. Mr. 

 Bruce farther tells us, that on one occasion, when he 

 claimed protection from an Arab family, he took hold of 

 the pole which supported the tent, according to the custom 

 of the country. This custom is very ancient, and is most 

 probably referred to in the xxvii of Isaiah, verse 5. "Let 

 him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace 

 with me; and he shall make peace with me." Or in other 

 words, if he claims my protection, by taking hold of that 

 which is most sacred in my dwelling, he shall have it, but 

 by resistance he must perish. 



