Ohfewations &c, 287 



from the Heat and Inclemency of the Weather, by a Covering 

 only of fuch Hair Cloth, as our Coal-Sacks are made of, might 

 very juftly be defcribed by Virgil'^ to have thin Roofs. When 

 we find any Number of them together, (and I have feen from 

 three to three hundred ) then, as it hath been already taken 

 Notice of ', they are ufually placed in a Circle and conftitute 

 a Don-war. The Faihion of each Tent is the fame, beins; of^'^'^i'''/'''» 



"^ oft hum. 



an oblong Figure, not unlike the bottom of a Ship turned up- 

 iide down, as Sallufl^ hath long ago defcribed them. How- 

 ever they differ in Bignefs, according to the Number of People 

 who live in them ; and are accordingly fupported, fome with 

 one Pillar, others with two or three : whilft a Curtain or 

 Carpet placed, upon Occafion, at each of thefe Divifions, fepa- 

 rateth the whole into fo many Appartments. The Pillar which 

 I have mentioned, is a ftraight Pole, eight or ten foot high, 

 and three or four Inches in Thicknefs, ferving, not only to 

 fupport the Tent, but, being full of Hooks fixed there for the 

 Purpofe, the -^r^^^hang upon It their Cloaths, Baskets, Sadies 

 and Accoutrements of War. Holofernes, as we read in Judith 

 ig. 16. made the like ufe of the Pillar of his Tent, by hanging 

 his Fauchin upon It. It is there called the Tillar of the Bed^ 

 from the Cuftom perhaps, that hath always prevailed, of 

 having the upper End of the Carpet, Matrafs, or whatever 

 elfe they lye upon, turned, from the Skirts of the Tent, that 

 Way. But the [ Κωνβττεϊοϊ ] Canopy, as we render It (Ver. 9.) 

 ihould, I prefume, be rather called the Gnat (^t Musheeta-Y^^x^ 

 which is a clofe Curtain of Gauze or fine Linnen, ufed , all 

 over the Levant , by People of better Faihion , to keep out 

 the Flyes. The Arahs have nothing of this Kind; who, inr/xw^rw 

 taking their Reft, lye horizontally upon the Ground, without Sir^ "' 

 Bed, Matrafs or Pillow, wrapping themfelvesup only in their 

 Hyhes, and lying (as they find Room,) upon a Mat or Carpet, 

 in the Middle or Corner of the Tent. Thofe who are mar- 

 ried, have each of them a Corner of the Tent, canton d off 

 with a Curtain : the reft accommodate themfelves in the Man- 

 ner I have defcribed. The Defcription which Mela ' and 



I Vid. Not. *. p. 32. 2 ^dificia Numidarum, quse λίαραίια illi vocant, oblonga, in- 

 eurvis lateribus tefta, quafi navium carinx effent. SaUiifl. Bell. Jug. 5- 21. 3 Vid. Exi. 

 p. 19. cap. 3. *Not. I. p,288. 



C c c c 2. i'^irgii 



