Ob fer nations Sec. 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 areufually placed in a Circle and conftitute 

 a 'Don-war. The Falhion of each Tent is the fame, beins; o^TheFapion 



~ . of them. 



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

 fide down, as Sallufi^' hath long ago defcribed them. How- 

 ever they difter 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, uponOccafion, at each of thefe Divifions, fepa- 

 rateth the whole into fo many Appartments. The Pillar which 

 I have mentioned, is a Itraight 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 [ KavaTOov ] Canopy, as w^e render It (Ver. 9.) 

 fhould, I prefume, be rather called the Gnat ox Musheeta-^Qt, 

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

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

 the Flyes. The .Arahs have nothing of this Kind ; who, in ne method 

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

 Bed, Matrafs or Pillow, wrapping themfelvesup only in their 

 Hykes, 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 jEdificia Numidarum, quK Mapalia illi vocant, oblonga, in- 

 curvis lateribiis tefta, Ljuafi navium carina elTent. Halliift. Bell. Jug. 5- 21. 3 Vid. Exc. 

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



C c c c X F'irgil 



