100 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



attributed by the people to blood. The black hair is either 

 closely shaved, or hanging down in ragged elf-locks to the breast. 

 Most popular writers describe the Arab eye as large, ardent, and 

 black, but, according to Captain Burton, who, on his adventurous 

 pilgrimage to Meccah, had full opportunity for observing many 

 tribes, it is generally dark brown or green-brown, small, round, 

 restless, deep-set, and fiery, denoting keen inspection, with an 

 ardent temperament and an impassioned character. The 

 habit of pursing up the skin below the orbits, and half-closing 

 the lids to prevent dazzle, plants the outer angles with 

 premature crow's-feet. Another peculiarity is the sudden way 

 in which the eye opens, especia^lly iunder excitement. This, 

 combined with its fixity of glance, forms an expression now of 

 lively fierceness, then of exceeding sternness. The look of a 

 chief is dignified and grave even to pensiveness, yet there is 

 not much difference in the expression of the eye between men 

 of the same tribe, who have siaaailar pursuits which engender 

 similar passions. ' Expression,' as Captain Bui'ton well remarks, 

 ' is the grand diversifier of appearance among civilised people ; 

 in the desert it knows few varieties.' The bushy black eyebrows 

 are crooked and bent in sign of though tfulness. The forehead is 

 high, broad, and retreating. The temples are deep, the cheek- 

 bones salient, which contbined with the lantern-jaw often gives 

 a death's-head appearance to the face. The nose is pronounced, 

 generally aquiline, U\e eai-s small and well-cut, the mouth 

 irregular, the teeth, as usual among Orientals, white, even, 

 short, and broad. According to Chateaubriand, no sign woidd 

 betray the savage in the Arab's countenance, if lie constantly 

 kept his mouth closed ; it is when he shows his teeth, of a 

 dazzling whiteness like those of the jackal, that his wild 

 nature shows itself. In this he differs from the American 

 Indian, whose ferocity appears in the eye, while tlie mouth has 

 a mild expression. Some tribes trim their moustaches ac- 

 cording to the practice derived from the Prophet ; others shave 

 them, or allow them to hang^ Persian-like, over the lips. The 

 beard is represented by two tangled tufts upon the chin, and 

 where the whiskers should be, the place is either bare or thinly 

 covered with straggling hair. The temperament of the Be- 

 douins is either nervous or bilious, i-arely sanguine, never 



