38 TRAVELLING DRESS. 



incidents where shoes and even the leathern peaks 

 of soldiers' caps have formed the only sustenance 

 that could be obtained under similar distressing 

 circumstances. 



Tn accordance with the usual custom in Arabia, 

 and which custom has probably been imported from 

 that country with the Mahommedan religion, the first 

 day of our arrival was spent in friendly conversation 

 with the people of the town, who were acquainted 

 with Mr. Cruttenden from previous intercourse. All 

 allusion to the business we had come upon was 

 carefully avoided, the established etiquette of hos- 

 pitable politeness leaving to the stranger the first 

 day of arrival for rest after his journey, and for 

 making him welcome on the part of his enter- 

 tainers. 



I now assumed the dress which had been recom- 

 mended as the most appropriate for my journey. 

 Over a pair of loose drill trousers, I donned a long 

 yellow frock of nankeen, with sleeves narrowing to 

 the wrist, of a kind which has been used by the 

 Arabs from the time in which the Periplus was 

 written, for among the articles of the commerce of 

 the Hed Sea there enumerated, are these very 

 frocks, and the material of which they are made 

 was then principally imported by Indian vessels, as 

 at the present day. A large straw hat, of the 

 double Manilla kind, with a thick layer of cotton 

 wool between the two walls, formed a very light 

 covering for the head, and being quite impenetrable 



