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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



daughters as a wife, just as Jacob con- 

 tracted with Laban for his two daughters, 

 Leah and Rachel.* The usual time served 

 for a wife is from five to seven years. 



PRIMITIVE METHODS OF DAIRYING 



As long as the flocks are kept in the 

 village, the sheep, as well as the goats, 

 are milked by the women, and the milk 

 turned into cheese and butter, to be sold 

 in the city markets. 



Butter is made in a goat skin like those 

 used for carrying water. This is only 

 half filled with the milk, which previously 

 has been allowed to sour. The skin is 

 blown full of air, the opening tied up, 

 and it is hung on a tripod of sticks and 

 shaken back and forth by one or two wo- 

 men until the butter is formed (see page 

 312). 



We have no record of how the ancient 

 shepherds of this land made their butter, 

 but could it have been by a cruder or more 

 primitive process? This butter is quite 

 white, and is not eaten, spread on bread, 

 as with us, but is mostly converted into 

 a cooking requisite by boiling until all 

 the watery parts have evaporated, when 

 it is stored in goat skins, and keeps 

 indefinitely. 



Fresh butter is also eaten served in a 

 bowl, with usually a quantity of sugar, 

 honey, or molasses made of grapes 

 added, f in which each dips their morsel 

 of bread. 



During the day each shepherd pastures 

 his flock independently, but in the even- 

 ing all meet at the selected rendezvous. 

 It may be a large open field or a spot 

 where they are protected from the wind. 

 Here all the flocks intermix in one great 

 company during the night. 



The shepherds arrange among them- 

 selves for a watch, each set of four or 

 five men keeping guard for an hour or 

 two, while the rest sleep curled up in 

 their sheepskin. Sometimes they stand 

 like sentinels over the sheep in the soli- 

 tude of the still, starlit night, just like 



* Gen. 29 : 15-29: 

 t Isaiah 7 : 15, 22. 



the shepherds of old on the first Christ- 

 mas eve. 



CATDING THE SHEEP BY NAME 



Those unacquainted with the pastoral 

 life of this land, who do not know the 

 almost human relationship between the 

 flocks and their keepers, may wonder how 

 the sheep are separated by their different 

 owners when morning comes. 



The sheep respond to the voice of their 

 own shepherd, but, so well do they know 

 the individual members of the flock of 

 which they are part, that when the morn- 

 ing breaks each flock gathers itself to- 

 gether as a matter of habit. Then the 

 shepherds start off in different directions, 

 each calling his own sheep, sometimes 

 standing on a rock or elevated place, and 

 the sheep prick up their ears and look 

 around, and seeing their shepherd, follow 

 him because they know his voice. 



The shepherd, to make sure that none 

 is left behind, causes his flock to pass 

 under his rod between him and a rock, 

 and as they pass he counts them.! 



As a rule, when the shepherd calls one 

 by its name it will answer with a bleat or 

 come running expecting a treat, as a bit 

 of bread from his scrip or a twig of 

 leaves broken from a tree. 



Each shepherd carries a club or crook, 

 and uses it for defense and protection 

 and not, as in other countries, to drive 

 the sheep with, for here the shepherd 

 always precedes the flock and they follow 

 him. In case of danger, such as the in- 

 trusion of some wild animal, the sheep 

 rush to him, and this weapon on his 

 shoulder seems to allay their fears, re- 

 minding one of the words, "Thy rod and 

 thy staff they comfort me." § 



To know these shepherds is to under- 

 stand how the Shepherd Psalmist and 

 King, contemplating all the incidents and 

 vicissitudes of his pastoral life, could 

 compose that matchless psalm, of such 

 solace and strength, "The Lord is my 

 shepherd, I shall not want." f 



t Lev. 27 : 32. 

 § Psalm 23 : 4. 

 ft Psalm 23 : 1. 



