ARABIA. 



925 



Bedouin .Irabs. 



There are many other petty States in Arabia, and a great number of the inhabitants, hving 

 in small tribes, lead a wandering life ; acknowledging no superiors, but their own chiefs. 



7. Inhabitants, &c. The Arabs are pastoral, as Bedouins, or they live in towns. They have 



dark hair and black eyes, and they are well 

 formed and active, though lean. They per- 

 mit tlieir beards to grow to their full length. 

 The Arabs are spread over Syria, Palestine, 

 Mesopotamia, and Africa. The dress of the 

 rich resembles somewhat that of Turks ; be- 

 ing loose and flowing. The chief peculiarity 

 is the number of caps, which sometimes 

 amounts to 15. The poor, however, wear 

 but 2, and their chief clothing is a linen cloth 

 round the middle, and a woolen one over the 

 shoulders. This also serves them for the 

 covering at night ; though sometimes they 

 sleep in bags, for protection from insects. 

 The poor wear sandals ; the rich, slippers. 

 The Bedouins wear no caps, but only a hood 

 m their cloak. The Arabian females stain their eyelids with a dark substance, and their cheeks 

 and hands with a yellow color. The language is the Arabic, but it is not spoken in its ancient 

 purity. The Arabic of the Koran is, at Mecca, a dead language. The buildings in the cities 

 have terraced roofs, but they have no beauty. The dwellings of the poor are but huts, with 

 mats covering the floors. The Bedouins dwell in tents. In food the Arabs are temperate in 

 the extreme. The poor satisfy themselves with dales, &c., or a daily meal of hard bread, with 

 milk, butter, or oil. Little animal food is eaten, and the use of wine or spirits is not common ; 

 lizards and locusts are sometimes eaten. Coffee is generally used, and tobacco also in smok- 

 ing. A species of hemp is also smoked, for its intoxicating qualities. A diet so simple can 

 create few diseases, and the Arabs generally enjoy perfect health. The character of the 

 Arabs is founded upon that of Ishmael. In the desert they are robbers, and in cities cheating 

 is a substitute for robbery. "^I'hey are, however, very courteous and polite, and hospitable to 

 a proverb. They will set their last loaf before a stranger. It is a bitter sarcasm for one tribe 

 to use against another, "that the men know not how to give, or the wonjen to deny." It is, 

 however, seldom founded in truth. All go armed, and they are probably but little changed 

 since the time of Mahomet, or an earlier period. They are revengeful, and visit offences 

 with full retaliation ; often upon the innocent, if of the same family or tribe with the offender. 



The only safe way of traveling in Arabia, as in other countries of Asia and Africa, is in 

 caravans. A caravan is a large association of merchants or pilgrims, who unite for mutual aid 

 and protection to themselves and their camels and goods. The transportation of goods in 

 these countries, though slow, is cheap, compared with European prices. The average weight 

 which camels are made to carry is 600 pounds. The Egyptian caravans travel with a wide 

 front, many others travel in a line. The halt of the pilgrim caravans to Mecca, is by day, and 

 they travel only by night. There are many of these even from Persia and Morocco. The 

 dangers of the desert are such, that in many places the route is indicated by the bones of dead 

 camels. The caravans are under the directions of a chief, though from their discordant mate- 

 rials they are, when attacked, in a state of confusion, each individual acting for himself, and 

 protecting his own property. The predatory tribes on the route sometimes plunder the whole 

 caravan, and at others cut off parts of it. At the halts there is much social intercourse and 

 amusement, the merchants or others visiting and entertaining each other. Caravans, however, 

 since the extension of navigation, and the decline of the Mahometan spirit, have been much 

 curtailed both in magnitude and show. The pace of the camel when traveling is 3 miles an 

 hour ; this is so exact that distances are computed by time ; a march of G hours being equiva- 

 lent to 18 miles. 



The education of few exceeds the reading of the Koran ; and 

 by its doctrines. They are intolerant Mahometans, but chiefly 

 Wehabees. This seems to be nearly a j)ure theism ; the founder inculcated great simplicity 

 of life, and subverted the reverence for prophets and saints. The sect are so strict in their 

 siiDplicifv of life, that they will not drink even coffee. The !i;overnment is what it has been 



the religion of all is bounded 

 of the reformed sect of 



