Accoimt Alexander Scott's Captiviitf 
The Arab marriage among these wandering tribes is not at- 
tended with any particular forms. A man inclined to take the 
daughter of his neighbour to wife, applies to her father, and ge- 
nerally gives him a number of camels. The number of these 
may amount perhaps to ten* This concludes the match, and 
the girl lires with her husband. Scott thinks that the parties 
may separate at the pleasure of either ; and a man may have 
as many wives as he chuses to maintain. Both boys and girls 
are much fairer than when the skin has been exposed to the 
weather in advanced life. The sexes come quickly to maturi- 
ty, and girls are sometimes married at ten and twelve years of 
age. 
The funeral of these Arabs is not attended with any particu- 
lar ceremony. The body is washed, and placed in^ the ground, 
on the same day that the person dies, and bushes and stones 
are placed over the gravCj to preserve it from wild beasts. 
Children are taught to write with black ink, formed of char- 
coal and milk, and applied to a smooth boardj with a split cane 
or reed, by way of a pen 
* Scott was so taught ; but from specimens of his skill Which he has exhibited, 
he does not appear to have derived much advantage from his instructors. His 
proficiency does not now ireach to the formation of all the characters of the Ara- 
bian alphabet. He can, however, write several of the letters, and repeat the 
names of the rest ; but his attempts at Writing shew him to be by no means an 
expert penman. He, however, probably speaks the dialect of El Ghiblah, which 
is said to be a corrupt Arabic, with fluency. The following list of a few names of 
things is noted down, as nearly as the ear can collect the sounds from his mode of 
pronouncing the w'ords. There, as in the other proper names introduced into 
this narrative, ah is strongly guttural, the simple vowels have the sound of the 
Italian vowels, the final e is pronounced, and the accents are introduced to convey 
an idea of Scott’s pronunciation. 
Sun, 
Simse. 
Oil-Tree, 
She-da' er-ga~ en. 
Moon, 
Gamm'ah. 
Oil, 
Zat. 
Stars, 
Injour. 
Fig-Tree, 
Kara-mo'“ os. 
N orth. 
Till. 
Prickly-jxiar, 
Teckanlret. 
East, 
Sharrag. 
Chinny or Archil, 
Tomkilet. 
South, 
Ghiblah. 
Dog, 
Kell), 
West, 
Sachal. 
Fox, 
Vil or Thib. 
Valley which has a 
Wolf, 
Zubah or Athha- 
stream or river in 
bah. 
it, 
Wad. 
Tiger, 
Gurrzahe" c. 
Gum-Tree, 
Tolch. 
liion, 
b'ebah. 
