The Arab Cannot Halt On One Spot Longer Than The Pasturage Will Support
His Flocks; Therefore His Necessity Is Food For His Beasts.
The object
of his life being fodder, he must wander in search of the ever-changing
supply.
His wants must be few, as the constant changes of encampment
necessitate the transport of all his household goods; thus he reduces to
a minimum the domestic furniture and utensils. No desires for strange
and fresh objects excite his mind to improvement, or alter his original
habits; he must limit his impedimenta, not increase them. Thus with a
few necessary articles he is contented. Mats for his tent, ropes
manufactured with the hair of his goats and camels, pots for carrying
fat, water-jars and earthenware pots or gourd-shells for containing
milk, leather water-skins for the desert, and sheep-skin bags for his
clothes - these are the requirements of the Arabs. Their patterns have
never changed, but the water-jar of to-day is of the same form as that
carried to the well by the women of thousands of years ago. The
conversation of the Arabs is in the exact style of the Old Testament.
The name of God is coupled with every trifling incident in life, and
they believe in the continual action of divine special interference.
Should a famine afflict the country, it is expressed in the stern
language of the bible - "The Lord has sent a grievous famine upon the
land;" or, "The Lord called for a famine, and it came upon the land."
Should their cattle fall sick, it is considered to be an affliction by
divine command; or should the flocks prosper and multiply particularly
well during one season, the prosperity is attributed to special
interference.
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