I Only Noticed This Among
The Somauli Tribe; And That Of The Nuehr, Some Of The Wildest
Savages Of The White Nile, Until I Returned To England, Where I
Found The Custom Was Becoming General Among The Civilized, And
That Ladies Were Adopting The Lovely Tint Of The British Fox.
The
Arab women do not indulge in fashions; strictly conservative in
their manners and customs, they never imitate, but
They simply
vie with each other in the superlativeness of their own style;
thus the dressing of the hair is a most elaborate affair, which
occupies a considerable portion of their time. It is quite
impossible for an Arab woman to arrange her own hair; she
therefore employs an assistant, who, if clever in the art, will
generally occupy about three days before it is satisfactorily
concluded. First, the hair must be combed with a long skewer-like
pin; then, when well divided, it becomes possible to use an
exceedingly coarse wooden comb. When the hair is reduced to
reasonable order by the latter process, a vigorous hunt takes
place, which occupies about an hour, according to the amount of
game preserved; the sport concluded, the hair is rubbed with a
mixture of oil of roses, myrrh, and sandal-wood dust mixed with
a powder of cloves and cassia. When well greased and rendered
somewhat stiff by the solids thus introduced, it is plaited into
at least two hundred fine plaits; each of these plaits is then
smeared with a mixture of sandal-wood dust and either gum water
or paste of dhurra flour.
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