When The Mekka Caravan Passes, The Kerekein Sell
Provisions Of All Kinds To The Hadj, Which They Meet At The Castle Of
Katrana.
Many Turks, as well as Christians, in the town, have negro
slaves, whom they buy from the Bedouins, who bring them from Djidda and
Mekka:
There are also several families of blacks in Kerek, who have
obtained their liberty, and have married free black women.
The houses of Kerek have only one floor, and three or four are generally
built in the same court-yard. The roof of the apartment
[p.389] is supported by two arches, much in the same way as in the
ancient buildings of the Haouran, which latter however have generally
but one arch. Over the arches thick branches of trees are laid, and over
the latter a thin layer of rushes. Along the wall at the extremity of
the room, opposite to the entrance, are large earthen reservoirs of
wheat (Kowari Arabic). There is generally no other aperture in these
rooms than the door, a circumstance that renders them excessively
disagreeable in the winter evenings, when the door is shut and a large
fire is kindled in the middle of the floor.
Some of the Arab tribes in the territory of Kerek pay a small annual
tribute to the Sheikh of Kerek, as do likewise the peasants who
cultivate the shores of the Dead sea. In order, however, to secure their
harvests against any casualties, the Kerekein have deemed it expedient
to pay, on their, part, a tribute to the Southern Arabs called El
Howeytat, who are continually passing this way in their expeditions
against the Beni Szakher.
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