The Women Of Tafyle Are Much More Shy Before Strangers Than Those Of
Kerek.
The latter never, or at least very seldom, veil themselves, and
they discourse freely with all strangers; the former, on the contrary,
imitate the city ladies in their pride, and reserved manners.
The
inhabitants of Tafyle, who are of the tribe
[p.405] of Djowabere (Arabic), supply the Syrian Hadj with a great
quantity of provisions, which they sell to the caravan at the castle El
Ahsa; and the profits which they derive from this trade are sometimes
very great. It is much to be doubted whether the peasants of Djebal and
Shera will be able to continue their field-labour, if the Syrian pilgrim
caravan be not soon re-established. The produce of their soil hardly
enables them to pay their heavy tribute to the Bedouins, besides feeding
the strangers who alight at their Menzels: for all the villages in this
part of the country treat their guests in the manner, which has already
been described. The people of Djebal sell their wool, butter, and hides
at Ghaza, where they buy all the little luxuries which they stand in
need of; there are, besides, in every village, a few shopkeepers from El
Khalyl or Hebron, who make large profits. The people of Hebron have the
reputation of being enterprising merchants, and not so dishonest as
their neighbours of Palestine: their pedlars penetrate far into the
desert of Arabia, and a few of them remain the whole year round at
Khaibar in the Nedjed.
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