The Wool Of Their Carpets, Is Of
The Ordinary Kind; The Carpets Are About Seven Feet Long And Three
Broad, And Sell From Fifteen To One Hundred Piastres A Piece.
While the
females are employed in these labours the men pass their whole time in
indolence; except at sunset, when they feed their horses and camels,
they lounge about the whole day, without any useful employment, and
without even refreshing their leisure by some trifling occupation.
To
smoke their pipes and drink coffee is to them the most agreeable
pastime; they frequently visit each other, and collecting round the
fire-place, they keep very late hours. I was told that there are some
men amongst them, who play the tamboura, a sort of guitar, but I never
heard any of them perform. If the young men would condescend to assist
in agriculture, the wealth of the families would rapidly increase, and
the whole of the plains of Antioch might in time be cultivated: at
present, as far as I could observe, there are few families growing rich;
most of them spend their whole income.
A Turkman never leaves his tent to take a ride in the neighbourhood
without being armed with his gun, pistols, and sabre. I was astonished
to see that they do not take the smallest care of their fire arms: a
great number of them were shewn to me, to know whether they were of
English manufacture; I found them covered with rust, and they complained
of their often missing fire.
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