This, Methinks, Is Too Conventional A Point Of Honour To Have
Sprung Up Spontaneously In Two Countries So Distant, And
Apparently so
unconnected.
[FN#11] At Aden, as well as in Sind, these dry storms abound, and there
the work
Of meteorological investigation would be easier than in
Al-Hijaz.
[FN#12] "Beni-Kalb," (or Juhaynah, Chap. X.), would mean the
"Dogs'-Sons"-"Beni-Harb," the "Sons of Fight."
[FN#13] The Shintiyan is the common sword-blade of the Badawin; in
Western Arabia, it is called Majar (from the Magyars?), and is said to
be of German manufacture. Good old weapons of the proper curve, marked
like Andrew Ferraras with a certain number of lines down their length,
will fetch, even in Arabia, from L7 to L8. The modern and cheap ones
cost about 10s. Excellent weapons abound in this country, the reason
being that there is a perpetual demand for them, and when once
purchased, they become heir-looms in the family. I have heard that when
the Beni Bu Ali tribe, near Ras al-Khaymah, was defeated with slaughter
by Sir Lionel Smith's expedition, the victors found many valuable old
European blades in the hands of the slain.
[FN#14] The way of carrying off a camel in this country is to loosen
him, and then to hang on heavily to his tail, which causes him to start
at full gallop.
[FN#15] The Arabic Misyal, Masyal, Masil, or Masilah, is the Indian
Nullah and the Sicilian "Fiumara," a hill water-course, which rolls a
torrent during and after rain, and is either partially or wholly dry at
other seasons,-the stream flowing slowly underground. In England we
want the feature, and therefore there is no single word to express it.
Our "River" is an imperfect way of conveying the idea.
[FN#16] Generalisation is not the forte of the Arabic language.
"Al-Kulzum" (the Red Sea), for instance, will be unintelligible to the
native of Jeddah; call it the Sea of Jeddah, and you at once explain
yourself; so the Badawin will have names for each separate part, but no
single one to express the whole. This might be explained by their
ignorance of anything but details. The same thing is observable,
however, in the writings of the Arabian geographers when they come to
treat of the objects near home.
[FN#17] About the classic "Harrah," I shall have more to say at a
future time. The word "Ria" in literary and in vulgar Arabic is almost
synonymous with Akabah, a steep descent, a path between hills or a
mountain road.
[FN#18] Valleys may be divided into three kinds. 1. Longitudinal, i.e.
parallel to the axis of their ridges; 2. Transversal or perpendicular
to the same; and, 3. Diagonal, which form an acute or an obtuse angle
with the main chain of mountains.
[FN#19] This act, by the bye, I afterwards learned to be a greater act
of imprudence than the sleeping alone.
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