Truly The Arabs Show
More Heart On These Occasions Than Any Oriental People I Know; They Are
Of A More Affectionate Nature Than The Persians, And Their Manners Are
Far More Demonstrative Than Those Of The Indians.
The respectable
Maryam's younger son, a pleasant contrast to her surly elder, was
weeping aloud for joy as he
Ran round his mother's camel, he standing
on tiptoe, she bending double in vain attempts to exchange a kiss; and,
generally, when near relatives or intimates, or school companions, met,
the fountains of their eyes were opened. Friends and comrades greeted
one another, regardless of rank or fortune, with affectionate embraces,
and an abundance of queries, which neither party seemed to think of
answering. The general mode of saluting was to throw one arm over the
shoulder and the other round the side, placing the chin first upon the
left and then upon the right collar-bone, and rapidly shifting till a
"jam satis" suggested itself to both parties. Inferiors recognized
their superiors by attempting to kiss hands, which were violently
snatched away; whilst mere acquaintances gave each other a cordial
"poignee de mains," and then raising the finger tips to their lips,
kissed them with apparent relish.
Passing through the Bab Ambari we defiled slowly down a broad dusty
street, and traversed the Harat
[p.288] (Quarter), Al-Ambariyah, the principal in the Manakhah suburb.
The thoroughfare is by no means remarkable after Cairo; only it is
rather wider and more regular than the traveller is accustomed to in
Asiatic cities.
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