Mules
Are Not Found At Al-Madinah, Although Popular Prejudice Does Not Now
Forbid The People To Mount Them.
Asses come from Egypt and Meccah:
I am
told that some good animals are to be found in the town, and that
certain ignoble Badawi clans have a fine breed, but I never saw any. Of
beasts intended for food, the sheep is the only common one in this part
of Al-Hijaz. There are three distinct breeds. The larger animal comes
from Nijd and the Anizah Badawin, who drive a flourishing trade; the
smaller is a native of the country. Both are the common Arab species,
of a tawny colour, with a long fat tail. Occasionally one meets with
what at Aden is called the Berberah sheep, a totally different
beast,—white, with a black broad face, a dew-lap, and a short fat tail,
that looks as if twisted up into a knot: it was doubtless introduced by
the Persians. Cows are rare at Al-Madinah. Beef throughout the East is
considered an unwholesome food, and the Badawi will not drink cow’s milk,
preferring that of the camel, the ewe, and the goat. The flesh of the
latter animal is scarcely ever eaten in the city, except by the poorest
classes.
The manners of the Madani are graver and somewhat more pompous than
those of any Arabs with whom I ever mixed. This they appear to have
borrowed from their rulers, the Turks. But their austerity and
ceremoniousness are skin-deep.
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