In Cold Weather The Chiefs Wear Over The Shirt An
Aba, Or Cloak.
These garments are made in Nijd and the Eastern
districts; they are of four colours, white, black, red, and
brown-striped.
The best are of camels’ hair, and may cost fifteen
dollars; the worst, of sheep’s wool, are worth only three; both are
cheap, as they last for years. The Mahramah (head-cloth) comes from
Syria; which, with Nijd, supplies also the Kufiyah or headkerchief. The
Ukal,[FN#53] fillets bound over
[p.116] the kerchief, are of many kinds; the Bishr tribe near Meccah
make a kind of crown like the gloria round a saint’s head, with bits of
wood, in which are set pieces of mother-o’-pearl. Sandals, too, are of
every description, from the simple sole of leather tied on with thongs,
to the handsome and elaborate chaussure of Meccah; the price varies
from a piastre to a dollar, and the very poor walk barefooted. A
leathern bandoleer, called Majdal, passed over the left shoulder, and
reaching to the right hip, supports a line of brass cylinders for
cartridges.[FN#54] The other cross-belt (Al-Masdar), made of leather
ornamented with brass rings, hangs down at the left side, and carries a
Kharizah, or hide-case for bullets. And finally, the Hizam, or
waist-belt, holds the dagger and extra cartridge cases. A Badawi never
appears in public unarmed.
Women wear, like their masters, dark blue cotton Tobes, but larger and
looser. When abroad they cover the head with a Yashmak of black stuff,
or a poppy-coloured Burka (nose-gay) of the Egyptian shape. They wear
no pantaloons, and they rarely affect slippers or sandals. The hair is
twisted into Majdul, little pig-tails, and copiously anointed with
clarified butter. The rich perfume the skin with rose and
cinnamon-scented oils, and adorn the hair with Al-Shayh (Absinthium),
sweetest herb of the Desert; their ornaments are bracelets, collars,
ear and nose-rings of gold, silver, or silver-gilt. The poorer classes
have strings of silver coins hung round the neck.
The true Badawi is an abstemious man, capable of living for six months
on ten ounces of food per diem; the milk of a single camel, and a
handful of dates, dry or fried in clarified butter, suffice for his
wants. He despises the obese and all who require regular and plentiful
meals, sleeps on a mat, and knows neither luxury nor comfort, freezing
during one quarter and frying for three quarters of the year. But
though he can endure hunger, like all
[p.117] savages, he will gorge when an opportunity offers. I never saw
the man who could refrain from water upon the line of march; and in
this point they contrast disadvantageously with the hardy Wahhabis of
the East, and the rugged mountaineers of Jabal Shammar. They are still
“acridophagi,” and even the citizens far prefer a dish of locusts to the
Fasikh, which act as anchovies, sardines, and herrings in Egypt.
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