The women increase their natural ugliness, by dyeing
their hair and nails reddish brown with henna, and by tattooing
their hands and arms. Even at twenty-five years old, they appear
quite faded.
On the 23rd of June, we halted not far from the town of Dus, and
took up our resting-place for the day.
In this place, I was struck by the low entrances of the houses; they
were scarcely three feet high, so that the people were obliged to
crawl rather than walk into them.
On the 25th of June, we came to Daug, where I saw a monument which
resembled that of Queen Zobiede in Baghdad. I could not learn what
great or holy man was buried under it.
25th June. At 4 this morning we came to the place where our caravan
guide lived, a village about a mile from Kerku. His house was
situated, with several others, in a large dirty court-yard, which
was surrounded by a wall with only one entrance. This court-yard
resembled a regular encampment: all the inhabitants slept there;
and, besides these, there was no want of mules, horses, and asses.
Our animals immediately went to their stalls, and trod so near to
the sleepers, that I was quite anxious for their safety; but the
animals are cautious, and the people know that, and remain perfectly
quiet.
My Arab had been absent three weeks, and now returned only for a
very short time; and yet none of his family came out to greet him
except an old woman. Even with her, whom I supposed to be his
mother, he exchanged no kind of welcome. She merely hobbled about
here and there, but gave no help, and might as well have remained
where she was lying, as the others.
The houses of the Arabs consist of a single, lofty, spacious
apartment, separated into three parts by two partition walls, which
do not extend quite across to the front wall. Each of these
compartments is about thirty feet in length by nine in breadth, and
serves as a dwelling for a family. The light fell through the
common door-way and two holes, which were made in the upper part of
the front wall. A place was set apart for me in one of these
compartments, where I could pass the day.
My attention was first directed to the nature of the relationships
between the several members of the family. At first this was very
difficult, as it was only towards the very young children that any
kind of attachment or love was shown.
