Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah Volume Ii Part 10

30: that is to say, they occupied the lands from Al-Tahamah to Mahrah.

2. The children of Ishmael, and his Egyptian wife; they peopled only the Wilderness of Paran in the Sinaitic Peninsula and the parts adjacent. Dr. Aloys Sprenger (Life of Mohammed, p. 18), throws philosophic doubt upon the Ishmaelitish descent of Mohammed, who in personal appearance was a pure Caucasian, without any mingling of Egyptian blood. And the Ishmaelitish origin of the whole Arab race is an utterly untenable theory. Years ago, our great historian sensibly remarked that "the name (Saracens), used by Ptolemy and Pliny in a more confined, by Ammia.n.u.s and Procopius in a larger sense, has been derived ridiculously from Sarah the wife of Abraham." In Gibbon's observation, the erudite Interpreter of the One Primaeval Language,-the acute bibliologist who metamorphoses the quail of the wilderness into a "ruddy goose,"-detects "insidiousness" and "a spirit of restless and rancorous hostility" against revealed religion. He proceeds on these sound grounds to attack the accuracy, the honesty and the learning of the mighty dead. This may be Christian zeal; it is not Christian charity. Of late years it has been the fas.h.i.+on for every aspirant to ecclesiastical honours to deal a blow at the ghost of Gibbon. And, as has before been remarked, Mr. Foster gratuitously attacked Burckhardt, whose manes had long rested in the good-will of man. This contrasts offensively with Lord Lindsay's happy compliment to the memory of the honest Swiss and the amiable eulogy quoted by Dr. Keith from the Quarterly (vol. xxiii.), and thus adopted as his own. It may seem folly to defend the historian of the Decline and Fall against the compiler of the Historical Geography of Arabia.

But continental Orientalists have expressed their wonder at the appearance in this nineteenth century of the "Voice of Israel from Mount Sinai" and the "India in Greece"[;] they should be informed that all our Eastern students are not votaries of such obsolete vagaries.

[FN#2] This is said without any theory. According to all historians of long inhabited lands, the advenae-whether migratory tribes or visitors-find indigens or [Greek].

[FN#3] They are described as having small heads, with low brows and ill-formed noses, (strongly contrasting with the Jewish feature), irregular lines, black skins, and frames for the most part frail and slender. For a physiological description of this race, I must refer my readers to the writings of Dr. Carter of Bombay, the medical officer of the Palinurus, when engaged on the Survey of Eastern Arabia. With ample means of observation he has not failed to remark the similarity between the lowest type of Badawi and the Indigens of India, as represented by the Bhils and other Jungle races. This, from a man of science who is not writing up to a theory, may be considered strong evidence in favour of variety in the Arabian family. The fact has long been suspected, but few travellers have given their attention to the subject since the downfall of Sir William Jones' Indian origin theory. I am convinced that there is not in Arabia "one Arab face, cast of features and expression," as was formerly supposed to be the case, and I venture to recommend the subject for consideration to future observers.

[FN#4] Of this Mesopotamian race there are now many local varieties.

The subjects of the four Abyssinian and Christian sovereigns who succeeded Yusuf, the Jewish "Lord of the Pit," produced, in Al-Yaman, the modern "Akhdam" or "Serviles." The "Hujur" of Al-Yaman and Oman are a mixed race whose origin is still unknown. And to quote no more cases, the "Ebna"

mentioned by the Ibn Ishak were descended from the Persian soldiers of a.n.u.s.h.i.+rwan, who expelled the Abyssinian invader.

[FN#5] That the Copts, or ancient Egyptians, were "Half-caste Arabs," a mixed people like the Abyssinians, the Gallas, the Somal, and the Kafirs, an Arab graft upon an African stock, appears highly probable.

Hence the old Nilotic race has been represented as woolly-headed and of negro feature. Thus Leo Africa.n.u.s makes the Africans to be descendants of the Arabs. Hence the tradition that Egypt was peopled by AEthiopia, and has been gradually whitened by admixture of Persian and Median, Greek and Roman blood. Hence, too, the fancied connection of Aethiopia with Cush, Susiana, Khuzistan or the lands about the Tigris. Thus learned Virgil, confounding the Western with the Eastern Aethiopians, alludes to

"Usque coloratos Nilus devexus ad Indos."

And Strabo maintains the people of Mauritania to be Indians who had come with Hercules. We cannot but remark in Southern Arabia the footprints of the Hindu, whose superst.i.tions, like the Phoenix which flew from India to expire in Egypt, pa.s.sed over to Arabia with Dwipa Sukhatra (Socotra) for a resting place on its way to the regions of the remotest West. As regards the difference between the j.a.phetic and Semitic tongues, it may be remarked that though nothing can be more distinct than Sanscrit and Arabic, yet that Pahlavi and Hebrew (Prof.

Bohlen on Genesis) present some remarkable points of resemblance. I have attempted in a work on Sind to collect words common to both families. And further research convinces me that such vocables as the Arabic Taur [Arabic] the Persian Tora [Persian] and the Latin "Taurus"

denote an ancient rapprochement, whose mysteries still invite the elucidation of modern science.

[FN#6] The Sharif families affect marrying female slaves, thereby showing the intense pride which finds no Arab n.o.ble enough for them.

Others take to wife Badawi girls: their blood, therefore, is by no means pure. The worst feature of their system is the forced celibacy of their daughters; they are never married into any but Sharif families; consequently they often die in spinsterhood. The effects of this custom are most pernicious, for though celibacy exists in the East it is by no means synonymous with chast.i.ty. Here it springs from a morbid sense of honour, and arose, it is popularly said, from an affront taken by a Sharif against his daughter's husband. But all Arabs condemn the practice.

[FN#7] I use this word as popular abuse has fixed it. Every Orientalist knows that Badawin (Bedouin) is the plural form of Badawi, an "ism al-nisbah," or adjective derived from Badu, a Desert. "Some words notoriously corrupt," says Gibbon, "are fixed, and as it were naturalised, in the vulgar tongue." The word "Badawi" is not insulting, like "Turk" applied to an Osmanli, or "Fellah" to the Egyptian. But you affront the wild man by mistaking his clan for a lower one. "Ya Hitaymi," for instance, addressed to a Harb Badawi, makes him finger his dagger.

[FN#8] This coa.r.s.eness is not a little increased by a truly Badawi habit of was.h.i.+ng the locks with-[Arabic]. It is not considered wholly impure, and is also used for the eyes, upon which its ammonia would act as a rude stimulant. The only cosmetic is clarified b.u.t.ter freely applied to the body as well as to the hair.

[FN#9] "Kurun" ([Arabic]) properly means "horns." The Sharifs generally wear their hair in "Haffah" ([Arabic]), long locks hanging down both sides of the neck and shaved away about a finger's breadth round the forehead and behind the neck.

[FN#10] This traveller describes the modern Mesopotamian and Northern race, which, as its bushy beard-unusual feature in pure Arab blood-denotes, is mixed with central Asian. In the North, as might be expected, the camels are hairy; whereas, in Al-Hijaz and in the low parts of Al-Yaman, a whole animal does not give a handful fit for weaving. The Arabs attribute this, as we should, to heat, which causes the longer hairs to drop off.

[FN#11] "Magnum inter Arabes et Africanos discrimen efficit [Greek].

Arab.u.m parvula membra sicut n.o.bilis aequi. Africanum tamen flacc.u.m, cra.s.sum longumque: ita quiescens, er.e.c.t.u.m tamen parum distenditur.

Argumentum validissimum est ad indagandam Egyptorum originem: Nilotica enim gens membrum habet Africanum."

[FN#12] Whereas the Saxon thumb is thick, flat, and short, extending scarcely half way to the middle joint of the index.

[FN#13] A similar unwillingness to name the wife may be found in some parts of southern Europe, where probably jealousy or possibly Asiatic custom has given rise to it. Among the Maltese it appears in a truly ridiculous way, e.g., "dice la mia moglie, con rispetto parlando, &c.,"

says the husband, adding to the word spouse a "saving your presence," as if he were speaking of something offensive.

[FN#14] Dr. Howe (Report on Idiotcy in Ma.s.sachusetts, 1848,) a.s.serts that "the law against the marriage of relations is made out as clearly as though it were written on tables of stone." He proceeds to show that in seventeen households where the parents were connected by blood, of ninety-five children one was a dwarf, one deaf, twelve scrofulous, and forty-four idiots-total fifty-eight diseased!

[FN#15] Yet the celebrated "Flying Childers" and all his race were remarkably bred in. There is still, in my humble opinion, much mystery about the subject, to be cleared up only by the studies of physiologists.

[FN#16] This sounds in English like an "Irish bull." I translate "Badu," as the dictionaries do, "a Desert."

[FN#17] The Sharbat Kajari is the "Acquetta" of Persia, and derives its name from the present royal family. It is said to be a mixture of verdigris with milk; if so, it is a very clumsy engine of state policy.

In Egypt and Mosul, Sulaymani (the common name for an Afghan) is used to signify "poison"; but I know not whether it be merely euphuistic or confined to some species. The banks of the Nile are infamous for these arts, and Mohammed Ali Pasha imported, it is said, professional poisoners from Europe.

[FN#18] Throughout the world the strictness of the Lex Scripta is in inverse ratio to that of custom: whenever the former is lax, the latter is stringent, and vice versa. Thus in England, where law leaves men comparatively free, they are slaves to a grinding despotism of conventionalities, unknown in the land of tyrannical rule. This explains why many men, accustomed to live under despotic governments, feel fettered and enslaved in the so-called free countries. Hence, also, the reason why notably in a republic there is less private and practical liberty than under a despotism. The "Kazi al-Arab" (Judge of the Arabs) is in distinction to the Kazi al-Shara, or the Kazi of the Koran. The former is, almost always, some sharp-witted greybeard, with a minute knowledge of genealogy and precedents, a retentive memory and an eloquent tongue.

[FN#19] Thus the Arabs, being decidedly a parsimonious people, indulge in exaggerated praises and instances of liberality. Hatim Tai, whose generosity is unintelligible to Europeans, becomes the Arab model of the "open hand." Generally a high beau ideal is no proof of a people's practical pre-eminence, and when exaggeration enters into it and suits the public taste, a low standard of actuality may be fairly suspected.

But to convince the oriental mind you must dazzle it. Hence, in part, the superhuman courage of Antar, the liberality of Hatim, the justice of Omar, and the purity of Laila and Majnun under circ.u.mstances more trying than aught chronicled in Mathilde, or in the newest American novel.

[FN#20] At the battle of Bissel, when Mohammed Ali of Egypt broke the 40,000 guerillas of Faisal son of Sa'ud the Wahhabi, whole lines of the Benu Asir tribe were found dead and tied by the legs with ropes. This system of colligation dates from old times in Arabia, as the "Affair of Chains" (Zat al-Salasil) proves. It is alluded to by the late Sir Henry Elliot in his "Appendix to the Arabs in Sind,"-a work of remarkable sagacity and research. According to the "Beglar-Nameh," it was a "custom of the people of Hind and Sind, whenever they devote themselves to death, to bind themselves to each other by their mantles and waistbands." It seems to have been an ancient practice in the West as in the East: the Cimbri, to quote no other instances, were tied together with cords when attacked by Marius. Tactic truly worthy of savages to prepare for victory by expecting a defeat!

[FN#21] Though differing in opinion, upon one subject, from the Rev.

Mr. Robertson, the lamented author of this little work, I cannot refrain from expressing the highest admiration of those n.o.ble thoughts, those exalted views, and those polished sentiments which, combining the delicacy of the present with the chivalry of a past age, appear in a style

"As smooth as woman and as strong as man."

Would that it were in my power to pay a more adequate tribute to his memory!

[FN#22] Even Juno, in the most meaningless of idolatries, became, according to Pausanias (lib. ii. cap. 38), a virgin once every year.

And be it observed that Al-Islam (the faith, not the practice) popularly decided to debase the social state of womankind, exalts it by holding up to view no fewer than two examples of perfection in the Prophet's household. Khadijah, his first wife, was a minor saint, and the Lady Fatimah is supposed to have been spiritually unspotted by sin, and materially ever a virgin, even after giving birth to Hasan and to Hosayn.

[FN#23] There is no objection to intermarriage between equal clans, but the higher will not give their daughters to the lower in dignity.

[FN#24] For instance: "A certain religious man was so deeply affected with the love of a king's daughter, that he was brought to the brink of the grave," is a favourite inscriptive formula. Usually the hero "sickens in consequence of the heroine's absence, and continues to the hour of his death in the utmost grief and anxiety." He rarely kills himself, but sometimes, when in love with a pretty infidel, he drinks wine and he burns the Koran. The "hated rival" is not a formidable person; but there are for good reasons great jealousy of female friends, and not a little fear of the beloved's kinsmen. Such are the material sentiments; the spiritual part is a thread of mysticism, upon which all the pearls of adventure and incident are strung.

[FN#25] It is curious that these pastoral races, which supply poetry with namby-pamby Colinades, figure as the great tragedians of history.

The Scythians, the Huns, the Arabs, and the Tartars were all shepherds.

They first armed themselves with clubs to defend their flocks from wild beasts. Then they learned warfare, and improved means of destruction by petty quarrels about pastures; and, finally, united by the commanding genius of some skin-clad Caesar or Napoleon, they fell like avalanches upon those valleys of the world-Mesopotamia, India, and Egypt-whose enervate races offered them at once temptations to attack, and certainty of success.

[FN#26] Even amongst the Indians, as a race the least chivalrous of men, there is an oath which binds two persons of different s.e.x in the tie of friends.h.i.+p, by making them brother and sister to each other.

[FN#27] Richardson derives our "knight" from Nikht ([Arabic]), a tilter with spears, and "Caitiff" from Khattaf, ([Arabic]) a s.n.a.t.c.her or ravisher.

[FN#28] I am not ignorant that the greater part of "Antar" is of modern and disputed origin. Still it accurately expresses Arab sentiment.

[FN#29] I wish that the clever Orientalist who writes in the Sat.u.r.day Review would not translate "Al-Layl," by lenes sub nocte susurri: the Arab bard alluded to no such effeminacies.

[FN#30] The subject of "Dakhl" has been thoroughly exhausted by Burckhardt and Layard. It only remains to be said that the Turks, through ignorance of the custom, have in some cases made themselves contemptible by claiming the protection of women.

[FN#31] It is by no means intended to push this comparison of the Arab's with the Hibernian's poetry. The former has an intensity which prevents our feeling that "there are too many flowers for the fruit"; the latter is too often a mere blaze of words, which dazzle and startle, but which, decomposed by reflection, are found to mean nothing. Witness

"The diamond turrets of Shadukiam, And the fragrant bowers of Amberabad!"

[FN#32] I am informed that the Benu Kahtan still improvise, but I never heard them. The traveller in Arabia will always be told that some remote clan still produces mighty bards, and uses in conversation the terminal vowels of the cla.s.sic tongue, but he will not believe these a.s.sertions till personally convinced of their truth. The Badawi dialect, however, though debased, is still, as of yore, purer than the language of the citizens. During the days when philology was a pa.s.sion in the East, those Stephens and Johnsons of Semitic lore, Firuzabadi and Al-Zamakhshari, wandered from tribe to tribe and from tent to tent, collecting words and elucidating disputed significations. Their grammatical expeditions are still remembered, and are favourite stories with scholars.

[FN#33] I say "skilful in reading," because the Arabs, like the Spaniards, hate to hear their language mangled by misp.r.o.nunciation. When Burckhardt, who spoke badly, began to read verse to the Badawin, they could not refrain from a movement of impatience, and used to s.n.a.t.c.h the book out of his hands.

[FN#34] The civilized poets of the Arab cities throw the charm of the Desert over their verse, by images borrowed from its scenery-the dromedary, the mirage, and the well-as naturally as certain of our songsters, confessedly haters of the country, babble of lowing kine, shady groves, spring showers, and purling rills.

[FN#35] Some will object to this expression; Arabic being a harsh and guttural tongue. But the sound of language, in the first place, depends chiefly upon the articulator. Who thinks German rough in the mouth of a woman, with a suspicion of a lisp, or that English is the dialect of birds, when spoken by an Italian? Secondly, there is a music far more spirit-stirring in harshness than in softness: the languages of Castile and of Tuscany are equally beautiful, yet who does not prefer the sound of the former? The gutturality of Arabia is less offensive than that of the highlands of Barbary. Professor Willis, of Cambridge, attributes the broad sounds and the guttural consonants of mountaineers and the people of elevated plains to the physical action of cold. Conceding this to be a partial cause, I would rather refer the phenomenon to the habit of loud speaking, acquired by the dwellers in tents, and by those who live much in the open air. The Todas of the Neilgherry Hills have given the soft Tamil all the harshness of Arabic, and he who hears them calling to each other from the neighbouring peaks, can remark the process of broadening vowel and gutturalising consonant. On the other hand, the Gallas and the Persians, also a mountain-people, but inhabiting houses, speak comparatively soft tongues. The Cairenes actually omit some of the harshest sounds of Arabia, turning Maka.s.s into Ma'as, and Sakka into Sa'a. It is impossible to help remarking the bellowing of the Badawi when he first enters a dwelling-place, and the softening of the sound when he has become accustomed to speak within walls. Moreover, it is to be observed there is a great difference of articulation, not p.r.o.nunciation, among the several Badawi clans. The Benu Auf are recognised by their sharp, loud, and sudden speech, which the citizens compare to the barking of dogs. The Benu Amr, on the contrary, speak with a soft and drawling sound. The Hutaym, in addition to other peculiarities, add a pleonastic "ah," to soften the termination of words, as A'atini hawajiyah, (for hawaiji), "Give me my clothes."

[FN#36] The Germans have returned for inspiration to the old Eastern source. Ruckert was guided by Jalal al-Din to the fountains of Sufyism.

And even the French have of late made an inroad into Teutonic mysticism successfully enough to have astonished Racine and horrified La Harpe.

[FN#37] This, however, does not prevent the language becoming optionally most precise in meaning; hence its high philosophical character. The word "farz," for instance, means, radically "cutting,"

secondarily "ordering," or "paying a debt," after which come numerous meanings foreign to the primal sense, such as a s.h.i.+eld, part of a tinder-box, an unfeathered arrow, and a particular kind of date. In theology it is limited to a single signification, namely, a divine command revealed in the Koran. Under these circ.u.mstances the Arabic becomes, in grammar, logic, rhetoric, and mathematics, as perfect and precise as Greek. I have heard Europeans complain that it is unfit for mercantile transactions.-Perhaps!

[FN#38] As a general rule there is a rhyme at the end of every second line, and the unison is a mere fringe-a long a, for instance, throughout the poem sufficing for the delicate ear of the Arab. In this they were imitated by the old Spaniards, who, neglecting the consonants, merely required the terminating vowels to be alike. We speak of the "sort of harmonious simple flow which atones for the imperfect nature of the rhyme." But the fine organs of some races would be hurt by that ponderous unison which a people of blunter senses find necessary to produce an impression. The reader will feel this after perusing in "Percy's Reliques"

Rio Verde! Rio Verde! and its translation.

[FN#39] In our knightly ages the mare was ridden only by jugglers and charlatans. Did this custom arise from the hatred of, and contempt for, the habits of the Arabs, imported into Europe by the Crusaders?

Certainly the popular Eastern idea of a Frank was formed in those days, and survives to these.

[FN#40] Baron Von Hammer-Purgstall, in the "Falkner-Klee," calls this bird the "Saker-falke." Hence the French and English names sacre and saker. The learned John Beckmann (History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins: sub voce) derives falconry from India, where, "as early as the time of Ctesias, hares and foxes were hunted by means of rapacious birds." I believe, however, that no trace of this sport is found in the writings of the Hindus. Beckmann agrees with Giraldus, against other literati, that the ancient Greeks knew the art of hawking, and proves from Aristotle, that in Thrace men trained falcons. But Aristotle alludes to the use of the bird, as an owl is employed in Italy: the falcon is described as frightening, not catching the birds. lian corroborates Aristotle's testimony. Pliny, however, distinctly a.s.serts that the hawks strike their prey down. "In Italy it was very common," says the learned Beckmann, "for Martial and Apuleius speak of it as a thing everywhere known. Hence the science spread over Europe, and reached perfection at the princ.i.p.al courts in the twelfth century." The Emperor Frederic II.

wrote "De Arte Venandi c.u.m Avibus," and the royal author was followed by a host of imitators in the vulgar tongue. Though I am not aware that the Hindus ever cultivated the art, lian, it must be confessed, describes their style of training falcons exactly similar to that in use among the modern Persians, Sindians, and Arabs. The Emperor Frederic owes the "capella," or hood to the Badawi, and talks of the "most expert falconers" sent to him with various kinds of birds by some of the kings of Arabia. The origin of falconry is ascribed by Al-Mas'udi, on the authority of Adham bin Muhriz, to the king Al-Haris bin Mu'awiyah, and in Dr. Sprenger's admirable translation the reader will find (pp. 426, 428), much information upon the subject. The Persians claim the invention for their just King, a.n.u.s.h.i.+rawan, contemporary with Mohammed. Thence the sport pa.s.sed into Turkey, where it is said the Sultans maintained a body of 6000 falconers. And Frederic Barbarossa, in the twelfth century, brought falcons to Italy. We may fairly give the honour of the invention to Central Asia.

[FN#41] Here called "bandukiyah bi ruhayn," or the two-mouthed gun. The leathern cover is termed "gushat"; it is a bag with a long-ringed ta.s.sel at the top of the barrel, and a strap by which it is slung to the owner's back.

[FN#42] I described elsewhere the Mirzak, or javelin.

[FN#43] Ostriches are found in Al-Hijaz, where the Badawin shoot after coursing them. The young ones are caught and tamed, and the eggs may be bought in the Madinah bazar. Throughout Arabia there is a belief that the ostrich throws stones at the hunter. The superst.i.tion may have arisen from the pebbles being flung up behind by the bird's large feet in his rapid flight, or it may be a mere "foolery of fancy." Even in lands which have long given up animal-wors.h.i.+p, wherever a beast is conspicuous or terrible, it becomes the subject of some marvellous tale. So the bear in Persia imitates a moolah's dress; the wolf in France is a human being transformed, and the beaver of North America, also a metamorphosis, belts trees so as to fell them in the direction most suitable to his after purpose.

[FN#44] Not that the "Agrebi" of Bir Hamid and other parts have much to learn of us in vice. The land of Al-Yaman is, I believe, the most demoralised country, and Sana'a the most depraved city in Arabia. The fair s.e.x distinguishes itself by a peculiar laxity of conduct, which is looked upon with an indulgent eye. And the men drink and gamble, to say nothing of other peccadilloes, with perfect impunity.

[FN#45] In Al-Yaman, it is believed, that if a man eat three heads of garlic in good mountain-samn (or clarified b.u.t.ter) for forty days, his blood will kill the snake that draws it.

[FN#46] Circ.u.mcisionis causa apud Arabos manifestissima, ulceratio enim endemica, abrasionem glandis aut praeputii, maxima c.u.m facilitate insequitur. Mos autem quem vocant Arabes Al-Salkh ([Arabic] i.e.

scarificatio) virilitatem animumque ostendendi modus esse videtur.

Exeunt amici paterque, et juvenem sub dio sedentem circ.u.mstant. Capit tunc pugionem tonsor et praeputio abscisso detrahit pellem [Greek] ab umbilico incipiens aut parum infra, ventremque usque ad femora nudat.

Juvenis autem dextra pugionem super tergum tonsoris vibrans magna clamat voce [Arabic] i.e. caede sine timore. Vae si haesitet tonsor aut si tremeat ma.n.u.s! Pater etiam filium si dolore ululet statim occidit.

Re confecta surgit juvenis et [Arabic] "Gloria Deo" intonans, ad tentoria tendit, statim nefando oppressus dolore humi proc.u.mbit. Remedia Sal, et [Arabic] (tumerica); cibus lac cameli. Nonnullos occidit ingens suppuratio, decem autem excoriatis supersunt plerumque octo: hi pecten habent nullum, ventremque pallida tegit cutis.

[FN#47] The Spanish dollar is most prized in Al-Hijaz; in Al-Yaman the Maria Theresa. The Spanish Government has refused to perpetuate its Pillar-dollar, which at one time was so great a favourite in the East.

The traveller wonders how "Maria Theresas" still supply both sh.o.r.es of the Red Sea. The marvel is easily explained: the Austrians receive silver at Milan, and stamp it for a certain percentage. This coin was doubtless preferred by the Badawin for its superiority to the currency of the day: they make from it ornaments for their women and decorations for their weapons. The generic term for dollars is "Riyal Fransah."

[FN#48] Torale, sicut est mos Judaicus et Persicus, non inspiciunt.

Novae nuptae tamen maritus mappam manu capit: mane autem puellae mater virginitatis signa viris mulieribusque domi ostendit eosque jubilare jubet quod calamitas domestica, sc. filia, intacta abiit. Si non ostendeant mappam, maeret domus, "prima enim Venus" in Arabia, "debet esse cruenta." Maritus autem humanior, etiamsi absit sanguis, cruore palumbino mappam tingit et gaudium fingens cognatis parentibusque ostendit; paululum postea puellae nonnulla causa dat divortium. Hic urbis et ruris mos idem est.

[FN#49] An explanation of this term will be found below.

[FN#50] It is the plural of "Kaum," which means "rising up in rebellion or enmity against," as well as the popular signification, a "people." In some parts of Arabia it is used for a "plundering party."

[FN#51] Bayt (in the plural Buyut) is used in this sense to denote the tents of the nomades. "Bayt" radically means a "nighting-place"; thence a tent, a house, a lair, &c., &c.

[FN#52] Some tribes will not sell their sheep, keeping them for guests or feasts.

[FN#53] So the word is p.r.o.nounced at Meccah. The dictionaries give "Aakal,"

which in Eastern Arabia is corrupted to "Igal."

[FN#54] Called "Tatarif," plural of Tatrifah, a cartridge.

[FN#55] The liver and the spleen are both supposed to be "congealed blood."

Niebuhr has exhausted the names and the description of the locust. In Al-Hijaz they have many local and fantastic terms: the smallest kind, for instance, is called Jarad Iblis, Satan's locust.

[FN#56] This is the Kurut of Sind and the Kashk of Persia. The b.u.t.ter-milk, separated from the b.u.t.ter by a little water, is simmered over a slow fire, thickened with wheaten flour, about a handful to a gallon, well-mixed, so that no knots remain in it, and allowed to cool.

The mixture is then put into a bag and strained, after which salt is sprinkled over it. The ma.s.s begins to harden after a few hours, when it is made up into b.a.l.l.s and dried in the sun.

[FN#57] The North American trappers adopted this natural prejudice: the "free trapper" called his more civilized confrere, "mangeur de lard."

[FN#58] Burckhardt shrank from the intricate pedigree of the Meccan Sharifs. I have seen a work upon the subject in four folio volumes in point of matter equivalent to treble the number in Europe. The best known genealogical works are Al-Kalkashandi (originally in seventy-five books, extended to one hundred); the Umdat al-Tullab by Ibn Khaldun; the "Tohfat al-Arab fi Ansar al-Arab," a well-known volume by Al-Siyuti; and, lastly, the Sirat al-Halabi, in six volumes 8vo. Of the latter work there is an abridgment by Mohammed al-Banna al-Dimyati in two volumes 8vo.; but both are rare, and consequently expensive.