bread, half baked. They, however, readily eat jerboas,1 lizards,
hedgehogs, locusts, and, in general, every animal which they
happen to meet with during their journeys, except the hog.
Locusts, strung together, are exposed for sale in some of the
petty bazaars; these are usually broiled, although it is by no
means uncommon to eat them without any kind of dressing;
and the liver of the sheep is eaten in a raw state.2
The milk of the camel, which is poor and slightly saline,
forms a part of the food of the Arabs and of their horses, and
sometimes an inferior kind of butter is made from it. The
flesh of that animal is so much esteemed, that when lameness,
illness, or any other cause arrests its progress during a
journey, it is speedily killed and divided amongst all who have
any claim to a share of what is sought with the utmost
avidity.
Cheese, and goat’s or sheep’s milk, dates, bread, or dhurrah,
some boiled rice mixed with butter, a preparation of bruised
wheat called burghul, or a cake composed of honey and butter,
form the chief food of the Bedawins. The common evening
meal of the poorer sort is a dish called ayesh, of flour and
sour camel’s milk, made into a paste and boiled. On the
arrival of a stranger, a kid or lamb is either baked whole, or
put into a pilaf. Fish is not much in request, nor is it eaten
from choice even when it happens to be abundant, which is
often the case near the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris.
The favourite beverage is sour milk, called Leben, the preparation
of which is understood everywhere throughout Arabia.
Cheese is universally eaten, and in some places it is very good.
Throughout Mesopotamia, and especially in the market of
Baghdad, it is scarcely inferior to our Chedder. But the
greater part of the Arab cheese is of a very different quality; it
is usually formed into small lumps, less than the size of a
bean, much salted, and is kept in leathern bags for use, both
at home and on a journey.
Butter is almost as common as cheese, and it is made in a
most primitive manner. A skin half filled with milk being
1 The Anizeh regard the jerboa as a great dainty.—Burckhardt’s Bedawin
and Wahhabi, p. 35. 2 Ibid., p. 138.
suspended between the poles of a tent, or from a tripod stand is
made to swing from side to side, either by the hands alone, or
by means of a rope, until the butter is formed. When fresh it
is pretty good; but when kept long it is scarcely more than
tolerable oil. All that portion which is not required for their
own consumption is sold or exchanged for wheat, barley,
clothes, and the other things required in an Arab family.
The buildings at the north-western extremity of the territory,
both ancient and modern, have frequently been noticed;
and the buildings at the western side1 scarcely differ from those
on the eastern, or Mesopotamian side. The latter are of
rubble masonry, with terraced roofs; and usually contain
upper as well as lower apartments, which are generally of
small size, badly built and imperfectly lighted. But an inferior
abode, a kind of hut, made of wattles or other light
materials, is occasionally constructed; this is sometimes a
mere cube, scarcely exceeding six feet on each side, at other
times it is round, and terminates with a dome which is covered
with cloth ; in each case the entrance is through a very low
door. The building is movable, so as to suit a people in a
half-nomadic state, and may be considered as having an intermediate
place between stone houses and tents. The latter
differ from those of the Persians, Kurds, and Turkomans,2
chiefly in being of a more portable construction. The shape
is generally oval, and the material is of black goat’s hair,
mixed with that of the camel; this is usually supported by
two poles eight or ten feet high, which are placed along the
middle; but when the tent is more spacious, as is that of the
sheikh, shorter poles are placed at intervals, usually three
towards each side, and three in the middle. A low, movable
curtain, often of wool, closes the tent on the side exposed to
the sun, or cold, according to the season, and another curtain
separates the men’s apartment from that of the women ; the
former contains the packsaddles of the camels, against which
the men recline.
1 As described by Niehbuhr, vol. II., p. 229, of Heron’s translation, and by
Mr. Cruttenden, I.N., Memoirs of the Royal Geo. Soc., vol. VIII., part 3.
2 See above, p. 243-368.
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