in houses or cabins ; and the Nomadic qj? Bedouin Arabs,
who dwell in tents, without confining themselves to any particular
country. They are', however,, the people^ speakr
ing the same language, with greater or ldss purity, but differing
much in habits.
“ The . .cabins of the agricultural Arabs are made with
branches of trees or reeds,:. which are seldom plastered over
with mud ; they are thatched with reeds* or the leaves of the'
date-palm. Their huts are never solitary, but in grpupes of
ten or twelve, and sometimes even forty, forming small
lages always surrounded by hedges ;of i-caetu#; to which they
give the name of dascars. We often find among these cabins,
houses ordinarily inhabited by the shieks ;or nobles of the
tribe : there are also mosques constructed of lime and sand,
but they are generally merely cabins, somewhat larger than
those by which they are surrounded.
“ Each family generally possesses >.<t wo cabins, one for
themselves and the other for the cattle. The whole furniture
of an Arab hut consists of a few baked earthen pots »for
dressing the food, and milking the cows; sheep-skins, or
mats of rush stretched upon the ground, which serve. them
for beds; some bottles of goats’ or sheeps’-skin for keeping
water, and for carrying milk to the town: and an earthen
lamp: there are, besides, their agricultural tools/a frame. for
weaving wool, made of pieces of wood and pf reeds, a distaff,
and spindle; and lastly, a mill to grind their com, composed
of two stones, which go one within another, and\ which. are
turned with the hand.
“ The tents of the Bedouin or Nomadic Arabs, are generally
made of a black and white stuff, composed of-wool arid
the hair of the camel. The piece of stuff, which is very large,
is placed upon poles of wood, by means of which they give it
the form of a triangular prism: it covers a space of four
metres in length, by two or three in breadth, which serves
for a family, composed often of a man, three or four women,
and five or six children: they lie upon mats or skins.; In the
neighbourhood of Algiers, the tents of the Bedouins are
placed according to their own choice; and collected together
in number from ten- to twenty; but among the nornadic tribes
who Mve under the**^authority shiek, the tents of 'each
tribe are -dispOseckiri awcircle,fend* form -what ■ the Afabs; :#tjl
a douar; thfe^SeiiAp^rispa^S in. the midstlisirfori their cattle -by
night, I In i each*'.tribe there is a tent which serves for a
mosque, and iri which.the men UieetVat tffeer hour of »prayer.
The Arab1 tents' are' fofmed s’dithatitheair may'circulate frebly i
which renders themweiyofbesb 'd^M^thevsuirimer. When, we
wereencamped in.-.the peninsula offS^drtEfro.udj, our; tents
were5 ■ali^Covered ;w-ith muflq -they; weije Mthus hermetically
close/ sbthat it-was imposslbl^fo remain ah them during the
heatf bf the .day. In the summer,,i$hedBfedouinsAie mndeithe
tetffs^ior round them^nd theirbbattlei;stay .without f but in
the winter they put-them under coVer,land those families-.who
only Jpossessi'‘.one tent> lie’‘with them-cows andlAsheep^
whichhebp ijhem warm during the night. 'Thererate,* some
■very ?lafcge «tents, m’ade/ of ^eVeral pieces of stuff, in which
tbe$jf«&n shelter-numerous herds of cattleA’,-,,
. The physical characters of the A ra b ^ f .pure blood: are thus
described, by M. Rozet,:, |
“ The Arabs are generally large men; they are w^elj. mad^,
and sufficiently pliqnp/ without being fat or thin; they .have
black hair, open foreheads, lively eyes, a well-formed mouth
and nose, an oval countenance with long feature^ ;c. theip, skip is
brown, sometimes,: olive; I have seen many as black as Negroes,
but preserving all the other characteristics of the Arab
race. There is no more difference between the men and women
than amCmg other people: the »women woul^be" easily r^cpgf
nised at first sight, by. those who have-* seen, the men. The
Arabs are, courageous ?fmd fierce : they behead their cqiit
quered enemies; but they seldom exercise- cruelties towards
them, as do the Berbers and Moors.” *
S ec tio n III.—Of the Arabian Tribes in Egypt and Nubia.
In Egypt the Arabs of the upper country from Esneh to
Assfian are descended, Recording to Bqrckhardt, from the
great tribe of Bjaafereh. The Fellahs, or peasantry inhabit-
Rozet, Voy. dans la Régence d’Alger.