Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and Adventure

by C. R. Conder

The weapons of the Arabs are different from those of their forefathers; and in the adoption of gunpowder and tobacco, we find evidence that they are not incapable of making use, as far as is convenient to themselves, of civilised inventions. Even in the Jordan Valley I have seen French cigarette-papers used; and this more convenient method of smoking has in the sea-side towns quite taken the place of the old-fashioned pipes, and is making rapid progress among the peasantry also.

The Arabs carry the sword, gun, and lance (Rumh), the last being mentioned in Scripture. The sword (Seif) has a short and straight blade, resembling a large knife. The gun (Barûd) is of great length—often five feet from muzzle to stock—and is bound with brass; the stock is very much lighter than with us; the piece is often loaded with stones, and very indifferent powder is employed. The lock is, I believe, invariably a flint one. The powder is carried in a ram’s horn, which is attached to the leather belt.

The bow, javelin, buckler, and shield seem to be now obsolete, though mentioned by travellers of the present century as still in use among the Arabs. The introduction of firearms is no doubt the reason of the disappearance of these weapons.

The helmet and coat of mail are still found among the tribes east of Jordan; the first being a light iron cap (Kub’ah), with a spike on the top, and a thin plate to protect the nose; the latter, a garment, with sleeves, which descends to the knees, or rather lower; these coats are of links closely woven, and are of considerable weight.

The Arabs seclude their women more than is the custom among the peasantry, and they are carefully veiled in presence of a stranger. Each tent has its Harîm, or women’s partition, and this, no doubt, is alluded to in the passage where Isaac is said to have brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent (Gen. xxiv. 67). The women, however, enjoy greater consideration than among the Fellahîn, and an old woman is sometimes admitted into the council, and becomes a power in the state—a privilege which has as yet only been claimed by a small minority in our own country.

The dress of the Arab women is remarkably becoming, and their appearance is imposing, as they sweep over the grass, in long trailing garments with ample hanging sleeves; their faces are swathed in a shawl head-dress, generally of dark colour, which is bound over the mouth, and leaves the nose and eyes exposed; their black curly locks are also hidden, except in the case of young girls. The under-dress is indigo coloured; the upper, which is very wide, with large sleeves and open in front, is generally of a dull olive-green; thus the general effect of their costume is very dark, and their faces are discoloured by extensive tattooing and by the blue paint on the under lip, which is dyed all over to give greater brilliance to the appearance of the teeth. It is curious to note that the women, as a rule, are ugly, while the men are handsome.

When going to fetch water, the women wear only the under dress, which they tuck and tie up until they present most comical figures. A great part of their lives seems to be spent in going to and fro between the tent and the spring, with their little black donkeys, or in sitting squatted on the edge of the stream, beating the clothes, which require washing (and generally require it very much) with a stone.

The women are all cooks, and their cookery is excellent in its way. They grind the corn in a stone hand-mill; and make thin cakes of unleavened bread; and butter and cheese by shaking the milk in a skin which is hung up on sticks. Even on their raids the Arabs take with them one or two young women to cook for the party.

The occupations of the men in time of peace are mainly pastoral. The wealth of the Arabs consists in their horses, flocks, herds, and camels. Among the Abu Nuseir, a regular trade in beasts goes on, and they act apparently as agents for the sale of animals of other tribes. The immense number of the animals which are pastured in the apparently barren and waterless waste is astonishing. I have seen the plains of Beersheba swarming with camels, and the Plain of Esdraelon has sometimes been quite covered with the flocks and herds of the Sugr.

The eastern Arabs pride themselves on their horses, but west of Jordan there are scarcely any. The mares are hardly ever sold, and often belong to more than one owner. Thus it is possible to buy the “head” of a mare, which means to own it, subject to the rearing of a colt for each of the owners of the “body” and “tail,” who claim the young ones at a certain age. The Arab horses are small and light; the better class walk very slowly, and they can neither jump nor trot, but their powers of endurance and their hardihood are immense, and their speed at a gallop is generally fair; they are rarely vicious, and their paces are pleasant when they are properly trained.