[280] “Ephraim is as a cake not turned.”—Hosea, vii. 8. Niebuhr (Arabia, vol. ii. p. 132) draws the distinction. In the towns, he says, they use ovens, like us; in the tents, a hot plate of iron.
[281] Abulpheda says, “that he (Abdallah, the calif, the son of Sobeir) wore a suit of clothes for forty years, without pulling them off his back, but doth not inform us what they were made of.”—History of the Saracens, vol. ii. p. 349. This he believes to be incredible; of course it is so with teased wool, machinery-spun thread, and tailored clothes. I have seen a home-made Highland plaid, in excellent condition, after nearly twenty years’ constant wear.
[282] The sulam, or bournoos, is a cloak with a hood. The gelab (from an ancient Persian word for scales) is the sulam sewed in front, and with short sleeves, through which the arms can be put at pleasure. It was the dress of the Essenians; is the monkish dress, and as such is respected by the Mussulmans. It varies according to the district, and is in colours—narrow stripes of brown and yellow, of blue and white, of blue and black, with here and there lines of white. In the winter these garments are doubled or trebled, and the haïk is worn over all. The sulam is the dress of the soldiers.
[283] This is sometimes replaced by the very beautiful Moorish sash, huzam.
[284] Gen. xxxvii. 3; Judges v. 30; Sam. xiii. 18; Exod. xxii. 26, 7; Deut. xxiv. 13; Job xxii. 6; Matt. v. 40.
[285] In one of the poems of Shanfara, the Cid of the Arabians, this passage occurs:—“I will not rest till I have raised the dust on every one who wears kissa or bourd, of the tribe of Salaman.” This is interpreted to mean that he would lay low the men of note. The word bourd occurs in various places. St. Augustine, speaking of a presbyter, vain and worldly-minded, describes him as “burda vestitum.” In Genesis xxxi. 12, the word is used to designate the variegated lambs; and in the Gaelic is translated by the word which they use for “tartan.” It would thus appear to convey rather the idea of colour than of form. Shanfara might have said, if speaking of the Highlands, “Every man who wears tartan,” as distinguished from the shepherd plaid. Kissa may have a similar meaning—black and white. It is nowhere mentioned as a dress. Kisson, the name of the “ancient brook,” is supposed to be connected with κίσσα of the Greeks, or magpie, (black and white). Kissa may also be fringe; for tzetzith (fringe), is cabalistically equal to kisee (throne).
[286] Vestes candidæ. Lutatius Ann. on the Thebaid.
[287] ἔνδυναί τε καὶ ἐπιβάλλεσθαι.—Pollux., 1. vii. c. 13.
[288] οὐκ ἐνεδύοντο ἀλλ ἐπερονῶντο.
[289] πέπλοι ποδήρεις, Eurip.; ἔλκεσιπέτλους—τανύπεπλον—ἄμφι δε πέπλοι πίπτανται. Homer.