[f] Arsch is the throne of the Almighty, which is thought to be placed on the ninth, which is the higher of the firmaments.
[56] The Bedoweens live in tents, called Hhymas, from the shade they afford the inhabitants, and Beet el Shar, Houses of hair, from the matter they are made of. They are the same with what the Antients called Mapalia, which being then, as they are to this day, secured from the heat and inclemency of the weather, by a covering only of such hair cloth, as our coal sacks are made of, might very justly be described by Virgil to have thin roofs. When we find any number of them together (and I have seen from 3 to 300) then they are usually placed in a circle, and constitute a Dou-war. The fashion of each tent is the same, being of an oblong figure, not unlike the bottom of a ship turned upside down, as Satlust hath long ago described them. However they differ in bigness, according to the number of people who live in them: and are accordingly supported, some with one pillar, others with two or three: whilst a curtain or carpet placed, upon occasion, at each of these divisions, separateth the whole into so many apartments. The pillar which I have mentioned, is a straight pole, 8 or 10 feet high and 3 or 4 inches in thickness, serving, not only to support the tent, but being full of hooks fixd there for the purpose, the Arabs hang upon it their cloaths, baskets, saddles, and accoutrements of war. Holofernes, as we read in Judith, 13. 16. made the like use of the pillar of his tent, by hanging his fauchin upon it, it is there called the pillar of the bed, from the custom perhaps, that hath always prevailed, of having the upper end of the carpet, matrass, or whatever else they lie upon, turned from the skirts of the tent that way. But the Κωνωπειον, Canopy as we render it (ver. 9) should I presume, be rather called the gnat or muskeeta net, which is a close curtain of gauze or fine linnen, used all over the Levant, by people of better fashion, to keep out the flies. The Arabs have nothing of this kind; who in taking their rest, lie horizontally upon the ground, without bed, matrass or pillow, wrapping themselves up only in their Hykes, and lying, as they find room upon a mat or carpet, in the middle or corner of the tent. Those who are married, have each of them a corner of the tent, cantoned off with a curtain.
Shaw.
The tents of the Moors are somewhat of a conic form, are seldom more than 8 or 10 feet high in the centre, and from 20 to 25 in length. Like those of the remotest antiquity, their figure is that of a ship overset, the keel of which is only seen. These tents are made of twine, composed of goat’s hair, camel’s wool, and the leaves of the wild palm, so that they keep out water; but, being black, they produce a disagreable effect at a distant view.
Chenier.
[57] In the kingdom of Imam the men of all ranks shave their heads. In some other countries of Yemen all the Arabs, even the Sheiks themselves, let their hair grow and wear neither bonnet nor Sasch, but a handkerchief instead, in which they tie the hair behind. Some let it fall upon their shoulders and bind a small cord round their heads instead of a turban. The Bedouins upon the frontiers of Hedsjas and of Yemen wear a bonnet of palm leaves, neatly platted.
Niebuhr.
[58] The music of the Bedoweens rarely consists of more than one strain, suitable to their homely instruments, and to their simple invention. The Arabebbah as they call the bladder and string, is in the highest vogue, and doubtless of great antiquity, as is also the Gaspah, which is only a common reed, open at each end, having the side of it bored, with three or more holes, according to the ability of the Person who is to touch it: tho’ the compass of their tunes rarely or ever exceeds an octave. Yet sometimes, even in this simplicity of harmony, they observe something of method and ceremony, for in their historical Cantatas especially, they have their preludes and symphonies; each stanza being introduced with a flourish from the Arabebbah, while the narration itself is accompanied with the softest touches they are able to make, upon the Gaspah. The Tarr, another of their instruments, is made like a Sive, consisting (as Isidore describeth the Tympanum) of a thin rim or hoop of wood, with a skin of parchment stretched over the top of it. This serves for the Bass in all their Concerts, which they accordingly touch very artfully with their fingers, and the knuckles or palms of their hands, as the time and measure require, or as force and softness are to be communicated to the several parts of the performance. The Tarr is undoubtedly the Tympanum of the Antients, which appears as well from the general use of it all over Barbary, Egypt and the Levant, as from the method of playing upon it, and the figure of the instrument itself, being exactly of the same fashion, with what we find in the hands of Cybele and the Bacchanals among the Basso Relievos and Statues of the Antiets.
Shaw.
The Arabs have the Cussuba, or cane, which is only a piece of large cane, or reed, with stops, or holes, like a flute, and somewhat longer, which they adorn with tossels of black silk and play upon like the German flute.