'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎681] (780/905)

chap. xxv.]
furniture of a tent.
681
milking the animals, and weaving with a simple loom, called Employments
muton, consisting of three sticks. They also use a distaff, oflhe women -
keeping in motion as the latter twists and untwists in spinning
the wool or cotton. But cooking, fetching and carrying
water, like Rebecca, 1 taking the camels to the pasture ground
and to water, with the cares of the family at large, devolve
almost entirely upon the women. As in the days of Abra
ham, the latter have a portion of the tent to themselves ; 2 for
a second tent is rarely possessed even by the inferior sheikhs,
and sometimes two and even three families live together.
The outer part of the tent is appropriated to the use of the Kitchen
men, and to a horse when there is one ; it also serves occa- utensils -
sionally as a place of shelter for some of the feeble goats and
sheep. The inner apartment is the cooking place, the provi
sion store, and the place in which the table and kitchen
utensils are kept. The latter are extremely simple, and com
prise a hand-mill, with two stones for grinding meal; a pestle
and mortar for pounding coffee, two or three coffee-pots of
different sizes, with a proportion of cups; a kind of portable
oven, a large copper pot, an iron girdle for baking bread, some
wooden bowls and coarse wooden spoons, a circular table
cloth made of ornamented leather, a napkin sufficiently long
to encircle it, so as to serve all the guests ; and lastly, a coarse
carpet, or a mat if the carpet cannot be had.
The Arabs meet at intervals during the day, but more par- Amusements
ticularly at night, and usually in the sheikh's tent, which is 0 e men '
considered as free to all, and particularly to the passing
stranger. And in the event of receiving a mission from
another tribe, even if it be to declare war, the rites of hos
pitality take their course before the business is entered upon.
Their simple manner of life does not admit of much variety
of occupation, and the evenings are generally passed in con
versation, with a small cup of coffee now and then, or in play
ing at dice or dominoes occasionally. They also have a kind
of lottery which is decided by arrows previously marked in a
particular way; these being drawn out of a bag or covered vessel.
1 Gen, ch. xxv., v. 5.
VOL. I.
8 Ibid., ch. xvii., v. 6, 9.
4 s