The forenoon of the next day was occupied in making sundry small purchases.  We laid in seven days’ provisions for the journey; repacked our boxes, polished and loaded our arms, and attired ourselves appropriately for the road.  By the advice of Amm Jamal[FN#15] I dressed as an Arab, in order to avoid paying the Jizyat, a capitation tax [FN#16] which, upon this road, the settled tribes extort from stranger travellers; and he warned me not to speak any language but Arabic, even to my “slave,” in the vicinity of a village.  I bought for my own convenience a Shugduf or litter[FN#17] for which I paid two dollars.  It is a

[p.234] vehicle appropriated to women and children, fathers of families, married men, “Shelebis,[FN#18]” and generally to those who are too effeminate to ride.  My reason for choosing a litter was that notes are more easily taken in it than on a dromedary’s back; the excuse of lameness prevented it detracting from my manhood, and I was careful when entering any populous place to borrow or hire a saddled beast.

Our party dined early that day, for the camels had been sitting at the gate since noon.  We had the usual trouble in loading them:  the owners of the animals vociferating about the unconscionable weight, the owners of the goods swearing that a child could carry such weight, while the beasts, taking part with their proprietors, moaned piteously, roared, made vicious attempts to bite, and started up with an agility that threw the half-secured boxes or sacks headlong to the ground.  About 3 P.M. all was ready-the camels formed into Indian file were placed standing in the streets.  But, as usual with Oriental travellers, all the men dispersed about the town:  we did not mount before it was late in the afternoon.

I must now take the liberty of presenting to the reader an Arab Shaykh fully equipped for travelling.[FN#19] Nothing can be more picturesque than the costume, and

[p.235] it is with regret that we see it exchanged in the towns and more civilised parts for any other.  The long locks or the shaven scalps are surmounted by a white cotton skull-cap, over which is a Kufiyah-a large square kerchief of silk and cotton mixed, and generally of a dull red colour with a bright yellow border, from which depend crimson silk twists ending in little tassels that reach the wearer’s waist.  Doubled into a triangle, and bound with an Aakal[FN#20] or fillet of rope, a skein of yarn or a twist of wool, the kerchief fits the head close behind:  it projects over the forehead, shading the eyes, and giving a fierce look to the countenance.  On certain occasions one end is brought round the lower part of the face, and is fastened behind the head.  This veiling the features is technically called Lisam:  the chiefs generally fight so, and it is the usual disguise when a man fears the avenger of blood, or a woman starts to take her Sar.[FN#21] In hot weather it is supposed to keep the Samun, in cold weather the catarrh, from the lungs.