XXI. ARABS.

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The old home of the Arabs was Arabia; to-day they are found not only in Arabia, but over half of Asia and all of Northern Africa. Their great wanderings began with the founding of Mohammedanism about the year 622 A.D. Full of zeal, the Arabs carried the new religion in every direction.

The Arab is a white man, but a dark one. His language belongs to the Semitic family and resembles the old Hebrew language. Arabic is a soft and poetical language which is spoken to-day by myriads of people who are not Arabs by blood. The Arab is of moderate stature; he is thin but muscular, and has great endurance; he has a long head and a narrow, oval face; his nose is long, thin, and prominent; his hair and eyes are black.

We always think of the Arab as dwelling in tents. This is only partly true. In Arabia itself about one-fourth of the Arabs are wandering tent-dwellers; in Northern Africa, especially near the great desert, many are nomadic. But everywhere we also find settled, town-inhabiting Arabs also.

The tents of the desert Arabs are large, low, and flat; the covering is a firm wool and camel’s-hair cloth. During the daytime, at least, the sides are raised to permit the air to circulate. These tents are easily taken down and packed, and as easily set up. Desert Arabs have flocks of sheep and herds of goats, camels, and horses. Every one has heard of the beauty, gentleness, and spirit of the Arabian horses—the finest perhaps in the world. Their owners love them and treat them as tenderly as children. Horses are rarely used by Arabs as draught animals or burden bearers, but only for riding. The camel it is upon which the Arab packs his heavy burdens for desert travel. The nomad Arab lives chiefly on food drawn from his flocks and herds. Mutton is his most important meat; couscous is a favorite food (see Kabyles). The nomad Arabs are pillagers, and fall upon caravans of traders to rob them. Still they are hospitable to the stranger who comes to their tent asking shelter; in fact, they treat him with the greatest politeness. A table is set before him; he is given water to wash his hands; the master himself receives the food from the servants and places it before his guest. The Arabs admire strength and agility, and at evening, before their tents, the young men of the encampment practise tumbling, wrestling, hurling, and other feats of strength.

CAMEL AND PALANQUIN (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).

The town Arabs live in comfortable houses. Most of these are of a single story, though some are of two; they enclose a central open court; they are flat-roofed; a large gateway gives entrance to the court, and is high enough for a man on horseback to ride through. The flat house tops make a favorite resting-place in the cool of the day. Streets in Arab towns are narrow, crooked, and filthy. In Arab towns are noticed at once many domes and minarets: the domes usually mark some famous grave; the minarets, mosques. These graves are those of some pious Mohammedan saint. There are thousands of them to which the Arabs flock to say their prayers and to be cured of disease. Often at such tombs dervishes go through with their strange performances. Some pierce themselves with swords, with no signs of pain; others spin around and around on their heels until one wearies of watching them, and wonders why they do not fall.

The town Arab is more particular about his religion than the Bedouin dweller in the desert. He must—and every good Mohammedan should—wash his hands before eating; he must pray five times a day with his face turned toward Mecca. Mecca is so sacred to them because it was the home of Mohammed; every Arab and other good Mohammedan tries, once in his life, to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he must see the Kaabah, or black-stone. Arabs are much given to pious exclamations. Thus before eating or beginning any business they say Bismallah, which means In God’s name, and on finishing the meal or successfully completing the business they say Hamdouallah, Praise God. This piety does not interfere with the town Arab driving hard bargains in business. He loves trade and money. He frequently goes in caravans to trade in other places. The Arabs, too, are the slave-traders in Africa. This cruel business has not yet been stopped completely. The traders buy negroes where they can, and hunt them almost like wild animals when they cannot buy them. In some places the hunted beings take refuge in trees, which have been prepared as places of safety from which they defend themselves.

Formerly the Arabs were more important than now. Seven or eight hundred years ago Arabia was the world’s centre of learning—or at least the Arab cities were. At a time, when Europe had lost much of what she once possessed, the Arab world was full of philosophers, physicians, poets, and astrologers. From the Arabs Europe gained much of the knowledge that we now possess. But those bright days of Arabian glory are past. To-day the boys in Arab schools learn little but reading, writing, and arithmetic. They learn long passages from the Koran—the sacred book of Mohammedanism. The little fellows—for girls do not go to school—sit on the floor, and all study aloud, the louder the better, because then the teacher will know that they are studying.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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