'35/149 I (A 67) Batineh date trade. Dowson's reports' [‎37r] (79/164)

"tine psop.Le q ,pps8.x icix* X gss 1 s,iiQ.tiCt'l "tiicin in XsXsmic [
countries• Refreshing it was to ait down to meet and to eat out
of'the same dish with the SUffil, and to see/ them drinJi out of
the Westerner's glass as readily as out of anyone else*5 and
much was the pleasant jesting at uhe relusal ot one JESa .niyan dnd
the Brahmin to do so» But these people have seen no Europeans
iDefore, nor Christians, as have the Muslimin ol worth Africa,
the Iraq, and Persia. Perhaps, bad they seen as much of the Sx j
European as have the Syrian and the Iraqi, they also might have i
refused to eat with hiiru
1
Appearance *
The Tfadi Samayil Arab is small, thin, slight, and of
a color rarying fro|ti milk chocolate to ordinary chocolate, ihe
shaikhs and merchants, living lives less exposed to the sun than
the majority, are fairer, some not darker than Calahrians. The
men have the proper, picture-book, Arab faces, though their
chins are ratner too receding, and, instead of a small, pointed,
trimmed beard, their chins are made hideous with an unkempt
fringe of wiry, black beard, rather like jrarmer Hayseed's except
for the color'. These are not a hairy people, so perhaps they
feel they have not enough b^ard to lose any "by trimming#
The negroes in the Batanah are more robust; "but even
these appear thinner, shorter, and slighter than teir brethren ;
elsewhere*
The little boys are often pretty, with full lips,
well curved, large, black eyws, and unprominent chins. One is
reminded of portraits of young Spanish noblemen of the avII th
and J&VTII th centuries. Often on the children lies a langorous,
sickly pallor. Is it malaria?
The woman may be plain; but they look one straight
in tne face; and that alone, after the absurd esties of other
Muhammad an women in covering up their charms, makes them —-
attractive. Their demeanor is grave and decorous, save when^the
sight of topee, trousers, and dark glasses proves too much for
them, and compels them to break dovirn into paroxysms of helpless
giggles.
Mow describe the little girls? "Dainty rogues in
porcelain" is quite unsuitable, Say, hard -working, thin, ffver-
stricken, hapx>y, little wenches. "VThen dressed in nothing but
their little red trowsers, they are, if the expression be
allowed, a scream.
Clothes .
Full dress consists of a loin cloth, WUZAR, woven
locally, either from home-grown cotton, or, more usually, from
Indian yarn. The width of the looms is j^out eighteen inches.
Consequently, two widths of cloth are swn together to mafce one
WUZAR, about three feet wide. The length is about six feet. The
color is usually white; but a great number of other colors are
allowed. Both borders are always gaily striped. To put on the
WUZAR, one holds it behind him, the upper edge against the
waist, the lower against the ankles, then gssgg. pulls the two
ends forward, keeping the middle of the mJZAR in the middle of
the back. The two upper corners are now drawn together, crossed
over, and tucked under the folded edge drawn tightly round the
waist. A thin, cotton shirt, THAUB, is worn over the OTZAR, and
also reaches the ankles, or nearly so. The front and throat
opening is held closed with studs, or, in slightly differently
shaped shirts, with a single button at the neck, not quite at'
the centre. Often a red line is embroidered along the yoke,
round the collar, and along the edge of the front opening, and
in the middle of the waist. Although the commonest color for
shirts in the towns is white, ^ret, in the country, khaki shirts
ci.^. e common, especially amongst the poorer classes. A suspicion
that these shirts also were originally white was allayed by