‘A Pilgrimage to Nejd, the cradle of the Arab race. A visit to the court of the Arab Emir, and "Our Persian Campaign."' [‎45] (70/326)

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Bedouins and Persians.
45
sitting astride, and seems absolutely unable to
learn the wavs and habits of the creature he rides;
and he talks to it with his falsetto voice in a language
no Arabian camel could possibly understand. The
jokes cut on the Persians by the Arabs never
cease from morning till night. The better class of
pilgrims, and of course all the women except the
very poor, travel in mahmals or litters—panniers,
of which a camel carries two—covered over like a
tradesman’s van with blue or red canvas. One or
two persons possess tahteravans, a more expensive
kind of conveyance, which requires two mules or
two camels, one before and one behind, to carry it.
In either of these litters the traveller can squat or
even lie down and sleep. The camels chosen for
the mahmals are strong and even-paced; and some
of these double panniers are fitted up with a certain
care and elegance, and the luxuries of Persian rugs
and hangings. A confidential driver leads the camel,
and servants sometimes walk beside it. One of the
pilgrims keeps a man to march in front with his
narghileh, which he smokes through a very long
tube sitting in the pannier above. There are a few
horses, perhaps about half a dozen. One, a white
Kehilan Harkan, was bought the other day by a
rich pilgrim from a Shammar Bedouin of the escort.
This horse seems to be thoroughbred as far as can
be judged from his head, tail, and pasterns ; the
rest of him is hidden by a huge pollan, or
pack-saddle, with trappings, in which his new