Page 199 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)
P. 199
160 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [ch.
I have given a description of their war-dance,
which is graceful and impressive ; but their
other amusements are trifling, and utterly at
variance with the usual gravity of their de
portment. One is the game of blind man’s
buff, played by children in England : in an
other they conceal a ring, or some other or
nament, under one of several inverted cups,
and in discovering that, consists the art of
the game. Professed story-tellers were also
in great request, and I have often felt a high
degree of interest in witnessing the effect of
their tales on the listeners. They have little
action, are seldom over-loud or vehement,
but a choice selection of words, which flow
apparently without effort, a peculiar, ener
getic, and even graceful delivery, and an in
vention or memory which appears never to
flag, produce effects of which the most ac
complished orator would feel proud: every
feeling which he could hope for or desire was
exhibited on these occasions.
In the absence of amusements of a higher
interest than these, without arts or literature,
and debarred, by the nature of their govern
ment and country, from any opportunity of
