Page 184 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

X.J TRAVELS IN OMAN. 145

use, is but too frequently demonstrated in
their brawls with their Arab customers, by

whom they are considered an irascible, sloth­

ful, and immoral race.
“ They neglect their prayers, break the
fast of the Ramadan, and openly indulge in

the forbidden pleasures of wine,” was my
friend, the Sheikh’s, summary of their cha­

racter.
Wanting, at least in their estimation, the

Bedowin virtues of frankness and hospitality,
which at once convert the person they meet

with into an open foe or a cherished guest,
they have invested the inhabitants of Jebel

Akhdar with the heaviest charge which can
be brought against them, that of being nig­

gard and sullen in the exercise of their hos­
pitality : certainly what came under my ob­
servation during our short stay among them,

produces little which could be advanced in
contradiction of it. There was none of that

freshness and vivacity which we usually
meet with amongst mountaineers. Their man­

ners, indeed, are far more rude than those of
the wild tribes who inhabit the Desert below.

They displayed no feeling of curiosity, nor

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