Page 459 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

420 NAKAB EL HAJAli. [CH.

ment, were busily engaged with their pipes

and coffee.
It appears we had arrived at a sort of cara­
vanserai, one or more of which are usually

found in the towns of Yemen, as in other
parts of the East. We therefore requested
the old lady, whose kindness did not abate

when she heard we were Christians, to re
move the camels from the court-yard, and
there, after a hearty supper of dates and milk,
we slept very soundly until about three o’clock,

when we were awakened by finding our guides
rummaging our baggage for coffee. At any

other period I should probably have been
amused at witnessing the unceremonious
manner in which they proposed helping them­
selves, as well as the nonchalance they ex­

hibited in piling, without ceremony, saddles,
baskets, or whatever came in their way, upon

us. But men are not in the best humour to
enjoy a practical joke, when snatching a hasty
repose, after a fatiguing day’s work; and I
therefore, with as little ceremony as they

used to us, peremptorily refused to allow
them to remove what they were seeking for.

As we anticipated, they took this in high