Page 20 - Arabian Studies (I)

8 Arabian Studies I

differently from those in the South. In many areas the head-cloth
made up as a turban, that is to say without a headrope, is a standard
item of dress, the lower classes moreover wearing only a waist-cloth.
Within the Southern culture the Mchra and to a lesser extent the
Sheri-speaking peoples dress distinctively and this is described below.
The Harasls however dress as their Bedouin neighbours do.
The Southern Bedouins unlike those of the North do not live in
tents. They fix a sun-shade in a tree or bush3 and, if they are staying
for a longish time in one place, they will enclose the sleeping-area to
keep out the livestock. In the Dhofari mountains the people make
much more adventitious use of caves for shelter for themselves but
even more for the livestock.
Female circumcision is practised throughout the South, a custom
which is not found in N. Arabia; indeed it ceases to be practised in
E. Arabia north of Oman. It is on the other hand almost universally
practised in Eastern Africa, Islamic, Christian and pagan.
The South also differs, as was mentioned above, in that belief in
the spirit world is much nearer the surface of all human activities. In
Oman, for example, it is not long before one finds out that the jinn
particularly often take the form of cats, whom it is accordingly
inadvisable to harry or harass. Shape-changing is not confined to
jinn: witches and wizards have powers to assume other shapes. Nor is
this the end of their powers; they can transfer a body, their own or
someone else’s, instantaneously over great distances. They can suck
the soul out of a man and turn him into an obedient automaton;
summon demons by whistling; and make hyaenas their familiars.
Fortunately mercury worn round the neck gives good protection and
will kill practitioners of the black arts when it can be introduced into
their food.
Something must be said of the social organization and material
culture of the Harasls, Mehra, Sheris and Socotris4 since this is an
important factor in their system of beliefs and their popular culture.
The Harasls are sharif nomads, their dirah being the arid and
barren Jiddat al-Haras~is and the better-watered area to the north of
it, the Wadi Halfain. They own substantial flocks of goats and
camels, and palm-groves, these last, according to their folk-literature,
only recently acquired. Many had travelled and worked in Eastern
Arabia and I came across no males who did not speak Arabic. Most
of the men spoke Omani Bedouin dialects of the Eastern Arabian
type5, but rather as a lingua franca and indeed with some uncertainty
on important points of phonology and grammar. Some men, those
who had served in the army, spoke Omani Arabic of the Jabal
al-Akhdar type, which, of course, has more social prestige than the