Page 21 - Arabian Studies (I)
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Folklore and Folk Literature in Oman and Socotra 9
Bedouin dialects.6 Many women spoke no Arabic and those who
spoke Arabic were difficult to understand. It may be worth noting
that the voice production of the women is characterized by tenseness
of the muscles of the throat. The Harasls live in small communities
which they call a ferek.1 A ferek is a group of about eight to fifteen
people, four or five women relations and their children, and one or
more men who protect them. The other males are away working or
looking for work in the oil company and in between times looking
after their date-palms: earlier they would spend a good deal of time
away with the camels, but the transfer from camel to car has been
almost total, and few people now set out on a long journey on
camel-back. Camels are clearly not considered as safe an investment
as Maria Theresa dollars these days and their numbers are declining.
They are now kept mainly for their milk, the men doing the milking.
The material culture of the Harasls was not a high one. They lived
on milk and meat, were proud of their ability to do without water,
and claim that they began to eat rice and dates only comparatively
recently. The borrowed elements in their vocabulary to some extent
support these claims: the words for rice (yerlz) and dates (tomcr) are
not borrowed (directly at least) from Arabic, and they do have a
word heweg which means ‘to collect the dew from the bushes and
plants (for drinking)’. Water is now available in a number of wells
drilled by the oil company.
The Harasls count about 400 arms-bearing males, boys after
circumcision being subsumed under this heading. Their total number
can be roughly estimated at about a thousand including women and
children.
The men wear waistcloths, head-cloths and, when they can, shirts.
They wear a cartridge-belt and carry a rifle, and usually also put on a
dishdashah when away from home or their place of work. The
assumption of a dishdashah probably indicates a degree of sophisti
cation.
The women veil in the fashion of Arab women, and unlike the
Mehra, the Sheri-speakers and people of Socotra, the veil is an
eye-mask of indigo-dyed cloth like that of Eastern Arabia. They wear
black top-dresses over a bright dress and loose trousers, and a
head-cloth which can be drawn closely over the face when strangers
are present. This is also the fashion of their Bedouin women
neighbours.
Infants are put in cloth-covered cradles. An equilateral triangle of
wood is made with a base of about a foot. To each angle the end of a
stick about three feet long is fixed. The other ends are fixed
together. The structure is then given a base and covered with cloth