Page 21 - Arabian Studies (I)
P. 21

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
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