Page 189 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

170 COAST OF ARABIA. [CH.

eaten, unless on some occasion of festivity.

They possess no boats of their own ; and the
Hute’imi, in addition to a tribute which they
pay of two dollars a-head per annum, for
protection, supply their masters with fish,
large quantities of which are also salted and
conveyed into the interior for sale.
The dress of the Sheikh and the better sort
consists of the raM or cloak, procured from
either Syria or Egypt, striped vertically black
and white, and a loose shirt of unbleached

cloth, extending as low as the knees, and
bound round the waist with a leathern girdle,
in which is thrust a long crooked knife, or
jambir, their ammunition, and the apparatus
for striking a light, which a Bedowin is never
without. The poorer sort wear the same de­
scription of shirt, with a cloak of darker co­
lour and coarser texture. The Sheikh, and a
few of his followers only, wore the striped red
and yellow kerchief, in such general use in
other parts of Arabia; and all the tribe there­
fore permit their hair to grow, which is gene­

rally plaited, and reaches as low as their
waist. Whilst subjected to the sway of the
Wahh&bis, the Bedowins were compelled to