Page 229 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

210 COAST OF ARABIA. [cii.

Banians nor Jews are permitted to reside
either here or at Jiddah*. The latter abound

on the lower part of the coast, as do the
former at and towards the southward of
Mokha. No Arabs reside here permanently,
the greater part of the year being passed
amidst their date-groves at Yembo’-Nakhlf,
where they have houses and gardens. Even
in the town they adhere with much tenacity
to the primitive simplicity of their Bedowin
habits, and consequently are seldom found
engaged in commercial pursuits. Few appear
abroad in the street unless in their full native

costume, with matchlock slung behind by a
leather belt, the jambir, or crooked dagger,
and one or a brace of pistols, highly inlaid
and ornamented with silver, in their girdle:
those who can afford it carry by their side a
long crooked sabre, double-edged near the
point. The ’aba—or camaline, as it is styled
jn the Persian Gulf—and the keifiyet J are
worn here by all classes. It is a broad ker­
chief, striped green, red, and yellow, having
* Jiddali was, till very lately, almost the only place in Hijaz,
the holy land of the Moslims, accessible to unbelievers.
f That is, Yembo’-datc-palm.
$ Literally, “ cpnvenience, comfort.’*
I