Page 280 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XII.] COAST OF ARABIA. 261

the cramped positions of their limbs, and the
combined influence of the elements are, how­

ever, quite sufficient to produce the physical
distinction between the spare, but vigorous
make of the Bedowin, and their own lean,
unshapely, and squalid figures.
Those who possess boats carry with them
their tents, which are usually kamalines
thrown over a few sticks, and pitched in
some dell, or behind a cliff, for the purposes

of concealment; but those who have no such
property were met with almost in a state of
nudity, and were dependent on the shelter
afforded by the clefts and hollows of the
rocks. In their tents are kept their women
and children; and their possessions consist of
little else than boats, fishing-tackle, and
nets; a few goats or sheep, and a stone for
grinding such corn as the rapacity of the
Arabs may permit them occasionally to pur­
chase. The Huteimi females go unveiled,
and I have reason to believe that their fa­

vours, either from fear or custom, are never
withheld from the Arabs who are desirous of
obtaining them.
On the Nubian coast, near to Meerza He-