Page 282 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XII.] COAST OF ARABIA. 263

at the age of twenty their faces become
wrinkled, and they evince other symptoms of

premature decay; indeed I believe instances
of longevity on this coast are rare. In their
persons and in their garments, which are
rarely washed, and never changed until they
fall to pieces, the Bedowins on the sea-
coast display an indifference to cleanliness
which is offensive and disgusting. Cutaneous
disorders are very prevalent, and their pro­
gress is without doubt accelerated by the
nature of their diet. Where ablutions would

alleviate, if not remove these, they are wholly
neglected.

Burckhardt gives an account of this tribe,
more favourable than the foregoing; but his
opportunities of mingling with them could
not have been so frequent as my own *.

* On comparing the foregoing account with the words of Dio­
dorus, the reader will entertain little doubt as to their identity.
I “ Some of these barbarians go entirely without clothes, inhabit­
ing, among other places, the borders of the Red Sea. They dwell
along the ravines on the coast, subsisting almost entirely on fish;
and when the supply of that falls short, they eat shell-fish. They
exhibit no traces of civilization; their women and children are
common; they eat their food almost entirely raw; in short, they
are little different from wild beasts.” Several Arabian authors
notice them. In one, the Kitab el Mush Serif, they are styled
Hootein, the descendants of Hooter, a servant of Moses.