Page 460 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XXII.] SOUTHERN ARABIA. 431

dress consists of a short shirt, reaching no
lower than the waist; their loins and thighs
are covered with a blue wrapper of striped
cotton, bound round by a broad leathern
girdle, containing their pistols, besides a
supply of powder in a huge flask, thickly
studded with brass. In this belt they also
carry their jambir or dagger, which has a
silver sheath of a crooked form, the point

being turned up, and elevated as high as the
chin.
A great number of Shmalis resort to Ma-
kullah, but do not permanently reside there.
They are a fine race, easily recognised from
all other classes by their martial bearing and
appearance, for in general they are remark­
ably tall, a short person being rarely seen.
Their limbs are clean and well made, their
nose slightly aquiline; but otherwise their

features are very regular, and expressive of
that boldness and freedom which really be­

longs to the Stimuli character. Their skins
are dark and glossy, and they have a custom
of changing the colour of their hair from its
natural blackness to an auburn tinge, by al­
lowing it to remain for some hours plastered