night, place
themselves at the gate of their tents, and keep themselves with their
faces towards the east.

When the first part of their religious exercise is performed, their next
business is the milking of the flocks. They begin with the she-camels,
giving them a great many blows with their feet, until they make them
rise. As soon as they are on their legs, they take off from their udder
a kind of covering made of ropes worked together, which is intended to
prevent the young camel from sucking. The young one then runs up to its
mother, and, by its caresses, prepares her to yield her milk in greater
abundance. The master and the keeper of the flock watch the moment when
the lips of the young camel are covered with a white foam: they then
separate it from its mother; and each resting his head on different
sides against the animal's belly, they press the udder, from which they
sometimes draw five pints of milk, when the rains have rendered the
earth fruitful. The keeper of the flock, after taking a few draughts
every time he milks, pours the rest into a vessel destined for that
purpose, and placed close by the side of his mistress; for he is allowed
no other nourishment than the milk which he draws from the last of the
camels. When all the milk is thus collected, the mistress puts aside her
part, which is never the least; then serves her husband and his
children; and lays up the rest in a goat's skin, which she leaves
exposed to the sun before the milk be made into butter. Three or four
hours after, the young girls bring from the fields the sheep and the
goats. The mother, who is always present at the last milking, mixes the
milk procured by it with that of the camels; and when the sun has
sufficiently warmed it, they separate the cream from it, in order to
make butter. What remains, serves as drink for the rest of the day. When
the butter is made, they put it into small skins, where it acquires a
strong smell, which, according to the taste of these barbarians, adds to
its value. The women use it for greasing their hair: without this they
would think something deficient in their dress. One cannot believe to
what excess they carry their coquetry. They dress their hair with great
art. They keep it flowing in tresses upon their breasts, and fasten to
it any thing they can find. I have seen some of them ornament it with
shell-work, keys of chests, and padlocks, rings of umbrellas, and
buttons of trowsers, which they have ta