ssing it in a goat-skin turned inside out, eggs and
fowls form the chief animal food, butcher's meat being but seldom
indulged in. Vegetables do not enter into their diet, as they have no
gardens, and beyond possessing flocks and herds, those Arabs met with
in Barbary are wretchedly poor and miserably squalid. The patriarchal
display of Arabia is here unknown.

Of children and dogs there is no lack. Both abound, and wallow in the
mud together. Often the latter seem to have the better time of it. Two
families by one father will sometimes share one tent between them, but
generally each "household" is distinct, though all sleep together
in the one apartment of their abode. As one approaches a duar, or
encampment, an early warning is given by the hungry dogs, and soon the
half-clad children rush out to see who comes, followed leisurely by
their elders. Hospitality has ever been an Arab trait, and these poor
creatures, in their humble way, sustain the best traditions of their
race. A native visitor of their own class is entertained and fed by
the first he comes across, while the foreign traveller or native of
means with his own tent is accommodated on the rubbish in the midst
of the encampment, and can purchase all he wishes--all that they
have--for a trifle, though sometimes they turn disagreeable and "pile
it on." A present of milk and eggs, perhaps fowls, may be brought, for
which, however, a _quid pro quo_ is expected.

Luxuries they have not. Whatever they need to do in the way of
shopping, is done at the nearest market once a week, and nothing but
the produce already mentioned is to be obtained from them. In the
evenings they stuff themselves to repletion, if they can afford it,
with a wholesome dish of prepared barley or wheat meal, sometimes
crowned with beans; then, after a gossip round the crackling fire, or,
on state occasions, three cups of syrupy green tea apiece, they roll
themselves in their long blankets and sleep on the ground.

The first blush of dawn sees them stirring, and soon all is life and
excitement. The men go off to their various labours, as do many of the
stronger women, while the remainder attend to their scanty household
duties, later on basking in the sun. But the moment the stranger
arrives the scene changes, and the incessant din of dogs, hags and
babies commences, to which the visitor is doomed till late at
night, with the addition then of neighs and brays and occasional
cock-crowing.