s
hand) 'thought one such as thou shouldest have written classical Arabic
(_Arabi fossieh_), and have called it "_al Daboor_;" nevertheless, it is
proper to write it "Samoom," not, as some do "Simoom," which is the
plural of _sim_ (poison).' I shook my head, and said, I did not
recollect _al Daboor_. Then my Reis, sitting at the door, offered his
suggestion. 'Probably the English, who it is well known are a nation of
sailors, use the name given to the land wind by _el-baharieh_ (the
boatmen), and call it _el-mereeseh_.' 'But,' said I, 'the clever
gentlemen say that I am wrong altogether, and never can have seen a
_real_ Samoom, for that would have killed me in ten minutes.' Hereupon
Sheykh Mohammed el-Abab'deh, who is not nearly so polished as his brother
Hassan, burst into a regular bedawee roar of laughter, and said, 'Yah! do
the _Ganassil_ (Europeans) take thee for a rat, oh lady? Whoever heard
of _el Beni Adam_ (the children of Adam) dying of the wind? Men die of
thirst quicker when the Samoom blows and they have no water. But no one
ever died of the wind alone, except the rats--they do.' I give you the
opinion of three 'representative men--' scholar, sailor, and bedawee; if
that helps you to a solution of the controversy.

We have just had a scene, rather startling to notions about fatalism,
etc. Owing to the importation of a good deal of cattle from the Soudan,
there is an expectation of the prevalence of small-pox, and the village
barbers are busy vaccinating in all directions to prevent the infection
brought, either by the cattle or, more likely, by their drivers. Now, my
maid had told me she had never been vaccinated, and I sent for Hajjee
Mahmood to cut my hair and vaccinate her. To my utter amazement the
girl, who had never shown any religious bigotry, and does not fast, or
make any demonstrations, refused peremptorily. It appears that the
priests and sisters appointed by the enlightened administration of
Prussia instil into their pupils and penitents that vaccination is a
'tempting of God.' _Oh oui_, she said, _je sais bien que chez nous mes
parents pouvaient recevoir un proces verbal, mais il vaut mieux cela que
d'aller contre la volonte de Dieu. Si Dieu le veut, j'aurai la
petite-verole, et s'il ne veut pas, je ne l'aurai pas_. I scolded her
pretty sharply, and said it was not only stupid, but selfish. 'But what
can one do?' as Hajjee Mahmood said, with a pitying shake of his head;
'these