urn
up their ugly noses at a man because he may chance to have a liking for
boiled pork and pease-pudding."

We were not allowed to remain long in quiet. After we had enjoyed a
couple of hours' rest, our tent was besieged by a number of people who
came to have a look at the strangers. Among them were the two daughters
of the chief. They were not much darker than Spanish women, and had
graceful figures and really beautiful features. Their teeth were
brilliantly white; and their eyes full of expression and vivacity,
heightened by the colour they had given to their eyelashes and eyebrows
by means of a blue stone. Their dress consisted of a woollen robe,
which covered them from the shoulders, where it was secured by a silver
buckle, and hung in folds down to their feet. They asked us all manner
of questions, some of them very difficult to answer. Unfortunately, we
had no presents to offer them in order to gain their goodwill. They
looked upon us as their father's chattels, and with a mixture of
contempt and curiosity, as if we were strange animals. Nor can I say
that they appeared to feel any of that pity for our condition which we
might suppose would animate the hearts of such lovely damsels. In
truth, I fear that Ben was right when he observed,--"The good looks of
them gals is only skin-deep; we may depend on that. They are more
likely to do us an ill turn than a good one. I can tell it by the eyes
they cast at us; so we mustn't be taken in by them." Alas! the Arab
maidens had none of that true beauty which adorns the mind, for which
our own fair countrywomen are so justly celebrated, and without which
all outward beauty is a mockery and deception, as Ben justly remarked in
his own way.

I must here describe the encampment, which was similar to many others we
met with during our wanderings. It was about ten or twelve hundred
yards in circumference. The tents were made of camel-hair cloth,
manufactured by the inhabitants. They were supported in the middle by
poles, round the top of which was some basketwork, to give them
ventilation; the lower edges being fixed to the ground by pegs, and
further weighted by stones or sand. The sheikh's tent differed but
little from those of his people, being only more spacious, and rather
higher. It was pitched in the middle of the enclosure; the others being
on either side, according to the rank of the occupants. A large part of
the ground within was covered over with