their heels in the joy of
freedom. Flocks of black goats clamber up the rocky hillsides, following
the goatherd who plays upon his rustic pipe quavering and fantastic
music, softened by distance into a wild sweetness. Small black cattle
with white faces march in long files across the pastures, or wander
through the thickets of bulrushes and papyrus and giant fennel,
appearing and disappearing as the screen of broad leaves and trembling
plumes close behind them.

A few groups of huts made out of wattled reeds stand beside the sluggish
watercourses, just as they did when Macgregor in his Rob Roy canoe
attempted to explore this impenetrable morass forty years ago. Along the
higher ground are lines of black Bedouin tents, arranged in transitory
villages.

These flitting habitations of the nomads, who come down from the hills
and lofty deserts to fatten their flocks and herds among unfailing
pasturage, are all of one pattern. The low, flat roof of black goats'
hair is lifted by the sticks which support it, into half a dozen little
peaks, perhaps five or six feet from the ground. Between these peaks the
cloth sags down, and is made fast along the edges by intricate and
confusing guy-ropes. The tent is shallow, not more than six feet deep,
and from twelve to thirty feet long, according to the wealth of the
owner and the size of his family,--two things which usually correspond.
The sides and the partitions are sometimes made of woven reeds, like
coarse matting. Within there is an apartment (if you can call it so) for
the family, a pen for the chickens, and room for dogs, cats, calves and
other creatures to find shelter. The fireplace of flat stones is in the
centre, and the smoke oozes out through the roof and sides.

The Bedouin men, in flowing _burnous_ and _keffiyeh_, with the _'agal_
of dark twisted camel's hair like a crown upon their heads, are almost
all handsome: clean-cut, haughty faces, bold in youth and dignified in
old age. The women look weatherbeaten and withered beside them. Even
when you see a fine face in the dark blue mantle or under the white
head-dress, it is almost always disfigured by purplish tattooing around
the lips and chin. Some of the younger girls are beautiful, and most of
the children are entrancing.

They play games in a ring, with songs and clapping hands; the boys
charge up and down among the tents with wild shouts, driving a round
bone or a donkey's hoof with their shinny-sticks; the girls