Wanderings in Arabia, Vol. 2 of 2: Being an Abridgment of "Travels in Arabia Deserta" (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from Wanderings in Arabia, Vol. 2 of 2: Being an Abridgment of "Travels in Arabia Deserta"

Some of the villagers Came up to me immediately to enquire for medicines they were full of tedious words and all was to beg of me and buy none. I left them sitting and went out to see the place, for this was Kheybar.

Our host sent his son to guide me; the boy led down by a lane and called me to enter a doorway and see a spring. I went in - it was a mesjid! And I withdrew hastily. The father (who had instructed the child beforehand), hearing from him when we came again that I had left the place without praying, went down and shut his street door. He returned and took his pistol from the wall, Saying, Let us go out together and he would show me round the town.' When we were in the street, he led me by an orchard path, out of the place.

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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Wanderings in Arabia, Vol. 2 of 2: Being an Abridgment of "Travels in Arabia Deserta"

We passed the gates made of rude palm boarding into the street of the Hejaz negro village, and alighted in the dusk before the house of an acquaintance of Ghroceyb. The host, hearing us busy at the door of his lower house, looked down from the casement and asked in the rasping negro voice what men we were? Ghroceyb called to him, and then he came down with his brother to receive the guests. They took my bags upon their shoulders, and led us up by some clay stairs to their dwelling-house, which is, as at el-Ally, an upper chamber, here called suffa The lower floor, in these damp oases, is a place where they leave the orchard tools, and a stable for their few goats which are driven in for the night. This householder was named Abd el-Hâdy, 'Servitor of Him who leadeth in the way of Truth,' a young man under the middle age, of fine negro lineaments - These negro-like Arabians are not seldom comely.

Our host's upper room was open at the street side with long casements, tâga, to the floor; his roof was but a loose strawing of palm stalks, and above is the house terrace of beaten clay, to which you ascend [they say erkâ!] by a ladder of two or three palm beams, laid side by side, with steps hacked in them. Abd el-Hady's was one of the better cottages, for he was a substantial man. Kheybar is as it were an African village in the Hejaz Abd el-Hady spread his carpet and bade us welcome, and set before us Kheybar dates which are yellow, small and stived together, they are gathered ere fully ripe [their Beduin partner's impatience, and distrust of each other!] and have a drug-like or fenny savour, but are "cooler" than the most dates of the country and not unwholesome. After these days' efforts in the Harra we could not eat; we asked for water to quench our burning thirst. They hang their sweating girbies at the stairhead, and under them is made a hole in the flooring, that the drip may fall through.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.