DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0257
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEII.
211
round sufficiently high to prevent the drifted sand from
falling into it. The water was excellent, and at about
the same depth as that in the well near the palm-trees,
but the latter, from some cause or other, was brackish.
the head with which they occasionally cover their faces, as they do not
wear the black veil (called boorcko).* Their hair, plaited with black
strings, to which brass rings were attached, hangs down their backs ; and
their heads are bound round by a smaller black handkerchief, with a
coloured border: they generally wear a profusion of necklaces, rings,
and ear-rings, and are tattoed on the chin and other parts of the face,
and also on their arras, and hands, which are often stained with henna.
The water jars are of a very picturesque form, and have a slight conca-
vity at the bottom to fit the shape of the head, which is protected by a
piece of linen" folded in the form of a wreath, or by a corner of the large
handkerchief gathered up beneath the jar, which occasions the drapery
to fall in square folds over the shoulders with the grace of antient sculp-
ture. Their features are often very handsome, their teeth extremely
beautiful, and their eyes naturally tine, although, in many instances, dis-
eased by neglect, and by a constant exposure to the sand, and dust, so
that one-eyed persons are frequently met with.
Their figures, when young, are wonderfully graceful, and well formed,
and also perfectly erect, although perhaps not inspired with the air of
liberty and independence which more properly belongs to their wander-
ing sisters of the desert, notwithstanding that they also pride themselves
on being Bedouins, f
The boys are well made, active, and capable of great exertion ;
several of them are very intelligent, and work extremely well. The
children, of five or six years old, are also good-looking, and animated,
notwithstanding the hardships and squalid misery to which they arc
* See Mr. Lane's work on modern Egypt.
t Nothing can be more striking than the majestic figures occasionally
seen near the wells at Alexandria. Long flowing robes of dark blue
adorn their fine limbs with the most classical drapery, and large silver
bracelets and other ornaments call to remembrance the accounts of
patriarchal times.
211
round sufficiently high to prevent the drifted sand from
falling into it. The water was excellent, and at about
the same depth as that in the well near the palm-trees,
but the latter, from some cause or other, was brackish.
the head with which they occasionally cover their faces, as they do not
wear the black veil (called boorcko).* Their hair, plaited with black
strings, to which brass rings were attached, hangs down their backs ; and
their heads are bound round by a smaller black handkerchief, with a
coloured border: they generally wear a profusion of necklaces, rings,
and ear-rings, and are tattoed on the chin and other parts of the face,
and also on their arras, and hands, which are often stained with henna.
The water jars are of a very picturesque form, and have a slight conca-
vity at the bottom to fit the shape of the head, which is protected by a
piece of linen" folded in the form of a wreath, or by a corner of the large
handkerchief gathered up beneath the jar, which occasions the drapery
to fall in square folds over the shoulders with the grace of antient sculp-
ture. Their features are often very handsome, their teeth extremely
beautiful, and their eyes naturally tine, although, in many instances, dis-
eased by neglect, and by a constant exposure to the sand, and dust, so
that one-eyed persons are frequently met with.
Their figures, when young, are wonderfully graceful, and well formed,
and also perfectly erect, although perhaps not inspired with the air of
liberty and independence which more properly belongs to their wander-
ing sisters of the desert, notwithstanding that they also pride themselves
on being Bedouins, f
The boys are well made, active, and capable of great exertion ;
several of them are very intelligent, and work extremely well. The
children, of five or six years old, are also good-looking, and animated,
notwithstanding the hardships and squalid misery to which they arc
* See Mr. Lane's work on modern Egypt.
t Nothing can be more striking than the majestic figures occasionally
seen near the wells at Alexandria. Long flowing robes of dark blue
adorn their fine limbs with the most classical drapery, and large silver
bracelets and other ornaments call to remembrance the accounts of
patriarchal times.