DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0154
138
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
Egyptians on the banks of the Nile, or the rude
tents of the Bedouins. It was not sheer poverty
that drove these shepherds to take shelter in the
rocks, for they were a tribe more than 300 strong,
and had flocks and herds such as are seldom seen
among the Bedouins; and they were far better
clad, and had the appearance of being better fed
than my worthy companions. Indeed, they were
a different race from mine ; and here, on the bor-
ders of the desert, I was again struck with what
had so forcibly impressed me in crossing the bor-
ders of Ethiopia, the strong and marked difference
of races in the East. The Bedouins among whom
we were encamped were taller, stouter, and had
longer faces than the El Alouins; and sometimes I
thought I saw in them strong marks of the Jewish
physiognomy. Above all, they were whiter ; and
this, with the circumstance of the women being
less particular in keeping their faces covered, en-
abled me to pass an hour before dark with much
satisfaction. The change from the swarthy and
bearded visages of my travelling companions, to
the comparatively fair and feminine countenances
of these pastoral women, was both novel and
agreeable; and they looked more like home than
any thing I had seen for a long time—except the
cows. I cannot help thinking what a delight it
would have been to meet, in that distant land, one
of those beautiful fairies, lovely in all the bewitch-
ing attractions of frocks, shoes, stockings, clean
faces, &c.j of whom I now meet dozens every day,
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
Egyptians on the banks of the Nile, or the rude
tents of the Bedouins. It was not sheer poverty
that drove these shepherds to take shelter in the
rocks, for they were a tribe more than 300 strong,
and had flocks and herds such as are seldom seen
among the Bedouins; and they were far better
clad, and had the appearance of being better fed
than my worthy companions. Indeed, they were
a different race from mine ; and here, on the bor-
ders of the desert, I was again struck with what
had so forcibly impressed me in crossing the bor-
ders of Ethiopia, the strong and marked difference
of races in the East. The Bedouins among whom
we were encamped were taller, stouter, and had
longer faces than the El Alouins; and sometimes I
thought I saw in them strong marks of the Jewish
physiognomy. Above all, they were whiter ; and
this, with the circumstance of the women being
less particular in keeping their faces covered, en-
abled me to pass an hour before dark with much
satisfaction. The change from the swarthy and
bearded visages of my travelling companions, to
the comparatively fair and feminine countenances
of these pastoral women, was both novel and
agreeable; and they looked more like home than
any thing I had seen for a long time—except the
cows. I cannot help thinking what a delight it
would have been to meet, in that distant land, one
of those beautiful fairies, lovely in all the bewitch-
ing attractions of frocks, shoes, stockings, clean
faces, &c.j of whom I now meet dozens every day,