If you adopt the
Arab life for the sake of seclusion you will be horribly
disappointed, for you will find yourself in perpetual contact with
a mass of hot fellow-creatures. It is true that all who are
inmates of the same tent are related to each other, but I am not
quite sure that that circumstance adds much to the charm of such a
life. At all events, before you finally determine to become an
Arab try a gentle experiment. Take one of those small, shabby
houses in May Fair, and shut yourself up in it with forty or fifty
shrill cousins for a couple of weeks in July.
In passing the Desert you will find your Arabs wanting to start and
to rest at all sorts of odd times. They like, for instance, to be
off at one in the morning, and to rest during the whole of the
afternoon. You must not give way to their wishes in this respect.
I tried their plan once, and found it very harassing and
unwholesome. An ordinary tent can give you very little protection
against heat, for the fire strikes fiercely through single canvas,
and you soon find that whilst you lie crouching and striving to
hide yourself from the blazing face of the sun, his power is harder
to bear than it is where you boldly defy him from the airy heights
of your camel.
Pages:
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226