body, in fact, is wrought up into violent action to enforce the orator's meaning. CHAPTER I wonder how you comprehend a single sentence.

We are used to it; and, unless a stranger calls attention to that which has confounded you, we never notice it. I wish you could have understood the discussions, for they embraced some of those grand and solemn themes which can and ought to stir the deepest fountains of feeling in the human breast. The Arabs delight in such questions.

IX.

and Western man

My two young friends, who speak English, kept me aware of the leading topics as they came up; but it was a great annoyance not to be able to appreciate the remarks which so interested the company. We finally took a corner to ourselves, and fell into an extended comparison between Oriental and Western manners and customs. They maintained that we had invented and Eastern shaped ours on purpose to contradict theirs-theirs, the original; ours, copies reversed or caricatured. Of course, the weighty questions about beards, and ners moustaches, and shaved heads, were duly discussed, with respect to beauty, convenience, cleanliness, and health. Escaping from this tangle of the beard, we fell into another about long garments, and short, tight, and loose; and here they were confident of victory. Our clothes seem to them uncomfortable and immodest; and this is about the truth, if we must sit "asquat" on our heels, as the Orientals do; but with chairs and sofas, their objection has but little force, while for active life our fashion is far the best. Long, loose clothes are ever in the way, working, walking, or riding; and I suspect that they aid materially in producing that comparative inactivity which distinguishes Orientals from Occidentals. As to the mere matter of comeliness, we may admit their claim to some apparent superiority. The lords of the easel and the chisel with the sons of song in every age and country, have so decreed, and it is vain to resist.

costume.

These matters of dress and costume have a certain Biblical interest, and Dress and therefore form a necessary part of our study. The first garments were manufactured by God himself, and, in addition to their primary intention, had, as I believe, a typical significance. The skins with which the two first sinners, penitent and reconciled, were clothed, were those of the lambs offered in sacrifice, and not obscurely symbolized the robes of righteousness purchased for penitent believers by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God on Calvary. And in many subsequent incidents and institutions, garments are invested with a religious and typical signification. Such facts elevate the subject far above the category of mere trivialities. But, indeed, that cannot be a matter of indifference to the Christian student and philosopher in which all men, all women, all children, of every age and country, have, do, and will, to the end of time, feel a deep solicitude, and upon which is expended an infinite amount of time, money, and labour. It would be a curious exercise of ingenuity to trace out the very gradual development of human costume, from the first figleaves and coats of skins, to the complicated toilets of a highly-civilized society. We, however, must restrict ourselves to the Bible.

PART

I.

Dress of

the men.

Ancient

dress.

The list is not extensive until the times of the later prophets. Aprons of

fig-leaves, man's first vain invention to hide the nakedness of sin-coats of skin, given in mercy by our heavenly Fathercloaks, mantles, shirts, breeches, girdles, bonnets, and sandals, invented at various dates, and most of them consecrated to religious purposes by Moses in the garments of the Hebrew priesthood-these constitute almost the entire wardrobe for the first three thousand years of man's history. The fact is, that the whole subject is much more doubtful and obscure than most people suppose. The ancient Hebrew costume is thought to have resembled, more or less closely, the Oriental dress of our day. But which? I would like to know. It differs more than that of Western nations. We shall select that of the Syrian Arab, which in all probability does actually approach nearest to that of the patriarchs; and with the aid of engravings, accompanied by explanations, the size and shape of the various articles, as well as

the ordinary mode of wearing them, will be sufficiently apparent. You need not attempt to remember, or even pronounce the Arabic names; but it is difficult to talk about nameless things, and therefore we cannot dispense with these hard words.

LIST OF MODERN GARMENTS.

LIST OF GARMENTS, WITH THEIR ARABIC NAMES EXPLAINED.

117

CHAPTER

IX.

Kumis, inner shirt, of cotton, linen, or silk. Those of the Bedawîn are long, loose, Articles of and made of strong cotton cloth,-the most important item in their wardrobe.

modern costume.

Libas, inner drawers of cotton cloth.

Shintian, drawers, very full.

Sherwal, very large, loose pantaloons.

Dikky, a cord or sash with which the pantaloons are gathered and tied round the waist.

Suderiyeh, an inner waistcoat, without sleeves, buttoned up to the neck.

Mintian, an inner jacket,

worn over the suderîyeh, overlapping in front,-has pockets for purse, handkerchief, &c.

Gumbaz or Kuftan, long open gown of cotton or silk, overlapping in front, girded tightly above the loins by the

zunnar.

Zunnar, girdle of leather, camels' hair, cotton, silk, or woollen shawls.

Sulta, an outer jacket worn over the gumbaz.

Kubran, a stout, heavy jacket, with open sleeves fastened on at the shoulder by buttons.

Jibbeh, Jukh, Benish, a long loose robe or mantle, with short sleeves, very full, used in full dress.

'Aba, 'Abaiyeh, Meshleh, a strong, coarse cloak, of various forms and materials. The 'abaiyeh is often short, and richly ornamented with gold and silver thread inwoven with the cloth. The most common are made of black sackcloth, of goats' or camels' hair, very large, so that the owner wraps himself in it to sleep.

Bûrnús, long loose cloak of white wool, with a hood to cover the head. It is sometimes called mugrabin, from the Algerin Arabs.

PART

I.

Mamlûk dress.

in Bible.

For the head there is, first, the

'Arukiyeh or Takiyeh, a cotton cap fitting closely to the head, whether shaven or not. If the head is shaved, a soft felt cap is often worn under the takîyeh. Tarbush or Fez, a thick red felt cap. The best come from Algiers.

Turban, a shawl of wool, silk, or cotton, wound round the tarbush. The Turks now wear nothing but the fez, and many Arabs nothing but the tarbush, with its long tassel. Others have a small coloured handkerchief (mandeel) tied round the tarbush. The Bedawîn have a heavier article, woven with golden tissue, thrown over the tarbush, and confined there by a twisted rope of goats' or camels' hair, called 'Akal. This is a picturesque and very distinctive article in the costume of a genuine Arab of the Desert.

For the feet there is, first,

Jerabat or Kalsat, socks or stockings of every variety.

Kalshin, inner slippers of soft leather, yellow or black.

Surmaiych, shoes, commonly of red morocco.

Bābuje, a kind of half slipper, answering in part to the ancient sandal, which is not now used.

Jezmeh, boots of red morocco, very stout and clumsy.

There are many variations and additions to this list in different parts of the vast regions inhabited by the Arab race; they are, however, only slight departures from the general types and patterns given above, and need not be described. The Mamlûk dress is considered very graceful by Europeans. It is the official costume of the army and navy of Egypt, or was in the days of Mohammed Ali.

To the Biblical student, these matters are specially interesting so far only as they throw light on the sacred Scriptures; but this they do in very many Different passages. For example, it was the 'aba or meshleh, I suppose, with which garments Shem and Japheth covered the nakedness of their father. 1 It was the referred to Jibbeh that Joseph left in the hands of that shameless wife of Potiphar, called Zuleika, according to Moslem tradition.2 This jibbeh may answer to the mantle which fell from Elijah, and was taken up by Elisha ;3 to the cloak in the precept, "If a man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." The coat is probably the sulta. It was this jibbeh that our Saviour laid aside when he washed the feet of the disciples. It can be so worn, or taken off, or torn in grief or rage, as to answer every mention of it in the Bible. The same remark applies to the zunnar or girdle, to the surmaiyeh and bābûj—the shoes and sandals—and, in fact, to all other articles of dress which we have described.

,4

By the time of Moses, the costume, I presume, had attained to about its present state among tribes purely Oriental; I mean as to pattern, not as to the number, nature, and quality of the materials. These have greatly multiplied and improved, both in variety and fineness of fabrics.

1 Gen. ix. 23.

2 Gen. xxxix. 12.

32 Kings ii. 8, 13.

4 Matt. v. 40.

5 John xiii. 4.

The toilet of the ladies corresponds in most respects to that of the men, CHAPTER

with, of course, certain ad

ditions. As was to be expected, it developed faster than the other. Even during the life of Jacob there were habits appropriate to maids, others to married women, and others again for widows; such, too, as distinguished those who were honest, and another habit for those who were otherwise. This implies a great variety in female attire; and thus it went on enlarging, until their toilets became as complicated and mysterious in Jerusalem as they now are in Paris or New York. In the 3d chapter of Isaiah we have a catalogue, about as intelligible to the English reader as the Hebrew seems to have been to our translators: Cawls, round tires like the moon, sweet balls, mufflers or spangled ornaments, tablets or houses of the soul,1 etc., etc., etc. It would require half a volume to discuss these names, and then they would be about as unintelligible as when we be

gan.

I cannot muster sufficient courage to enter minutely into the female costume, nor is it necessary. It varies from that of the men mostly in the veils, which are very various, and in the head-dress, which with the tarbush for the basis, is complicated by an endless variety of jewels and other ornamental appendages; these, however, appear in the engravings, and can be better studied there than on the persons

1 Isa. iii 18-23.