When in full dress,
the plaits are carefully combed out with an ivory skewer about
eighteen inches in length; after this operation, the head appears
like a huge black mop surmounted by a fellow mop of a small size.
Through this mass of hair he carries his skewer, which is
generally ornamented, and which answers the double purpose of
comb and general scratcher.
The men have remarkably fine features, but the women are not
generally pretty. The Bishareen is the largest Arab tribe of
Nubia. Like all the Arabs of Upper Egypt, they pay taxes to the
Viceroy; these are gathered by parties of soldiers, who take the
opportunity of visiting them during the drought, at which time
they can be certainly found near the river; but at any other
season it would be as easy to collect tribute from the gazelles
of the desert as from the wandering Bishareens. The appearance of
Turkish soldiers is anything but agreeable to the Arabs;
therefore my escort of Turks was generally received with the
"cold shoulder" upon our arrival at an Arab camp, and no supplies
were forthcoming in the shape of milk, &c. until the long
coorbatch (hippopotamus whip) of Hadji Achmet had cracked several
times across the shoulders of the village headman.
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