Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/255

248 cried out, "O, wonderful!" For they had never heard of a woman eating in the presence of a man—not even with her husband or father.

After supper they talked about the war. They told me how much they feared for their two eldest sons, who, though only fifteen or sixteen, went constantly in the skirmishes in the mountains. These boys had often been slightly wounded, and every day their mothers expected to hear of one of them being killed. Then they sang a song about the Governor, Mohammed Bek, who was absent from Arrabeh, and they sang thus:

Then the black slaves danced, each one standing alone, a little apart from the others. They moved their arms above their heads slowly and gracefully, bending the body forward gradually; then suddenly they raised their heads, and rose to their extreme hight, with their hands high. Their limbs seemed very supple and pliant, and I think they enjoyed dancing very much; but it was not a pretty or lively dance. They sang about a beautiful Bedawî girl with teeth like lightning. I sang English songs at their request, and showed them a few of the measures and figures of our Western dances. They were most pleased