Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/402

Rh string of pearls in her hair. Her eyelids were newly dressed with kohl, and her hands with henna. There was a new joy in her face, and a striking expression of resolution, earnestness, and tenderness, when she placed my little swaddled namesake in my arms. I sat down by her side. A slave rose and put a small thin mattress on my knees, that I might rest the child on it.

By this time the tambourine sounded again, and the chief singer commenced an impromptu song, having reference especially to the fact that the child had been named by me, and suggesting that it was a happy omen for the little one to have gained my love and protection from the moment of its birth. Then they sang songs in my praise, using extravagant similes, but so picturesque and full of imagery that I could not help thinking of the Song of Songs which is Solomon's. A third woman sang a sort of prayer for me, or rather wishes for my prosperity. In this song she forcibly portrayed the Oriental idea of the highest happiness—the delight of the mother, who in her youth opens her eyes upon her first-born son, and in her old age sees her children's children around her. It was a passionate outpouring of emotion, and every one present seemed to enter into the spirit of it. I do not suppose that it was an improvisation, but rather an adaptation of one of those old unwritten songs handed down from one  generation of singers to another. Some dancing followed, and especial songs were sung in praise of the various guests as they arrived. The room was close and warm, and filled with smoke, for all the women were in turn supplied with narghilés, and I was glad to go out into the fresh air again.

On Christmas morning, at an early hour, the chief Moslems of Hâifa came to the Consulate to greet us, and wish us happy returns of the "Eid el Miladi," that is, "the Feast of the Nativity." About forty people came and staid long enough to take coffee and smoke a narghilé or