Page:The journal of the Royal Geographic Society of London. Volume 34, 1864. (IA s572id13663720).pdf/346

136 and breast; then put on his open sandals of country make, and lastly, take in hand a thin wand or staff, generally of the Sidr, or of the yellow wood of the Nebaa, whence in old times bows were manufactured; and thus equipped issue on the street.

Few comparatively wear the ’Akkal or head-band round the Kafeeyah; and when they do, it is of varying form and colour, sometimes white, sometimes black, or striped alternately white and black, or lastly of a reddish brown; the ’Akkals of this last colour are generally very long, going three or four times round the head, and of loose texture, they are preferred by men of rank and distinction. The poor not unfrequently substitute for the ’Akkal a mere end of rope. But those who are in any way invested with a religious or a lettered character, such as an Imam or clerk, a Khateeb or preacher, a Kadee, a Meddey’ee or “zelator,” a Metowwaa’ or instructor (literally “one who enforces obedience to God”) must nowise wear it, as this sort of head-dress is supposed to have too profane and worldly a cut. In compensation, hand-staffs of these classes are uncommonly long.

We may add that the shirts, though always cut out and sewn in the country, are often of European or American cloth, brought from Bagdad, Damascus, or Mecca, nay, even from India, through the seaports of Hasa and ’Oman. But in Aared and Yemamah this article of dress is not unfrequently manufactured of country-spun wool, or even of native Arab cotton. This latter material is white in Nejed, but a reddish variety abounds and is much employed in ’Oman. The shirts themselves are long, reaching from the neck to the ankles of the wearer, and not slit up at the sides, but very large and easy. The sleeves are often of an exaggerated width and length, and have to be continually tucked up. They end in a point, and, when stretched out, look like gigantic wings.

The climate is, as might readily be supposed from the latitude, generally hot during the daytime, and the sky almost cloudless. Yet the breeze is rarely otherwise than cool, especially on the table-land itself, and the nights are almost always so. In winter the cold, even in the Aared, is very sensible, and every one is glad to have his wood-fire lighted regularly morning and evening throughout the winter months. Coal is indeed to be found in Sedeyr and in Southern Toweyk, hut the inhabitants are ignorant of its use. Rain falls, occasionally of course, from November to February, or even March, and is sometimes heavy; I have seen it preceded by a thunder-storm, but electric phenomena are somewhat uncommon here. Between March and November the weather is uniformly clear and dry.

Riad, the actual capital of Nejed and of the Wahhahee empire, is a fortified town, containing rather less than 30,000 inhabitants, and surrounded by the fertile gardens which give it its