Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

ARABIA.
\rabia. and Kurds purchase every year from 8000 to 10,000 ca-
^v^v^mels in the Syrian deserts, of which the greater part are
brought originally from Nedjed. The price of a camel va¬
ries almost in every place. In Hedjaz a common riding
camel may be bought for 50 or 60 dollars, and for some
of the first quality 200 and even 300 dollars are sometimes
paid.
The wild ass is found in great numbers in the country
adjoining the district of Djof, to the west of Djebel Sham-
mar, between Tobeck, Sauan, and Hedrush, and to the
south of those places. It is hunted by the Arab tribes,
who eat its flesh, and sell its skin and hoofs to the pedlars
of Damascus and to the people of Hauran. Out of the
hoofs rings are made, which are worn by the peasants as
a charm against rheumatism. The domesticated ass in
Arabia, as in all the other countries of the East, is a strong,
active, and spirited creature, the rival of the horse in uti¬
lity, if not in beauty. It retains all the strength, swift¬
ness, and fire of the wild animal.1 Arabia is not famous
for horned cattle. The cow is used, however, in many
places, for drawing water from the wells, and other pur¬
poses. It is small, and of a stout, bony make, with short
stumps of horns, and a hump on the back over the shoulder,
like the cows on the Nile and in Nubia.2 The northern
tribes of Arabia, namely, the Aenezes, and the Ahl el
Shemal, possess abundance of goats and sheep. The goats
are mostly black, with long ears. The sheep have not
the fat tails of those that are found in some countries;
their ears are rather longer than those of the common
English breed. The Arabs use in their families the milk
of their flocks. They also make great quantities of but¬
ter, part of which they sell to the peasants and town’s
people.
Arabia produces a considerable variety of birds. In the
fertile provinces tame fowls abound, and all sorts of poultry.
The pintado inhabits the woods in such numbers that
children kill them with stones and collect them to be sold
in the towns. In the forests of Yemen pheasants abound ;
also the wood-pigeon, and other varieties of the same spe¬
cies. In the plains is found the gray partridge, the com¬
mon lark, the wild goose, and a species of white crane
having the under part of the belly of a beautiful red.
Eagles, falcons, sparrow-hawks, and the Egyptian vulture,
are the Arabian birds of prey. The last clears the coun¬
try of all carrion, and also of field mice, which multiply
prodigiously in some provinces. There is another bird of
prey, of the thrush species, which is equally useful in pur¬
suing and destroying the swarms of locusts with which the
country is infested. There are various birds which are
little known, and which are supposed to be birds of pas¬
sage from India, distinguished by peculiar brilliancy of
plumage. There is one which has two large and beautiful
feathers, with which the Arabians adorn their caps; and
another which, for its rare beauty, is sold for a high price.
A beautiful lapwing is common on the shores of the Per¬
sian Gulf. The sandy tracts of the desert abound in os¬
triches : these are hunted by the Arabs for their feathers,
which form a valuable article of trade. The ostrich in¬
habits both the great southern and northern deserts.
I hey abound in the plain extending from Hauran towards
the central provinces of Djebel Shammar and Nedjed.
borne are seen in Hauran, and a few are taken almost
every year within two days’ journey of Damascus. They
generally breed in the winter, and the Arabs discovering
the nest, scare away the birds, when they resort to the
following contrivance for destroying them :—A hole is dug
347
irds.
in the ground near the eggs, into which the Arab places Arabia,
a loaded gun, with a long burning match fastened to the^~^^
lock. The ostriches resume their place generally both at
once on the eggs : in due time the gun is discharged, and
next morning the Arabs find one or both of the ostriches
to v,ea^ ^le eggs* The feathers are sold at from
E.2. 6s. to L.2. 10s. per pound, and the finest at from one
to two shillings each. In places where there is water,
plovers and storks abound; and sea-fowls, feeding on fish,’
are numerous on the coasts of the Red Sea, which is deep’,
and copiously stored with their food. Here, and on the
isles along the shore, the pelican is to be found.
The heat of the climate favours the breed of serpents,
some of which only are clangerous, while others are per¬
fectly harmless. The only one that is truly formidable
is a small slender creature, with black and white spots,
whose bite is followed by instant death, and an extraordi¬
nary swelling of the body from the malignity of the poison.
Of the insects in Arabia, the most remarkable as well as
the most destructive is the locust, which flies in swarms
that darken the air, and with a frightful and stunning
noise, such as is made by a water-fall. The fields are
entirely despoiled of their verdure by these insects. The
pulse and the date trees are also greatly injured; but the
corn, when it is nearly ripe, resists, by its hardness, their
attacks. Locusts are found in all parts of the Arabian
deserts. They come invariably from the East,—frorq the
waters of the Persian Gulf, according to the notions of the
rude Arabs. In the central province of Nedjed they not
only destroy the produce of the fields, but penetrate by
thousands into private dwellings, where they devour what¬
ever they can find, even to the leather of the water-ves¬
sels. In the peninsula of Sinai the inhabitants are driven
to despair by swarms of locusts, which consume the
fruits of the earth. All the Arab tribes, as well as the in¬
habitants of towns, are accustomed to eat this insect; and
at Medina and Tayf there are shops in which they are
sold by measure. After being salted, whole sacks are
filled with them. The destructive insect the white ant,
which preys upon victuals, clothes, furniture, and the
leaves of trees, is common. There is another ant, whose
bite is like that of the scorpion, although it is not danger-
The scolopendra affects those whom it attacks with
ous
burning pains. It fixes its feet so firmly in the flesh that
it cannot be got out but by burning the part with a hot
iron. Other insects destroy reeds and stalks of corn, and
make their way into houses. There are many species of
crabs, some of them peculiar to the Red Sea, which are
excellent, and, but for the peculiar aversion of the Mus¬
sulmans to shell-fish, would afford a wholesome subsistence.
At Suez they form almost the sole food of the Copts.
Arabia has never been noted for its minerals. It was Minerals
supposed by the ancients, who had the most exaggerated
ideas of its wealth and produce, to abound in precious
stones, as well as gold and silver. Except it be the onyx,
which is found in Yemen, and the carnelian, it produces
no other stones of value ; iron ore seems to be abundant in
parts of Yemen, and indications of many other minerals
have been found in Hadhramaut. There are mines o
fossil salt among the mountains, which were formerly
worked, but are now neglected; and the iron of Yemen is
found to be of a coarse quality and brittle. In Oman are
very rich lead mines, the produce of which is largely ex¬
ported from the harbour of Mascat, in the Persian Gulf.
Burckhardt, whose posthumous work3 contains the most Arab
ample and satisfactory details of Arabian manners, gives a tribes.
1 Niebuhr, vol. ii. chap. iff. Burckhardt’s Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys.
* Burckhardt’s Travels in Arabia, p. 127* 3 Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys.