GEMILA, THE CHILD OF THE DESERT.
It is almost sunset; and Abdel Hassan has come out to the door ofhis tent to enjoy the breeze, which is growing cooler after the day'sterrible heat. The round, red sun hangs low over the sand; it will begone in five minutes more. The tent-door is turned away from the sun,and Abdel Hassan sees only the rosy glow of its light on the hills inthe distance which looked so purple all day. He sits very still, andhis earnest eyes are fixed on those distant hills. He does not move orspeak when the tent-door is again pushed aside, and his two children,Alee and Gemila, come out with their little mats and seat themselvesalso on the sand. You can see little Gemila in the picture. How gladthey are of the long, cool shadows, and the tall, feathery palms! howpleasant to hear the camels drink, and to drink themselves at the deepwell, when they have carried some fresh water in a cup to their silentfather! He only sends up blue circles of smoke from his long pipe ashe sits there, cross-legged, on a mat of rich carpet. He never sat ina chair, and, indeed, never saw one in his life. His chairs are mats;and his house is, as you have heard, a tent.
Do you know what a tent is?
I always liked tents, and thought I should enjoy living in one; andwhen I was a little girl, on many a stormy day when we couldn't go toschool, I played with my sisters at living in tents. We would take asmall clothes-horse and tip it down upon its sides, half open; then,covering it with shawls, we crept in, and were happy enough for therest of the afternoon. I tell you this, that you may also play tentssome day, if you haven't already.
The tent of Gemila's father is, however, quite different from ours.Two or three long poles hold it up, and over them hangs a cloth madeof goats'-hair, or sometimes sheepskins, which are thick enough tokeep out either heat or cold. The ends of the cloth are fastened downby pegs driven into the sand, or the strong wind coming might blowthe tent away. The tent-cloth pushes back like a curtain for the door.Inside, a white cloth stretched across divides this strange house intotwo rooms; one is for the men, the other for the women and children.In the tent there is no furniture like ours; nothing but mats, and lowcushions called divans; not even a table from which to eat, nor abed to sleep upon. But the mats and the shawls are very gorgeous andcostly, and we are very proud when we can buy any like them for ourparlors. And, by the way, I must tell you that these people have beenasleep all through the heat of the day,--the time when you would havebeen coming home from school, eating your dinner, and going back toschool again. They closed the tent-door to keep out the terrible blazeof the sun, stretched themselves on the mats, and slept until justnow, when the night-wind began to come.
Now they can sit outside the tent and enjoy the evening, and themother brings out dates and little hard cakes of bread, with plenty ofbutter made from goats' milk. The tall, dark servant-woman, with looseblue cotton dress and bare feet, milks a camel, and they all taketheir supper, or dinner perhaps I had better call it. They have noplates, nor do they sit together to eat. The father eats by himself:when he has finished, the mother and children take the dates and breadwhich he leaves. We could teach them better manners, we think; butthey could teach us to be hospitable and courteous, and more polite tostrangers than we are.
When all is finished, you see there are no dishes to be washed and putaway.
The stars have come out, and from the great arch of the sky they lookdown on the broad sands, the lonely rocks, the palm-trees, and thetents. Oh, they are so bright, so steady, and so silent, in thatgreat, lonely place, where no noise is heard! no sounds of people orof birds or animals, excepting the sleepy groaning of a camel, or thelow song that little Alee is singing to his sister as they lie upontheir backs on the sand, and watch the slow, grand movement of thestars that are always journeying towards the west.
Night is very beautiful in the desert; for this is the desert, whereAbdel Hassan the Arab lives. His country is that part of our roundball where the yellow sands stretch farther than eye can see, andthere are no wide rivers, no thick forests, and no snow-covered hills.The day is too bright and too hot, but the night he loves; it is hisfriend.
He falls asleep at last out under the stars, and, since he has beensleeping so long in the daytime, can well afford to be awake veryearly in the morning: so, while the stars still shine, and there isonly one little yellow line of light in the east, he calls hiswife, children, and servants, and in a few minutes all is bustle andpreparation; for to-day they must take down the tent, and move, withall the camels and goats, many miles away. For the summer heat hasnearly dried up the water of their little spring under the palm-trees,and the grass that grew there is also entirely gone; and one cannotlive without water to drink, particularly in the desert, nor can thegoats and camels live without grass.
Now, it would be a very bad thing for us, if some day all the waterin our wells and springs and ponds should dry up, and all the grass onour pleasant pastures and hills should wither away.
What should we do? Should we have to pack all our clothes, our books,our furniture and food, and move away to some other place where therewere both water and grass, and then build new houses? Oh, how muchtrouble it would give us! No doubt the children would think it greatfun; but as they grew older they would have no pleasant home toremember, with all that makes "sweet home" so dear.
And now you will see how much better it is for Gemila's father than ifhe lived in a house. In a very few minutes the tent is taken down, thetent-poles are tied together, the covering is rolled up with the pegsand strings which fastened it, and it is all ready to put up againwhenever they choose to stop. As there is no furniture to carry, themats and cushions only are to be rolled together and tied; and nowAchmet, the old servant, brings a tall yellow camel.
Did you ever see a camel? I hope you have some time seen a living onein a menagerie; but, if you haven't, perhaps you have seen a pictureof the awkward-looking animal with a great hump upon his back, a longneck, and head thrust forward. A boy told me the other day, that, whenthe camel had been long without food, he ate his hump: he meant thatthe flesh and fat of the hump helped to nourish him when he had nofood.
Achmet speaks to the camel, and he immediately kneels upon the sand,while the man loads him with the tent-poles and covering; after whichhe gets up, moves on a little way, to make room for another to comeup, kneel, and be loaded with mats, cushions, and bags of dates.
Then comes a third; and while he kneels, another servant comes fromthe spring, bringing a great bag made of camels'-skin, and filled withwater. Two of these bags are hung upon the camel, one on each side.This is the water for all these people to drink for four days, whilethey travel through a sandy, rocky country, where there are no springsor wells. I am afraid the water will not taste very fresh after it hasbeen kept so long in leather bags; but they have nothing else to carryit in, and, besides, they are used to it, and don't mind the taste.
Here are smaller bags, made of goats'-skin, and filled with milk; andwhen all these things are arranged, which is soon done, they are readyto start, although it is still long before sunrise. The camels havebeen drinking at the spring, and have left only a little muddy water,like that in our street-gutters; but the goats must have this, or noneat all.
And now Abdel Hassan springs upon his beautiful black horse, that hassuch slender legs and swift feet, and places himself at the head ofthis long troop of men and women, camels and goats. The women areriding upon the camels, and so are the children; while the servantsand camel-drivers walk barefooted over the yellow sand.
It would seem very strange to you to be perched up so high on acamel's back, but Gemila is quite accustomed to it. When she was verylittle, her mother often hung a basket beside her on the camel, andcarried her baby in it; but now she is a great girl, full six yearsold, and when the camel kneels, and her mother takes her place, thechild can spring on in front, with one hand upon the camel's roughhump, and ride safely and pleasantly hour after hour. Good, patientcamels! God has fitted them exactly to be of the utmost help to thepeople in that desert country. Gemil
a for this often blesses andthanks Him whom she calls Allah.
All this morning they ride,--first in the bright starlight; but soonthe stars become faint and dim in the stronger rosy light that isspreading over the whole sky, and suddenly the little girl seesstretching far before her the long shadow of the camels, and she knowsthat the sun is up, for we never see shadows when the sun is not up,unless it is by candlelight or moonlight. The shadows stretch out veryfar before them, for the sun is behind. When you are out walking veryearly in the morning, with the sun behind you, see how the shadow ofeven such a little girl as you will reach across the whole street; andyou can imagine that such great creatures as camels would make evenmuch longer shadows.
Gemila watches them, and sees, too, how the white patches of sandflush in the morning light; and she looks back where far behind arethe tops of their palm-trees, like great tufted fans, standing darkagainst the yellow sky.
She is not sorry to leave that old home. She has had many homesalready, young as she is, and will have many more as long as shelives. The whole desert is her home; it is very wide and large, andsometimes she lives in one part, sometimes in another.
As the sun gets higher, it begins to grow very hot. The fatherarranges the folds of his great white turban, a shawl with many folds,twisted round his head to keep off the oppressive heat. The servantsput on their white fringed handkerchiefs, falling over the head anddown upon the neck, and held in place by a little cord tied, round thehead. It is not like a bonnet or hat, but one of the very best thingsto protect the desert travellers from the sun. The children, too,cover their heads in the same way, and Gemila no longer looks out tosee what is passing: the sun is too bright; it would hurt her eyes andmake her head ache. She shuts her eyes and falls half asleep, sittingthere high upon the camel's back. But, if she could look out, therewould be nothing to see but what she has seen many and many timesbefore,--great plains of sand or pebbles, and sometimes high, barerocks,--not a tree to be seen, and far off against the sky, the lowpurple hills. They move on in the heat, and are all silent. It isalmost noon now, and Abdel Hassan stops, leaps from his horse, andstrikes his spear into the ground. The camel-drivers stop, thecamels stop and kneel, Gemila and Alee and their mother dismount. Theservants build up again the tent which they took down in the morning;and, after drinking water from the leathern bags, the family are soonunder its shelter, asleep on their mats, while the camels and servantshave crept into the shadow of some rocks and lain down in the sand.The beautiful black horse is in the tent with his master; he istreated like a child, petted and fed by all the family, caressed andkissed by the children. Here they rest until the heat of the day ispast; but before sunset they have eaten their dates and bread, loadedagain the camels, and are moving, with the beautiful black horse andhis rider at the head.
They ride until the stars are out, and after, but stop for a fewhours' rest in the night, to begin the next day as they began this.Gemila still rides upon the camel, and I can easily understand thatshe prays to Allah with a full heart under the shining stars so clearand far, and that at the call to prayer in the early dawn her prettylittle veiled head is bent in true love and worship. But I must tellyou what she sees soon after sunrise on this second morning. Acrossthe sand, a long way before them, something with very long legs isrunning, almost flying. She knows well what it is, for she has oftenseen them before, and she calls to one of the servants, "See, there isthe ostrich!" and she claps her hands with delight.
The ostrich is a great bird, with very long legs and small wings; andas legs are to run with, and wings to fly with, of course he can runbetter than he can fly. But he spreads his short wings while running,and they are like little sails, and help him along quite wonderfully,so that he runs much faster than any horse can.
Although he runs so swiftly, he is sometimes caught in a very odd way.I will tell you how.
He is a large bird, but he is a very silly one, and, when he is tiredof running, he will hide his head in the sand, thinking that becausehe can see no one he can't be seen himself. Then the swift-footed Arabhorses can overtake him, and the men can get his beautiful feathers,which you must have often seen, for ladies wear them in their bonnets.
All this about the ostrich. Don't forget it, my little girl: some timeyou may see one, and will be glad that you know what kind of a fellowhe is.
The ostrich which Gemila sees is too far away to be caught; besides,it will not be best to turn aside from the track which is leadingthem to a new spring. But one of the men trots forward on his camel,looking to this side and to that as he rides; and at last our littlegirl, who is watching, sees his camel kneel, and sees him jump offand stoop in the sand. When they reach the place, they find a sort ofgreat nest, hollowed a little in the sand, and in it are great eggs,almost as big as your head. The mother ostrich has left them there.She is not like other mother-birds, that sit upon the eggs to keepthem warm; but she leaves them in the hot sand, and the sun keeps themwarm, and by and by the little ostriches will begin to chip the shell,and creep out into the great world.
The ostrich eggs are good to eat. You eat your one egg for breakfast,but one of these big eggs will make breakfast for the whole family.And that is why Gemila clapped her hands when she saw the ostrich: shethought the men would find the nest, and have fresh eggs for a day ortwo.
This day passes like the last: they meet no one, not a single man orwoman, and they move steadily on towards the sunset. In the morningagain they are up and away under the starlight; and this day is ahappy one for the children, and, indeed, for all.
The morning star is yet shining, low, large, and bright, when ourwatchful little girl's dark eyes can see a row of black dots on thesand,--so small you might think them nothing but flies; but Gemilaknows better. They only look small because they are far away; they arereally men and camels, and horses too, as she will soon see whenthey come nearer. A whole troop of them; as many as a hundred camels,loaded with great packages of cloths and shawls for turbans, carpetsand rich spices, and the beautiful red and green morocco, of which,when I was a little girl, we sometimes had shoes made, but we see itoftener now on the covers of books.
All these things belong to the Sheik Hassein. He has been to the greatcities to buy them, and now he is carrying them across the desertto sell again. He himself rides at the head of his company on amagnificent brown horse, and his dress is so grand and gay that itshines in the morning light quite splendidly. A great shawl withgolden fringes is twisted about his head for a turban, and he wears,instead of a coat, a tunic broadly striped with crimson and yellow,while a loose-flowing scarlet robe falls from his shoulders. His faceis dark, and his eyes keen and bright; only a little of his straightblack hair hangs below the fringes of his turban, but his beard islong and dark, and he really looks very magnificent sitting upon hisfine horse, in the full morning sunlight.
Abdel Hassan rides forward to meet him, and the children from behindwatch with great delight.
Abdel Hassan takes the hand of the sheik, presses it to his lips andforehead, and says, "Peace be with you."
Do you see how different this is from the hand-shakings and"How-do-you-do's" of the gentlemen whom we know? Many grandcompliments are offered from one to another, and they are very politeand respectful. Our manners would seem very poor beside theirs.
Then follows a long talk, and the smoking of pipes, while the servantsmake coffee, and serve it in little cups.
Hassein tells Abdel Hassan of the wells of fresh water which he leftbut one day's journey behind him, and he tells of the rich cities hehas visited. Abdel Hassan gives him dates and salt in exchange forcloth for a turban, and a brown cotton dress for his little daughter.
It is not often that one meets men in the desert, and this day willlong be remembered by the children.
The next night, before sunset, they can see the green feathery tops ofthe palm-trees before them. The palms have no branches, but only greatclusters of fern-like leaves at the top of the tree, under which growthe sweet dates.
Near those palm-trees will be Gemila's home for a little while, forhere they will find grass and a spring. The camels smell the water,and begin to trot fast; the goats leap along over the sand, and thebarefooted men hasten to keep up with them.
In an hour more the tent is pitched under the palm-trees, and all haverefreshed themselves with the cool, clear water.
And now I must tell you that the camels have had nothing to drinksince they left the old home. The camel has a deep bag below histhroat, which he fills with water enough to last four or five days;so he can travel in the desert as long as that, and sometimes longer,without drinking again. Yet I believe the camels are as glad as thechildren to come to the fresh spring.
Gemila thinks so at night, as she stands under the starlight, pattingher good camel Simel, and kissing his great lips.
The black goats, with long silky ears, are already cropping the grass.The father sits again at the tent-door, and smokes his long pipe; thechildren bury their bare feet in the sand, and heap it into littlemounds about them; while the mother is bringing out the dates and thebread and butter.
It is an easy thing for them to move: they are already at home again.But although they have so few cares, we do not wish ourselves in theirplace, for we love the home of our childhood, "be it ever so humble,"better than roaming like an exile.
But all the time I haven't told you how Gemila looks, nor what clothesshe wears. Her face is dark; she has a little straight nose, fulllips, and dark, earnest eyes; her dark hair will be braided when itis long enough. On her arms and her ankles are gilded bracelets andanklets, and she wears a brown cotton dress loosely hanging halfway tothe bare, slender ankles. On her head the white fringed handkerchief,of which I told you, hangs like a little veil. Her face is pleasant,and when she smiles her white teeth shine between her parted lips.
She is the child of the desert, and she loves her desert home.
I think she would hardly be happy to live in a house, eat from atable, and sleep in a little bed like yours. She would grow restlessand weary if she should live so long and so quietly in one place.