The rejoicing in maternity, and especially in the birth of sons, is notable among the Arabs. The women sing: "Behold the wife hath brought forth; She has risen from the bed whereon she reposed, whereon she slept! She hath brought into the world a child, the fairest of boys; He will learn to play with the sword." "No sorrow or harm shall come to thee if thou hast sons. God will give them to thee. He will make thee glad, Esteemed and honored throughout the country; Thou who art in the race as a gazelle." Between the verses of the songs, the women who are not singing will repeat the refrain: "La, la, la, la," etc., to emphasize their sympathy with the sentiments just sung. Because of a deep reverence for the mystery of life, the Arabs give to the woman a separate tent or hut during the period of childbirth, and there she must remain for a period. There is a strong superstition concerning the results that might come from seeing or touching her or her belongings during the time of this separation. In the naming of children, family names are not given, but individual names, to which is often added the name of the father, and sometimes that of the mother. The latter is probably the older, and many ethnologists believe it to have once been the universal custom among the Arabs; pointing to a day when polyandry prevailed, when it was customary for women to have several husbands, if they were not indeed the common property of the tribe. The influence of the nomadic life of the ancient Arabians still has its power over the modern Arab if he be true or a dweller in tents. These desert roamers despise those Arabs who are engaged in the arts of husbandry. Dr. A. H. Keane, quoting from Junker, gives the following evidence of this prejudice: "In the eyes of his fellow tribesmen, the humblest nomad would be degraded by marriage with the daughter of the wealthiest bourgeois." But, as he adds: "Necessity knows no law, hunger pinches, and so these proud and stubborn were fain ... to renounce the free and lawless life of the solitude and at least partly turn to agriculture for several months in the year."