Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Islamic
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Arabian Peninsula -- Description and travel
The Badawi cranium is small, ooidal, long, high, narrow, and remarkable
in the occiput for the development of Galls second propensity: the crown
slopes upwards towards the region of firmness, which is elevated;
whilst the sides are flat to a fault. The hair, exposed to sun, wind,
and rain, acquires a coarseness not natural to it[FN#8]: worn in
Kurun[FN#9]ragged elf-locks,hanging down to the breast, or shaved in the
form Shushah, a skull-cap of hair, nothing can be wilder than its
appearance. The face is made to be a long oval, but want of flesh
detracts from its regularity. The forehead is high, broad, and
retreating: the upper portion is moderately developed; but nothing can
be finer than the lower brow, and the frontal sinuses stand out,
indicating bodily strength and activity of character. The temporal
fossa are deep, the bones are salient, and the elevated zygomata
combined with the lantern-jaw, often give a deaths-head appearance to the
face. The eyebrows are long, bushy, and crooked, broken, as it were, at
the angle where Order is supposed to be, and bent in sign of
thoughtfulness. Most popular writers, following De Page,[FN#10]
describe the Arab eye as large, ardent,
[p.82] and black. The Badawi of the Hijaz, and indeed the race
generally, has a small eye, round, restless, deep-set, and fiery,
denoting keen inspection with an ardent temperament and an impassioned
character. Its colour is dark brown or green-brown, and the pupil is
often speckled. The habit of pursing up the skin below the orbits, and
half closing the lids to exclude glare, plants the outer angles with
premature crows-feet. Another peculiarity is the sudden way in which the
eye opens, especially under excitement. This, combined with its fixity
of glance, forms an expression now of lively fierceness, then of
exceeding sternness; whilst the narrow space between the orbits
impresses the countenance in repose with an intelligence not destitute
of cunning. As a general rule, however, the expression of the Badawi
face is rather dignity than that cunning for which the Semitic race is
celebrated, and there are lines about the mouth in variance with the
stern or the fierce look of the brow. The ears are like those of Arab
horses, small, well-cut, castey, and elaborate, with many elevations and
depressions. The nose is pronounced, generally aquiline, but sometimes
straight like those Greek statues which have been treated as prodigious
exaggerations of the facial angle. For the most part, it is a well-made
feature with delicate nostrils, below which the septum appears: in
anger they swell and open like a blood mares. I have, however, seen, in
not a few instances, pert and offensive pugs. Deep furrows descend from
the wings of the nose, showing an uncertain temper, now too grave, then
too gay. The mouth is irregular. The lips are either bordes, denoting
rudeness and want of taste, or they form a mere line. In the latter
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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