The fellâḥah (peasant woman) wears the _Khurḳeh_, an embroidered dress of linen crash, with silk stitching. Over this dress she wears the _Khalaḳ_, or _Tôb_, a long veil of the same material as the Khurḳeh. But she is mostly distinguished by the _Uḳâ_, a head-dress which is a snug little bonnet of cloth embroidered and heavily decorated with coins. _Ṣaffeh_, a row of coins over the top of the head on the bonnet. _Shakeh_, a row of coins or bangles across the forehead. _Iznâḳ_, a coin of especial value which hangs by a chain from the head-dress, under the chin. This head-dress is bound into the hair by strings and is worn night and day. In the division of household labor the man goes to the market, field or on the road with the animals, leaving almost all the work about the house to be done by women and children. Indeed, these may often be called upon to assist in carrying to or from the market, in watching on the threshing-floor or in the vineyard and orchard, in helping harvest the crops or in gleaning, sifting and cleaning grain. Children sometimes carry food to the workers who are at a distance. The man may make repairs about his house, if skilful enough to do so. He drives the bargains and settles business matters. Upon the woman falls most of the work of the household. It is often hard and long because of primitive methods and scanty means.[97] The older girls may help considerably, especially by taking much of the care of the children. The woman’s day begins early with the grinding of flour for bread.[98] She probably cleaned the wheat on the previous afternoon while there was light. Grinding can be done in the early morning before daylight. The woman sweeps and cleans and cooks food for the family. She makes long trips into the uncultivated country about the village to bring home head-loads of brush, thorns or grass. She must make daily trips at least, and sometimes several a day, to the spring, or possibly to a cistern, for the water supply. She often keeps chickens. Gardening is the man’s work, though the woman must often help in the little plot if there be one. Now and then a woman may find time to attend to her personal appearance. If her dress of linen crash be soiled she may take it with other washing to the spring or cistern. She first soaks her clothes and then laying them on a rock pounds out the dirt with a short club. If the silk embroidery on the dress makes it unadvisable to wet the cloth, she rubs off the dirt with bread-crumbs. She occasionally gets an opportunity to take off her head-dress of coins, clean the coins and comb out and wash her hair, or she may do the similar service of washing and head-cleaning for her children. ----- -----