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Show THE ARAB PHYSIQUE. In Lady Anne Blunt's recent work on the Bedouin tribes of the Euphrates, there are some notes as to the physical condition of the Arabs that are medically interesting from more than one point of view. It seems that, in spite of their absolute temperance and constant open-air life, they decay prematurely. Well made and handsome in youth, at forty their beards are gray; at fifty they are old, and the age of sixty is reached by few. From childhood up, they are in hard training, eating but once a day and then sparingly; and sleeping on the ground. This insures them high health and a full enjoyment of all their faculties, at the time, but uses the body rapidly; and a certain "staleness" follows, which the Bedouins acknowledge by withdrawing early from all unnecessary exertion. The reaction is quickly felt; men of forty complain of indigestion, rheumatism, etc., and of the first positive disease they die. In youth, ill health or defective powers are unknown; but a man who falls seriously ill has as little chance of recovery as the wild animal. Doctors do not exist, nor is there any knowledge of herbs. The sick man is obliged to move with the tribe. He is set on a camel and clings to it as best he can. In the tent he lies surrounded by friends, who's very Job's comforters' talk to him till he dies. Wounds, too, are often fatal, from want of knowledge and quiet. The Bedouins have no great appearance of muscular strength, but they are singularly active and enduring. They are patient and humane, seldom allowing their passions to pass beyond control, one main reason being their sobriety. No drink stronger that "lebben," or sour milk, is known among them; and they look upon the use of all fermented liquors as disgraceful. Brutal crimes have no place in the catalogue of Bedouin sins. The women are in person proportionately taller than the men, the older of them often become fat and unwieldy; the younger do all the labor of the camp, fetching wood and water, setting and removing tents, milking and cooking. They live apart from men, except their nearest relatives, but have plenty of society among themselves. They seem to have good health and good spirits; but in mental qualities the women of the desert are usually far below the men, their range of ideas being extremely limited. |