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Show WEDDING IN THE LIBANUS. Curious Ceremonies' Observed by Bedouin Arabs. The very curious ceremonies observed by Bedouin Arabs wandering through the stately Libanus range were witnessed wit-nessed on one occasion by a-; Jesuit missionary, who happened to be at a place called Accoura, near which, in a recess of the mountain.' were encamped en-camped the eighteen black goathair tents peculiar to these nomads. The abundant pasturage to be had for their flocks, as well as a chance to pilfer the ripening crops, had -attracted these Bedouins to this part of the Libanus, I but at the same tlnu thn resemble the other savage looking and ragged bands- that also "streel"- along the countryside. It appears, says Father Fath-er Angeli, that his acquaintances were a branch of a very distinguished desert tribe who had come for the sake of the fresh mountain air, as well as for the reasons already mentioned, and they selected their encampment sufficiently near the. Christians to secure their safety, safe-ty, and yet not too far from the plain, so as to be able to make a sudden flitting in case of an alarm. Profiting by the lovely days of a Syrian Syr-ian spring, they proceeded to celebrate the wedding of their Sheikh's daughter, daugh-ter, a tall and beautiful Bedouin girl, who at the early age of three years had been able to mount her father's horse and to learn the use of arms. onuegroom was chief of another tribe near Damascus, who, having seen her one day, fell so much in love as to think for a moment of kidnapping her. However, the young girl's hand was not difficult to obtain, since her father, who alone could dispose of her in marriage as he chose, had the greatest great-est desire of an alliance with the suitor's suit-or's particular tribe. According he was soon invited to solemnize his marriage, by which all past diffierences between the two tribes would be buried in oblivion. i "' The young man brought fine presents from Damascus. for his bride, such as a quantity of rings, two' sets of bangles in glass. Conner anl cik-or "a oiooKH Arab dress, a - pair of beautiful red boots adorned with a splendid iron spur, and a' pretty Persian carpet for her dromedary. He was received in the Sheikh's tent to the sound of fifes and hurrahs, and during his supper a Kurdish Kur-dish dance was executed, the dancers moving feet and hands in time, and answering in song the improvised rhymes of a poet who, standing in the midst of their circle praised in glowing glow-ing terms the ' chivalrous qualities of the bridegroom, and the exquisite beauty of the eyes, hair, teeth and arms of the Bedouin bride. Hearing cries of approbation issuing from the women's wo-men's tent, the poet exerted himself still more to string all the most poetic and flattering Arab expressions he could remember. . As .soon .as supper was over the wwnen sat in a circle smoking round the tent, while the bride's father related re-lated all the wonderful exploits of his ancestors, which lost nothing in the telling, .though he would politely interr rupt them with the expression of good wishes for the prosperity of the young couple. The rest of the night was epent by the women in cooking the nuptial banquet, and in dressing up the bride. -All preparations being finished, everyone every-one left the tenst at sunrise. The bride wore a sort of woollen cap covered with-. silver- piastres all pierced and threaded on strings, five of which were in iioni ana nve at the back of the head. These last, being longer, fell over the shoulders, and were fastened together on the chest. This head dress is known as the "smade," and is only valuable according to the number of coins used in its decoration. It is heavj; and ugly, but it is the bride's dowry, and she sleeps, in it, so that nothing may be stolen off it by light and rapacious rapa-cious fingers of friends or foes. On her breast the bride wears the amulets of blue grass and wolf bones,' against the ,f influence of the evil eye, much dreaded" by the easterns. Her brown dress bordered with lace came down to her knees" so that everyone could admire ad-mire the beautiful red boots presented by the young chief, in which she strutted strut-ted along in a dignified manner, rather cornical. to behold. And. really nothing, noth-ing, could be more primitive than these boots, which were just like tubes or pipes made of red leather, and terminating termi-nating at thetoes in a peak on which was set a rosette . or tuff,, besides the spur shaped'llke a' horseshoe with three points resembling rough nails. ; Thus dfessed up and supported by her female, relations, surrounded by the girls of her tribe and followed by curious cu-rious women .who praised her beauty and wished; her joy, the bride advanced to the state camel prepared for the nuptial ride. It was the. best and'fin-est and'fin-est and tallest, of all those belonging to the tribe, and it "had been well fed that day with peas and beans, and it did not even grumble when it was well washed and sprinkled with some perfume. per-fume. - A handsome, much fringed Persian Per-sian carpet covered it. completely, and it appareritiy did not appear to regret the death of a youthful brother, slaug-tered slaug-tered during the night for the wedding feast. The bride was lifted upon the animal and 'her companions arranged the draperies. She was not adorned with the tattoo in fashion among the common .Bedouin women, but on her lips and chin. were inscribed blue characters, char-acters, and her. eyes .were surrounded by a black line,'- after the -custom of young girls .at --Damascus. - Two handsome hand-some tribesme.':-inffulldress made the camel rise -and "stood beside-it with unsheathed .saimitars ' as 'a guard bf' The procession . then formed, the women singing "in a 'band before the camel, thejvp'aid a similar visit to each where he stood at the opening,' with his (attendants to-the sound of tambourines tam-bourines and finger cracking, commenced com-menced dances and fantasias; the bride, seated on her camel, then paid a similar visit to each of the other tents. Towards the evening the great banquet took ,place in the. Sheikh's tent. On a mountain-of rice deposited in, an immense copper dish were two roast legs of camel, and the .distinguished .distin-guished company, seated cross , legged on the mats.' turned up their ' shirt sleeves, whiclf were knotted behind, ! and with-nature's-fprks and ' spoons 1 each . man ' gathered up a handful . of nice, making x hole in it' to receive the "laUan'e," ox v curdled milk,' :placed therein by a servant. In an instant I the guest had his ball of vrice and labane quite ready to be swallowed as his soup. Then the Sheikh took up the camel legs, cut them in pieces, and gave erery one his share. With teeth and fingers the meat was torn into scraps, and, flavored with labane, which was the chief dish. The Arabs being abstemious, the meal was over in ten minutes, and a second batch of guests replaced the first. The servants, ser-vants, children, and curious bystanders bystand-ers were the last to be served, and they soon finished the remains of the banquet, leavinsr only a few bones to be thrown to the dogs. Then everyone every-one washed his hands, mouth and beard.' and the meal war- ended. This particular wedding banquet was still further increased by a fine and very unusual dessert of cucumbers and half ripe apricots, sent as a present in two baskets from Accoura. Coffee was' served round, as usual, in one cup, refilled re-filled for each guest. Smoking was next the order of. the daj or rather morning, and the children and young men danced round the bonfires. The women, of course, feasted apart, and occasionally singing could be heard from their tent, as a Bedouin girl with a fine voice chanted verses in praise of j the beauty and virtues of the bride, which the men tried to drown by hurrahs hur-rahs and sones. The Arab encampments, true nomad villages, are increasing in the Libaiius, with their camels and asses to carry tents, utensils, etc. Each tent has a mat that serves as a carpet and bed; sometimes there is a loom to weave coarse materials, or sieves of . horsehair. horse-hair. There is a cooking pot, a leather bag for drawing water from well or river, some wooden basins, a hand mill, a griddle for roasting barley or baking bread, and a tambourine consisting con-sisting of a skin tightly drawVi over a baked earthen .framework. All this can in an hour be picked up in the I tent sheeting or skins, and hoisted on camels or asses for speedy departure. Nothing can exceed the ignorance of these Bedouins. The sight of the sea or of towns amazes - the.m beyond measure. They despise folks who prefer pre-fer to live in houses, comparing them to birds in a cage. When they are reproached, in turn, for their love of thieving and pilfering, they will answer an-swer that they are better than the birds and ants, who also live on the i produce of the earth, and cannot be prevented by either anmi? or mon ! The government harasses them, because, be-cause, owing to their wandering existence, exist-ence, they cannot be taxed, and can be subjected to no law, being able in a night to vanish silently into some inaccessible mountain gorge, by paths known only to themselves. Their filthy habits fender the Bedouins verv disagreeable neighbors, and the children chil-dren are dreadful to behold. It would be necess-ary 'to live among them, and as they do, to be able to instruct and civilize them; but it is by no means an easy thing, as hardly do you begin to know them than they disappear as if by mag' ' No negro tribe in the interior of frica could be .more grossly ignorant, and their love of wandering would soon hinder any attempt at-tempt to tame them. However, savs Father Anceli enmo day, perhaps a flying, mission may be found to follow these nomad Bedouin tribes, to civilize them by degrees, and teach them the sublime truths of the Catholic religion. |