Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-11
M|D-CLASS ARABS
HAVE ODD TRAITS
The Hadramaut Picturesque
Land of Contrasts, With
No Harems.

"Secreting few coffee berries in his
turban before paying a call is a delicate
little attention on the part of guest
In the Hadramaut, country in South
ern Arabia" says bulletin from the
Washington headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic Society. The polite
guest in the Hadramaut always carries
his own coffee berries with him because
it is too much to expect a host to
supply coffee as we'll as conversation"
the bulletin continues.
Every one familiar with the map of
Arabia knows that the Hadramaut's
southern border lies on the Gulf of
Alden and the Arabian Sea but nobody
knows just where its northern, eastern
and western borders are. True, the
great Arabian desert lies to the north
but the exact line where the Hadramaut
leaves off and the desert proper begins
has never been defined. Likewise, Oman
lies on the east but no customs officer
could ever tell when traveller had
one foot in Oman and the other in
Hadramaut. No proper boundary line
divides the Hadramaut from Alden and
the upper Aulaqui territory on the west.
but this fact does not disturb the Had
hrami. 1t is only hard on map makers
Land Of Contrasts.
"Geologically and socially speaking,
the Hadramaut is land of contrasts
For 10 miles in from the coast lies
strip of bleak, sandy plain. Following
this comes a strip of high, arid plateau.
North of the plateau lies a zone of high
mountains and deep wadies or rivers,
Farther north lies the great desert.
Even the Bedouins of the Hadramaut
contrast with the Bedouins of the rest
of Arabia. They live in mud huts or
caves and are but mediocre horsemen
I'm contrast with other Arabians, the
Hadhrami are 'skyscraper builders In
the towns, their houses average four
and even five stories in height. The
upper stories are painted cleaning
white and against the intense blue of
the Arabian sky form a striking but
rather acknowledges picture. Also
in contrast with some other parts of
Arabia, the houses are clean and we'll
ventilated. The windows are not glazed
but shattered and on cold days little
brazierS of wood give the only artificial
warmth. Picturesque features of the
houses are the huge entrance doors.
decorated with painted arabesques and
iron nails and heavy knockers of polish
ed brass. Taking bath in such houses
is apt to be an impromptu affair. al
though bathroom may be found on
each floor. The would-be bather must
stand in the corner of a room where
there are drains to carry off the waste
water. and douse himself from a vessel
suspended above him.
One Wife for Hadhrami.
'The Koran allows the taking of
four wives but the Hadhrami is usually
satisfied with one. When a husband
divorces his wife he risks his reputation
unless the divorce takes place for very
good cause. Women in the Hadramaut
veil their faces but they are compare
lively free. There are no harems. The
wife not only shares one quarter of the
house with her husband but she re-
serves another quarter solely for the
entertainment of her woman friends
Cooking and housework are usually
done by the wife or her daughters, as
only. the extremely rich have slaves.
Dinner guests in the Hadramaut sit on
the floor around large mat or fiat
table, wherein is spread the dinner.
A Pickering light is provided by hang
ing lamps of petroleum or sesame oil.
A modern dietitian would delight in
the menu: Salads, green vegetables,
roast sheep or chicken, eggs, dried
dates and bread of maize or wheat
flour. The health of the average
Hadhrami depends not alone on his
menu, for he abstains from opium, pork
and alcohol"