The tassel on his head-dress droops; Tell Na‛meh to quit fine dressing.
(_Introducing the refrain at the mill_) Say to us, O Na‛meh, in the night, “How often have I worn the best of silk!”
Say to us, O Na‛meh, in the afternoon, “How often have I worn Egyptian silk!”
(_Closing_) O ye strangers bearing the coffin, Wait until his family arrive.
O ye strangers bearing the coffin, Wait until his kinsfolk come.
The grave of Butrus by the road is in neglect; He wants a guide to lead him home.
This beginning of public mourning was on November 23. On December 14 the funeral services were held in the village church, just as if the deceased were there. But the public mourning did not cease as long as visiting mourners from other villages came to condole with the family. It is customary for women in mourning to forbear changing or washing their dresses for months.
Graves are usually bordered with heavy broken stone partly sunken into the earth. For shaykhs and notables an oblong, box-like structure of stone and mortar is built over the grave, and perhaps a headstone erected, with an inscription in Arabic. The variety in the ornamentation of graves is very considerable, especially in different districts of the country.
Egypt was suffering from an epidemic of cholera in the summer of 1902. The news of cholera in Egypt makes one apprehensive lest through carelessness the disease should be brought into Palestine, although the quarantines are supposed to be enforced strictly on all lines of communication by sea or land. Toward the last of September the rumor got about that cholera was in the country and that cases had appeared as near as Hebron, twenty miles south of Jerusalem. By the middle of October rumor was persistent that Ludd and Jimzû were affected by the fell disease. English physicians in Jaffa published and circulated a poster instructing the people as to means of prevention. The Jerusalem government issued orders to the villages to clean the village streets and burn up the refuse. This would be a boon under any circumstances. The city streets were put into an excellent condition of cleanliness. Whitewash was freely used on the walls of the buildings, especially in the Jewish quarter. In a day or two Jaffa was reported to be infected by the cholera and, as the days went by, rumors came from one after another village that it was attacked by the scourge, which the natives call _the yellow air_. They give it this name because of their belief that it is a pestilential breath traveling in the air. One day, when the refreshing west wind was blowing up from the sea, a peasant in our village expressed the hope that the wind would change soon, as he feared that it might bring up _the yellow air_ from the infected villages down in the Mediterranean plain. This ignorance of the real nature of the disease accounts, together with a fatalistic carelessness about observing the right precautions, for the awful hold that it gets on an Eastern country. It thrives best in the lowland country and least in the highlands, not being supposed to ascend over two thousand feet with any likelihood of persistence. But it was often carried to greater heights, causing much anxiety. Hebron, for instance, is over three thousand feet above sea-level. The bacillus has its greatest opportunity in running water, as at springs. In order to attack the human being it must enter the alimentary canal, usually, of course, by the mouth. A weakened constitution, excessive fear, nervousness and chills from great or sudden changes of temperature, make favorable conditions for its seizure of the individual. It usually begins with a diarrhea, which, if unchecked, is rapidly succeeded by the peculiar cholera discharges and a physical collapse that is as complete as the weakness induced by days and weeks of other severe diseases. Relief has to be prompt, the temperature restored and the discharges checked very soon in order to afford any reasonable hope of recovery. Most foreigners escape attack by attending very strictly and conscientiously to the proper precautions and heeding early indications, without allowing themselves to be disturbed by unnecessary fears. But they should be personally sure that only cooked food is eaten, no raw fruit or vegetables; that all water, for whatever purpose destined, be boiled, whether it is to be drunk or used to wash the person, hands, face, teeth or body, or used to wash clothing or dishes. When cholera is in the vicinity unboiled water should not be used for any purpose.