Identifier: heartofarabiarec01philuoft (find matches)
Title: The heart of Arabia, a record of travel and exploration
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: Philby, H. St. J. B. (Harry St. John Bridger), 1885-1960
Subjects: Arabian Peninsula -- Description and travel
Publisher: London, Constable
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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, purveyors of domestic necessaries and the hke—while the other and larger section comprises about 120unpretentious shops ranged partly along either side of abroad thoroughfare and partly back to back on a narrowisland of no great length in the midst thereof ; the shopsalong the north side of the Suq are backed in part by theouter walls of ordinary dwelling-houses and partly by thesouth wall of the Great Mosque itself. On market-daysand during the busy hours of ordinary days the Suq presentsa hvely scene indeed ; the shops display a miscellaneousassortment of wares ranging from imported piece-goodsand indigenous leather-work and saddlery through thewhole gamut of tea, collee, sugar, spices, meat, rice andother necessaries of fife to such articles of luxury or desireas rifles, ammunition, watches, field-glasses and what-not;the thoroughfare is blocked by droves of sheep, the objectof much chaffering between their owners and would-bebuyers, who pass from one animal to another with the
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CO O O THE WAHHABI CAPITAL 73 patience of men determined to make a good bargain ornone, kneading the fleshy parts of the unfortunate beastswith expert fingers ; here and there a shopman or paidhawker passes in and out among the clamouring crowdwith a rifle or pah* of field-glasses, or a mantle of Hasaworkmanship crying the last price bid and endeavouringto get a better offer ; and now and then a camel or twoloaded with fodder or fuel wends its indifferent way throughthe press of man and beast, picking its path through thecrowd with the clumsy intelligence peculiar to its kind andbrushing the bystanders aside with its traihng load. Atthe hours of prayer the scene changes with dramatic sudden-ness ; at the first sound of the Muadhdliins cry the shopsare closed down, the crowd vanishes to perform its ablutionsand the proctors prowl through the empty streets ; in amoment the streets are filled again with people decorouslystalking with downcast eyes towards the mosques, andthereafter the s

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