PART I

THE SEED




DESERT LOVE


CHAPTER I

Jill looked at the East!

At her feet sat huddled groups of women, just bundles of black robes,
some with discs about their necks, some with chains or golden crescents
upon the forehead, all wearing the _burko_ [yashmak or face veil]
covering the entire face with the exception of the eyes, and held in
position between the eyebrows by the quaint tube-shaped _selva_,
fastening it to the _tarhah_, the flowing black veil which nearly
touches the ground behind, covers the head, and pulled down to the
eyebrows leaves just the beautiful dark eyes to be seen, glancing up
timidly--in this case--at the golden-haired, blue-eyed girl above them.

Men of different classes stood around, or squatted on their heels upon
the ground, all in flowing robes of different colouring and various
stages of cleanliness, some with heads covered in turbans, some with
the tarboosh, others with the kahleelyah or head handkerchief, all
chattering with the exception of the higher classes and the Bedouins,