[Illustration: BEDOUIN WOMEN EATING THEIR BREAKFAST.]

Now the men come in to eat the food that the housewife has prepared. With
a short prayer called _bismillah_ they begin and then shove the rice and
meat or the bread and gravy into their mouths as fast as they can.
Whatever is left when the men get through is for the women. You can see a
group of Arab women in the picture eating their meal from one common dish
in front of their tent. They use their hands instead of spoons or forks
but get along very well and always wash before and after their simple
meal.

Now the women always have to wait on their husbands and eat by themselves.
When things get right side up in this dark land we hope to see the whole
family sitting down together and taking their meal with joy and
thanksgiving.




XIV

BOAT-BUILDERS AND CARPENTERS


Sinbad the sailor died long ago but the sea he sailed is still called the
Persian Gulf and is just as full of curious islands as it was in his time.
The boats are also just like Sinbad's and the sailors sing the same songs,
I think, for there are very few changes in the almost changeless East. The
Bahrein harbour-boat is built on the islands, out of timber from India and