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Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
page 88 of 559 (15%)
cities, but the leucous does not exist. The crinal hair is frequently
lightened by bleaching, and the pilar is browner than the crinal. The
voice is strong and clear, but rather barytone than bass: in anger it
becomes a shrill chattering like the cry of a wild animal. The look of
a chief is dignified and grave even to pensiveness; the “respectable man’s”
is self-sufficient and fierce; the lower orders look ferocious, stupid,
and inquisitive. Yet there is not much difference in this point between
men of the same tribe, who have similar pursuits which engender

[p.81] similar passions. Expression is the grand diversifier of
appearance among civilised people: in the Desert it knows few varieties.

The Badawi cranium is small, ooidal, long, high, narrow, and remarkable
in the occiput for the development of Gall’s second propensity: the crown
slopes upwards towards the region of firmness, which is elevated;
whilst the sides are flat to a fault. The hair, exposed to sun, wind,
and rain, acquires a coarseness not natural to it[FN#8]: worn in
Kurun[FN#9]—ragged elf-locks,—hanging down to the breast, or shaved in the
form Shushah, a skull-cap of hair, nothing can be wilder than its
appearance. The face is made to be a long oval, but want of flesh
detracts from its regularity. The forehead is high, broad, and
retreating: the upper portion is moderately developed; but nothing can
be finer than the lower brow, and the frontal sinuses stand out,
indicating bodily strength and activity of character. The temporal
fossa are deep, the bones are salient, and the elevated zygomata
combined with the “lantern-jaw,” often give a “death’s-head” appearance to the
face. The eyebrows are long, bushy, and crooked, broken, as it were, at
the angle where “Order” is supposed to be, and bent in sign of
thoughtfulness. Most popular writers, following De Page,[FN#10]
describe the Arab eye as large, ardent,
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