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After a heated chase some returned to inquire further particulars of her.

Unable to get a reply, for she still stood screaming, "The genii have taken my boy!" they lowered the cradle from her head and found the child still sound asleep.

The others soon returned to say they had overtaken the supposed enemy, only to find that it was her domestic cat, which had jumped from its hiding place near the baby.

HE HAD THREE DAUGHTERS BUT NO

CHILDREN

Essa met us at the gate one evening and his face showed that something out of the ordinary had occurred. After the usual salutations he said, "I come to you for the reward of good news.” "And what is it?"

"My family gave birth to a baby." "Imbarak" (May it be a blessing!); to which came his reply, "Imbarak feck" (A blessing by your presence!).

"What is it. Essa?" He hung his head and replied, "Be it far from you, a girl.'

"How many children does this make?" he was asked. Essa looked embarrassed, and said, "I have no children; this is my third girl. When I went into the village this morning both women and men said to me, Imbarak, Essa! May it be granted that she die! but I replied. May Allah not listen to you! for I have become like you foreigners and I am satisfied, although I had taken upon me certain vows in case it was a boy."

THE COSTUMES OF THE WOMEN The costumes of the women differ sufficiently in each district to enable one to distinguish readily where the wearer comes from. From the variations of the headgear one can tell whether a woman be single or married; but, although differing from one another in the details, the costumes have much in common.

The dress, called a tobe, is like a long loose shirt, the sleeves narrow at the shoulders and widening out something like the Japanese pattern. The front and back are made each of one width of cloth, with a gore on each side to widen the

skirt. A girdle either of white linen or bright striped silk is wound around the waist and the tobe is pulled up a little to produce a full bosom.

This tobe, when for common use, is of dark-blue cloth, the bosom is covered with cross-stitch embroidery and perhaps a little on the sleeves and skirt.

In the districts north of Jerusalem the tobe for the bride or for gala occasions is made of heavy white linen almost covered with embroidery, the prevailing colors being dark green and red with a little orange mixed in (see page 307). Around Samaria the tobe is made of white cotton cloth in which are woven bright strips of red, vellow, and green.

The shoes are crude affairs, the tops being of bright red or sometimes yellow sheepskin, with soles of raw cow, camel, or buffalo hide.

WEARING HER DOWRY ON HER HEAD

The headgear is of two parts: first, what we shall for convenience sake call a cap, and over it a veil. The Bethlehem women wear a high cap, in shape something like a man's fez, called shatweh, on the front of which are sewn rows of gold and silver coins.

A woman never parts with the coins from her headgear except in dire circumstances, and for her to admit that she has lost one of these is considered a great shame, for an evil meaning is put upon it. This throws a strong light upon the parable of the woman who lost one of her ten pieces of silver.*

The woman in the Gospel had not lost a piece of money merely valuable as a medium of exchange, but a part of her ornament and dowry, and had thus brought a reflection upon her character. So it was vital for her to recover it.

No wonder, then, she is pictured as lighting a candle, sweeping the house, and seeking diligently until she finds it, and then calling her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her.

THE CAPACIOUS, USEFUL VEIL

The veil is a large affair, some 6 feet long and 4 feet wide, and placed over the *Luke 15: 8, 9.

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cap it covers the entire headgear, except the coins in front. It is considered improper for women to have their head or hair showing in public. At home they put off the veil.

Ordinary veils are made of heavy white. linen, with sometimes a little embroidery, while in the districts north of Jerusalem each girl makes one almost covered with needlework, so that it will match the white embroidered tobe for her wedding (see page 307).

Whenever a woman lacks a basket or bag, the veil comes into use. She places what she has to carry in one end of her veil, gathers and ties it around with one corner, and places the burden on top of

her head.

The story of Ruth, when Boaz says to her, "Bring the veil that thou hast upon thee, and hold it; and when she held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her: and she went into the city," clearly shows that this use of the veil is the survival of a very ancient practice.

Those not acquainted with this land of ancient customs may find themselves unable to understand how Ruth's veil could contain so much grain, because of their having in mind a veil of gauze and of small dimensions. The khirka, as the veil is called, is not only large and strong enough for this work, but such usage is very common down to the present day. Nor is it only the veil that has survived, but the entire costume. Ezekiel the Prophet gives us a matchless description of the woman's attire of his day when, speaking allegorically of Jerusalem, he says:

"I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work." t

*Ruth 3: 15.

Ezekiel 16: 10-13.

THE JEWELS OF BIBLE TIMES AND OF
TODAY

Jewelry is very much prized, although it is mainly confined to heavy silver pieces.

A heavy silver chain is attached to the cap on either side and hangs down about the neck and below the chin (see page 307). A collarette made of plaited silver wire with many chains hanging from it used to be extensively worn by Bethlehem women, but is fast disappearing.

In the Hebron district the unmarried girls wear a large silver coin on their forehead (see page 259). Earrings are used and silver finger-rings, with Mecca stones or glass imitations, are much prized.

a

The

Were we living much later we would find it difficult to learn the meaning of the prophet's word, “And I put beautiful crown upon thy head." tasseh, a disk of wrought silver or gold which, according to the old men, used to be so common, and was worn by the women sewed to the crowns of their caps, is today almost non-existent. They can occasionally be picked up at the silversmith's, where they have been sold for the silver that is in them, but the present writer has not seen a single one in use among the peasants.

In the Nazareth district European material is fast displacing hand-made goods. Even around Jerusalem the women are taking to shawls of foreign manufacture in place of the handsome hand-embroidered veils whose colors harmonize, which cannot be said of these shawls, with their flaming roses and pink backgrounds.

Few of these peasant women can be said to be handsome; still, they make an interesting and picturesque sight, as they walk in companies along the roads, going to town with their baskets of produce, or returning, chattering like magpies over the day's transactions.

When the road is very stony or wet, it is a common custom for them to take off their shoes to save them, placing them on top of their loaded baskets (see page 306). It takes metaliks (coppers) to mend shoes, but feet mend themselves.

The Bethlehem women have the repu