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SYRIAN COSTUMES.

Among the many peculiarities of foreign nations, their particular habiliments and modes of dress form not the least interesting subject to be inquired into and known. It is true that any attentive study of the ever-changing fashions of many cities of Europe would be undeserving the time and talents of those who have but little lei

sure to devote to such frivolities; yet the philosopher will not fail to learn something even from this continued display of a love of novelty, excited by various other principles, which form an essential part in the moral constitution of man. This mania for change in dress, however, has not yet possessed the people of the Levant, who still preserve to this day the costume worn by their ancestors of a thousand generations. Many of these costumes will doubtless appear extravagantly singular, if not preposterous, to numbers in more refined Europe; yet it must be remembered, that many of the appurtenances of a gentleman or lady's wardrobe in England would excite equal surprise, and would call forth as exquisite satire from a true born child of the East. Of this I had sufficient proof, when on a certain occasion I permitted myself to be partially despoiled of my clothes, to satisfy the curiosity of an Arab chieftain. After a roar of laughter from a large company present, the sheikh said: "So it is only your narrow pantaloons which make you to have such long legs!-really this barbarous part of your dress gives you the ap pearance of a fiend on stilts."

The figures drawn on the preceding page are intended to convey an idea of the most common costumes worn by the different people who inhabit the country of Syria and Palestine. Fig. I. is the usual dress of Christian and Mohammedan males of the middle and higher ranks. It consists of the small red skull-cap, and a common cotton or cashmire shawl, according to the circumstances of the wearer, wound round the head in order to form a turban. Formerly Christians were prohibited wearing a white turban, but of late this prohibition, with many others equally intollerant, has

been removed. The qmees, or shirt, is generally of silk, made very wide and long in the sleeves, which are left to hang down with the sleeve of the jukha, or outer coat, and after covering the body as far as the waist is brought over the under drawers. There is a very little difference in this article as worn by the males and females. The silk of which it is manufactured is procured from the stiff inner lining of the silk-worm's coAfter all the good silk has been wound off by machinery, the fine membranes containing the dead chrysalis are beaten and washed by running water; they are then spun off by the spindle and after

coon.

wards woven into cloth. The lbes or shakh

sheer is a wide species of drawers, bound round the waist and tied, after being drawn together into neat folds. Those of the men are narrow and loose at the bottom; those of the women are wide, drawn together at the upper part, and tied just above the ancle. The next is the sedria or vest, with short sleeves, and buttoned up close before. The lower part of the sedria is inserted below the lbes, and then both are bound with the zunnar or girdle. The latter is sometimes of cotton, but frequently of fine silk, manufactured in abundance at Beyroot. That part of the female dress which corresponds to the sedria is called a zaabut, and differs from it only by being so made as to leave the breast entirely exposed.

Over the sedria the men wear a round cloth jacket, with short wide sleeves, called a salta; the entire edge of this is bound round with silk cord, and does not button before. To the salta is superadded the jukha, a wide and flowing cloth coat which envelopes the whole person. Sometimes the sedria is laid aside, and a long silk or cotton gown called a gombaz is substituted in its stead. Fig. I. is intended to represent a Syrian merchant in the gombaz and jukha.

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but always of wool or cotton, and the gay and vain are generally known by the art and affected carelessness with which they tie on this article, leaving a corner trailing to the ground, and then forcing down one side as a resting place for their hand. This coquettish posture is but feebly depicted by Fig. III. which is simply intended to give an idea of the full dress of the native Syrian ladies when unveiled in their own houses. Of this costume the head dress is the most conspicuous and complicate. It is formed of a small red cap, such as is usually worn by the men, having on the top a crown of silver or gold, sometimes studded with jewels, from the centre of which is suspended a long tassel of beads. The cap is secured on the head by a thin woollen turban. From beneath the turban the hair is permitted to hang down in numerous plaits, and a thick and heavy appendage of black silk cord, braided together a little above the ends, covers the whole back two feet and a half from the neck. This is called an aabedia. From the turban are generally hung small silver and gold ornaments which reach a little below the ear, in the form of a semi-circle, while a row of golden pieces of money is bound round the forehead. To these decorations some add bracelets, others rings round the ancles. But it would be as futile to attempt a description of an eastern lady's wardrobe and jewelry, as to enumerate all the minutia belonging to the toilet of a fashionable dame in England or France.

Yet there is one particular in regard to dress in which the ladies of Europe enjoy a great advantage over their eastern sisters, and that is, they are permitted to exhibit all their finery to excite the jealousy and admiration of the public. Not so the secluded daughters of the East; when these go abroad they are obliged to cover all their beauty, and hide all their ornaments, under a large white calico izar or sheet, which disguises the whole person with the exception of the face; but as it would be considered a breach of modesty for a female to allow her features to be seen by all indiscriminately, a dark muslin veil joined to the turban covers her face, so that no part whatever of her

person is seen. Thus equipped in full walk dress, a Syrian lady looks a most awkward and clumsy being, such as we have attempted to represent by Fig. II.

The chief peculiarity in the costume of Fig. IV. is the tantoor, or long horn, which projects from the forehead like that of a unicorn. This ornament is only used by the female mountaineers of Lebanon, and is generally the gift of the bridegroom on the occasion of his marriage. The horn is usually made of silver, adorned with raised figures of stars and various other ornaments. It varies in length from one foot and a half to two feet, and is about six inches in circumference at the lower part, gradually tapering towards the top, where it is less than half that dimension. From that extremity which rests on the front of the head are suspended three long cords of purple silk, to which are affixed three large tassels of the same material, fixed into massy silver knobs, which hang down the back as far as the heels. These awkward appendages move about incessantly at the least motion of the wearer, causing her no little inconvenience, and giving notice of her approach by the continual clashing of the silver knobs even at a distance. This ornament is called an aaqoos. From the top of the horn hangs a loose veil, which is drawn before with the hand so as to leave only one eye exposed. The long horn, though not exclusively worn by the Druse females of Lebanon, is the only form of the tantoor which they use. It is fastened upon the head by two rings, and a cumbrous machinery, which requires much patience and dexterity properly to adjust. This may account in some measure for the fact, that it is sometimes permitted to remain on for months together without ever being removed, a most inconvenient nightcap, one would suppose, for any lady. In other respects, the dress of the female mountaineers does not materially differ from that of the inhabitants of the towns.

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Whilst writing the present, I am reminded of an amusing anecdote which occurred to me whilst visiting, with a small party of ladies and gentlemen, one of the secluded

and romantic Druse villages of Mount Lebanon. The novelty of our ladies' dresses, which the villagers had probably never before seen, raised their curiosity to such a pitch, that they surrounded our tent in great numbers, endeavouring by all means to get a peep at the sittât frangii (Frank ladies.) As there was some reason to fear, that if the ladies should fall into their hands, they might be too roughly handled in their extravagant curiosity and rude hospitality, some time was spent in consulting how they might be satisfied and then dispersed. During this interval, our Maltese servant Ciccu, a phlegmatic kind of a fellow, was biting his nails with vexation, and kept a surly silence at the tent-door, not condescending to answer one of the numerous questions which the excited mountaineers put to him. nally one asked him if the ladies in his country wore an ornament like the tantoor. Ciccu, full of bile, replied: "Our ladies do not, but our cows wear a pair." The simple people believing what he said to be true, began to talk together on the wonderful things there must be in Frank land, among which they did not consider the least a troop of cows, each bearing two silver tantoors on its head.

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Figures V. and VI. represent two other species of silver head ornaments which I met with among the female inhabitants of the mountains of Kesrouan.* Fig. VI. is equally cumbrous with the long horn of Lebanon, perhaps more so, for I saw females in several instances spinning cotton in their houses, with their horn resting on a string, suspended from the roof, in order to ease themselves of its inconvenient weight.

* The name given to the range of Lebanon which reaches north from Beyroot beyond Latachia

THE INFIDEL IN A STORM.-The late Percy Byshe Shelly, who made no secret of his infidelity, and who seemed to have spirits which no danger could appal, when overtaken by a storm at sea while sailing in Lord Byron's yacht, appeared to have lost all energy, and the horror of approaching death made him weep like a child. Those names which he never before pronounced, but in ridicule, he now called upon in moving accents of serious prayer, imploring the protection of that Being, whose existence he affected to disbelieve. -Captain Benson.

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The morn has but just looked out, and smiled,
When he starts from his humble, grassy nest,
And is up and away, with the dew on his breast.
And a hymn in his heart, to yon pure bright sphere,
To warble it out in his Maker's ear.
Ever, my child, be thy morn's first lays
Tuned, like the lark's, to thy Maker's praise.
What is that, mother?-

The dove, my son.-
And that low, sweet voice, like a widow's moan,
Is flowing out from her gentle breast,
Constant and pure by that lonely nest,
As the wave is poured from some crystal urn,
For her distant dear one's quick return.
Ever, my son, be thou like the dove,-
In friendship as faithful, as constant in love.
What is that, mother?-
The eagle, boy,
Proudly careering his course of joy,
Firm in his own mountain vigour relying,
Breasting the dark storm, the red bolt defying;
His wing on the wind, and his eye on the sun,
He swerves not a hair, but bears onward, right on.
Boy, may the eagle's flight ever be thine,
Onward and upward, true to the line.
What is that, mother?-

The swan, my love.He is floated down from his native grove, No loved one now, no nestling nigh; He is floating down by himself to die; Death darkens his eye, and unplumes his wings, Yet the sweetest song is the last he sings. Live so, my love, that when Death shall come, Swan-like and sweet, it may waft thee home.

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