648 pages : 24 cm

The author was born in Beiru. He began collecting material for this book in 1929 and finished research for it in 1936. He was interested in providing information about the customs and people of Kuwait. Dickson describes nomadic life, the tent, the tent's furnishings, valuables, and gendered spaces within the tent, the Bedouin social system, storytelling (and several stories), proverbs, dream interpretation, warfare, domesticated and wild animals, disease, crime, slavery, boat building, pearl diving, and dancing

Part of illustrated matter in pocket

Edited by E.O. Lorimer (Mrs. D.L.R. Lorimer)

Errata slip inserted

My life in the desert -- Autumn stirrings -- Nomad life -- The tent and its furnishings -- Tent treasures -- Badawin social system -- Arab honour -- Marriage and divorce -- Women's secrets -- Children -- Faith and prayer -- Food and hospitality -- Morality -- Death, burial and the hereafter -- Smoking -- The ʼId festivals -- Arab greetings -- The haj, or pilgrimage to Mecca -- Prostitution -- Seasons and winds in Kuwait -- Sandstorms -- ʼAjman talks and tales -- Story telling -- Dreams and their interpretation -- Some proverbs and sayings -- Badawin warfare -- Desert guides and trackers -- Hawking -- The Salúqi -- The Arab horse -- Sheep and goats -- The camel -- Camel disputes -- Locusts -- Wild birds -- Wild animals -- Boat building -- Pearl diving -- Slavery -- Sickness and disease -- The Sulubba -- Crime -- The supernatural -- Curious customs and stories -- The Muntafiq shepherd tribes -- Appendix I. Divisions of Mutair, ʼAjman, ʼAwazim, Rashaida, Shammar and ʼAnizah tribes -- Appendix II. Badawin shaikhs we have known intimately -- Appendix III. List of Badawin ladies of gentle blood -- Appendix IV. Note on the Ramadhan fast -- Appendix V. The Arab custom of holding property "in common" -- Appendix VI. Routes -- Appendix VII. The al shuruf or "honoured ones" -- Appendix VIII. Insects of Kuwait / B.P. Uvarov -- Appendix IX. Jerboas -- Appendix X. Kinds of fish caught in Kuwait harbour -- Appendix XI. A Himyaritic inscription -- Appendix XII. Foreign expeditions and campaigns in Arabia since earliest times -- Appendix XIII. Marriage between sharíf and non-sharíf Arabs -- Appendix XIV. The death of Captain Shakespear, late P.A., Kuwait

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