Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic text is surrounded by _underscores_.]

Our Little Arabian Cousin

THE

Little Cousin Series

(TRADE MARK)

Each volume illustrated with six or more full-page plates in
tint. Cloth, 12mo, with decorative cover,
per volume, 60 cents

LIST OF TITLES

BY MARY HAZELTON WADE

(unless otherwise indicated)

=Our Little African Cousin=

=Our Little Alaskan Cousin=
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet

=Our Little Arabian Cousin=
By Blanche McManus

=Our Little Armenian Cousin=

=Our Little Brazilian Cousin=
By H. Lee M. Pike

=Our Little Brown Cousin=

=Our Little Canadian Cousin=
By Elizabeth R. Macdonald

=Our Little Chinese Cousin=
By Isaac Taylor Headland

=Our Little Cuban Cousin=

=Our Little Dutch Cousin=
By Blanche McManus

=Our Little English Cousin=
By Blanche McManus

=Our Little Eskimo Cousin=

=Our Little French Cousin=
By Blanche McManus

=Our Little German Cousin=

=Our Little Hawaiian Cousin=

=Our Little Hindu Cousin=
By Blanche McManus

=Our Little Indian Cousin=

=Our Little Irish Cousin=

=Our Little Italian Cousin=

=Our Little Japanese Cousin=

=Our Little Jewish Cousin=

=Our Little Korean Cousin=
By H. Lee M. Pike

=Our Little Mexican Cousin=
By Edward C. Butler

=Our Little Norwegian Cousin=

=Our Little Panama Cousin=
By H. Lee M. Pike

=Our Little Philippine Cousin=

=Our Little Porto Rican Cousin=

=Our Little Russian Cousin=

=Our Little Scotch Cousin=
By Blanche McManus

=Our Little Siamese Cousin=

=Our Little Spanish Cousin=
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet

=Our Little Swedish Cousin=
By Claire M. Coburn

=Our Little Swiss Cousin=

=Our Little Turkish Cousin=

(_In Preparation_)

=Our Little Australian Cousin=

L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
New England Building, Boston, Mass.

Our Little Arabian
Cousin

By
Blanche McManus

_Author of "Our Little English Cousin," "Our
Little French Cousin," "Our Little Dutch
Cousin," "Our Little Scotch
Cousin," etc._

_Illustrated by_
The Author

Boston
L. C. Page & Company
_MDCCCCVII_

_Copyright, 1907_
BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
(INCORPORATED)

_All rights reserved_

First Impression, May, 1907

_COLONIAL PRESS
Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
Boston, U. S. A._

Preface

OUR little Arabian cousins live in a far-away land, where all the manners and customs of life are very different from our own.

The little Arab children of the desert are quite different from those who live in the towns, as, indeed, are their elders. The Bedouins of the desert are by no means an uncivilized race, and their kind-heartedness and strict regard for doing by others as they would be done by is a marked feature of their daily life.

This little book tells of the comings and goings of two little children of the desert; how they lived their lives; their plays and games; and many of the curious sights they saw as they travelled about with their parents, on one occasion visiting the great city of Medina, where they were as much strangers as if they were little American cousins who had come there on a journey.

Arabia itself is a wild, sad country, but with here and there great patches of verdure, date-palms, cocoanuts, and coffee plants which give prosperity to the inhabitants. Some of the tribes are warlike and less peaceful than others, but they are the outcasts of the country, the same as are found elsewhere than in Arabia.

Our little Arabian cousins have much in common with other little cousins, in that they are very strictly brought up, and are taught to have a great respect for their elders, and particularly to be polite and thoughtful to strangers. Their games and many of the acts of their daily lives are what we ourselves would consider violent and rough, but that only shapes them in their future careers to live up to their ancestral traditions.

B. M.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE
I. RASHID COMES TO THE BLACK TENTS 1
II. HAMID AND RASHID AT PLAY 20
III. THE ROBBER BAND AND AN OSTRICH HUNT 40
IV. RASHID GOES HOME 57
V. HAMID AND FATIMAH SEE THE GREAT CITY 73

List of Illustrations

PAGE
HAMID _Frontispiece_
A SCHOOL IN MODENA 12
IN THE BLACK TENTS 33
IN THE "_SHUGDUF_" 60
"THEY SCATTERED THE GRAIN ALL ABOUT THE COURTYARD" 75
THE CARAVAN ON THE ROAD TO MECCA 80

OUR LITTLE ARABIAN COUSIN]

Our Little Arabian Cousin