By degrees, however, the noise
of the revellers without subsided, and at length died away. Having
satisfied their hunger, and smoked their chibouques, often made from the
branch which they had cut since their return from hunting, with the bud
still alive upon the fresh green tube, they wrapped themselves in their
cloaks and sheepskins, and sunk into a deep and well-earned repose.
Within, the Sheikhs and mookatadgis gradually, by no means
simultaneously, followed their example. Some, taking off their turbans
and loosening their girdles, ensconced themselves under the arcades,
lying on their carpets, and covered with their pelisses and cloaks; some
strolled into the divaned chambers, which were open to all, and more
comfortably stowed themselves upon the well-stuffed cushions; others,
overcome with fatigue and their revel, were lying in deep sleep,
outstretched in the open court, and picturesque in the blazing
moonlight.
The hunting party was to last three days, and few intended to leave
Canobia on the morrow; but it must not be supposed that the guests
experienced any very unusual hardships in what the reader may consider a
far from satisfactory mode of passing their night. To say nothing of the
warm and benignant climate, the Easterns have not the custom of retiring
or rising with the formality of the Occidental nations.
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