text:  "My motley troop apparently composed of every tribe from the Caspian to the Red Sea displayed no less variety in arms and accoutrements than in their personal appearance varying from the sturdy-looking Kourd mounted on his strong powerful steed to the swarthy spare and sinewy Arab with his long reed-like spear his head encircled with the Kefiah or thick rope of twisted camels' hair; whilst the flowing 'abbage' waved gracefully down the shining flanks of the high-mettled steed of the desert