
Source: Matson Collection. |
Arab
Women Working Hand Mill |
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As we pass through the streets at the evening
hour we hear the low monotonous hum of the
hand-mill—the “quern” of the Scottish
Highlands. There is a hole in the centre of
the upper millstone through which the grain is
passed, a handful at a time, by one of the two
women who sit facing each other. “Two women
shall be grinding at the mill.” Nearer the
edge is another hole, in which an upright
handle is fixed; both the women hold this
together, and work it as two men would a
crosscut saw. The flour falls out on to a
cloth on which the nether millstone is placed.
The stones are usually made of lava brought
from the Hauran, harder and lighter than the
sandstone of the country, which indeed is not
very common, the whole formation of Central
and Southern Palestine being soft, chalky,
Eocene limestone. (Source: Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, pp. 135-36.) |
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