We take our homes with us
How would you like to pack up everything you own, including your home,
and move from place to place many times a year? That’s what the Bedouins
[(behd u]{.smallcaps} ihnz) do. The Bedouins are Arab nomads who live in
the deserts of the Middle East. These animal herders raise camels,
goats, and sheep. Pastureland is scarce in the deserts, and so the
Bedouins have to move often to find grazing lands for their animals.
The Bedouins get almost everything they need to
A tent made of woven animal hair protects these Bedouins from the hot
sun.
United States
A house on wheels is just the thing if you like to travel.
Each year, more and more American families use motor homes for
vacations.
live from the animals they raise. They live on meat, milk, and cheese
they get from their animals. The cloth for much of the clothing they
wear is woven from the hair of their animals and some vegetable fibers.
Even the material from which they make their tents is woven from the
hair of their animals.
During the daytime, the sun beats down on the deserts and makes the sand
extremely hot. The Bedouins use the shade of their tents for protection
from the hot sun. At night, after the sun goes down, the deserts get
very cold. Then the Bedouins can go into their tents and cover up with
wool blankets to keep warm.
In central Asia, between China and Russia, there is a country called
Mongolia. Some of the people here still follow their traditional nomadic
way of life. These Mongolians move from pasture to pasture with their
horses, sheep, goats, and yaks.
They live in a large, round tent called a yurt. A yurt has a framework
of wooden poles, covered with heavy felt. It is often well furnished and
is comfortable in hot and cold weather. When it’s time to move, the yurt
is loaded on pack animals or in a jeep.
