فِيهَا اثْنَتَانِ وَأَرْبَعُونَ حَلُوبَةً سُودًا كَخَافِيَةِ الْغُرَابِ الْأَسْحَمِ
Among them were forty-two black milk-giving she-camels, dark as the concealed feather of a jet-black raven.
Ḥalūbah is a she-camel kept for milking. The exact number makes the scale of the caravan concrete: rather than saying merely “many,” the poet supplies a visualizable count.
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ʿAntarah ibn Shaddād: Fragrance, Rain-fed Meadow and Sensory Similes (verses 12–19)
فِيهَا اثْنَتَانِ وَأَرْبَعُونَ حَلُوبَةً سُودًا كَخَافِيَةِ الْغُرَابِ الْأَسْحَمِ
Among them were forty-two black milk-giving she-camels, dark as the concealed feather of a jet-black raven.
Ḥalūbah is a she-camel kept for milking. The exact number makes the scale of the caravan concrete: rather than saying merely “many,” the poet supplies a visualizable count.