 In Canticles ( 1 : 5 ) , the tents of the Qedarites are described as black : " Black I am , but beautiful , ye daughters of Jerusalem / As tents of Qedar , as tentcloth of Salam black . " Their tents are said to be made of black goat hair . A tribe of Salam was located just south of the Nabateans in Madain Salih , and Knauf proposed that the Qedarites mentioned in this Masoretic text were in fact Nabataeans and played a crucial role in the spice trade in the 3rd century BCE . 
