[298]. This performance is called the bride’s “sabáheeyeh.”
[299]. Among the peasants of Upper Egypt, the relations and acquaintances of the bridegroom and bride meet together on the day after the marriage; and while a number of the men clap their hands, as an accompaniment to a tambourine or two, and any other instruments that can be procured, the bride dances before them for a short time. She has a head-veil reaching to her heels, and a printed cotton handkerchief completely covering her face, and wears, externally, the most remarkable of her bridal garments (mentioned by Burckhardt, in the place before referred to, and, in some parts of Egypt, hung over the door of a peasant’s house after marriage). Other women, similarly veiled, and dressed in their best, or borrowed, clothes, continue the dance about two hours, or more.
[300]. Thus commonly pronounced, for “hamáh,” a word derived from the verb “hama,” “he protected, or guarded.”
[301]. Chap. xxiv. ver. 31.
[302]. See the chapter on Religion and Laws. Eunuchs are allowed to see the face of any woman; so also are young boys.
[303]. Commonly thus pronounced (or rather “durrah,” with a soft d) for “darrah”; originally, perhaps, by way of a pun; as “durrah” is a common name for a parrot.
[304]. The law enjoins a husband who has two or more wives, to be strictly impartial to them in every respect; but compliance with its dictates in this matter is rare.
[305]. See Genesis xvi. 4.
[306]. This has been explained in the 3rd chapter, page 88.
[307]. In general, the most beautiful of a man’s wives or slaves is, of course, for a time, his greatest favourite; but in many (if not most) cases, the lasting favourite is not the most handsome. The love of a Muslim, therefore, is not always merely sensual; nor does the relative condition and comfort of his wife, or of each of his wives, invariably depend so much on his caprice or her own personal charms, as on her general conduct and disposition.