"They wore their hair loose, with bands around the head to keep it in place, and the youngest of them had a very rich head-dress with many pieces of gold attached to it. They served us with pipes and coffee soon after we entered, and seemed much surprised at our refusal to smoke. One of us tried a few whiffs from a nargileh, and it made them laugh very much when the smoke choked her and set her to coughing.
"Our visit lasted about half an hour. They embraced us when we came away, but did not offer to kiss us, and the last thing they did was to give a farewell pinch to Mrs. ——'s hair. They intimated by signs that they would like to come to the boat to see us; but of course that would not be according to Eastern usage, and they are not at all likely to come."
Frank gathered other details about the life of Eastern women which he appended to his account of the visit we have just described. A few of them will not be out of place in this narrative.
"According to all I can learn," wrote Frank, "the life of an Eastern woman must be very monotonous. She goes out very little, and after she is married can only rarely visit her relatives. Day and night her place is in the harem, and she never speaks to any man except her husband—not even to his most intimate friends or to her own brothers. The time must hang very heavily on her hands, especially when, as is generally the case, she is unable to read, and cannot obtain the consolation which books afford.
AN ORIENTAL DANCING GIRL.
"I have told you of the marriage ceremonies among the modern Egyptians; they are practically the same in most of the Moslem countries, and have the same result among all except the poorer classes. The wife of a man who can afford the expense of a harem passes the most of her time there, and only goes out on rare occasions. Ladies of her own rank may call on her, and she can return their visits, but they are not very frequent, and she passes the most of the time entirely among the other women of her house. These include the servants or slaves, and possibly the other wives of her husband.
"Speaking of other wives, let me say here that, according to the Koran, an Arab or Turk may have four wives, provided he can take care of them, but by custom he sometimes has more. Doctor Bronson says the intercourse of the East with Europe has caused a great many men to adopt the customs of the latter country and have only one wife. Some of the high officers of Egypt have done so, and they are occasionally seen in public with their wives, which is a great innovation upon the old habits of the land.
"Where a man has two or more wives each of them is entitled to separate apartments, and to servants whose whole business is to wait on her; consequently, a harem is an expensive luxury, and there are not many who can afford it. Perhaps the saving of expense has something to do with the spread of European ideas among the Orientals. And then, too, there are apt to be quarrels among the occupants of the harem which the master is called upon to settle, and with a sufficient number of them his life is anything but a happy one.