CHAPTER LII—WOMEN AMONG THE MOHAMMEDANS—LIFE IN THE HAREM.
Polygamy Among the Turks and Arabs—A Full-Stocked Harem—Unveiling the Women—Romantic Adventure—A Brief Flirtation—The “Light of the Harem”—Love at First Sight—How Egyptian Women Dress—Some Hints to the Ladies—Wearing Trowsers—Robes, Caftans, and Peaked Shoes—Rainbow Colors—How they Dress their Hair—Crowned with Coins—A Walking Jewelry Shop—The Pretty Egyptienne Orange Girl—Street Costume—Paris Fashions in the Khedive’s Ilarem—Beauties Riding Donkeys Man Fashion—How they Go Shopping—Animated Bales of Dry Goods—Black Eyes in a Bundle of Silks—Marriage Brokers—How they Dispose of their Daughters in the East—A Turkish Courtship—A Donkey Driver Gives an Opinion—The Wedding and the Honeymoon—Divorces in Egypt—An Easy Process—Many-Wived Men.
THE Mohammedan religion allows four wives to each masculine believer, but there is no limit to his number of brevet or spiritual wives. Twenty-five years ago every well-to-do Turk considered it necessary for him to have the legal complement in the matrimonial line, and he was not up to the social high water mark unless he had a well-stocked harem. But the West and its customs have invaded domestic, as they have invaded commercial life Many respectable Turks have adopted monogamous habits, and live happily with one wife. True, they may have a liberal number of slaves in their harems, and these slaves may be pretty and attractive to an extent not approved by the lady of the house.