It is a strange peculiarity of Moslem countries that a rich girl can find a husband more readily than can a poor one. I am sure such a thing was never heard of in England or America. The young man hears the report of the broker, and, if satisfied, he sends her again to the harem to state his prospects in life, and give a personal description of himself.
The broker is not particular to confine herself to facts, and indulges in that hyperbole for which the Orient is famed. Her client may be a very ordinary youth, with no property of consequence, and whom she has never seen three times in her life. She strikes an attitude before the maiden, and says:
“O, my daughter! he has heard of you, and his heart is heavy for love of you. He is handsome as the moon, and his eyes sparkle like the stars; he has a form and figure which all the world envy, and he has wealth surpassing all that Aladdin’s Lamp could bestow. He will buy the finest house in Cairo; you will be his thought by day and his dream by night, and his whole time will be devoted to loving and caressing you.”
It is customary for parents to obtain a daughter’s consent to a marriage, but this is not at all necessary, and very often is considered a mere trifle not worth regarding. Sometimes the father interferes when he discovers that the proposed husband is poor, or has a bad temper; any slight objection of this sort makes pater familias whimsical, and serves as a stumbling block. He frequently insists that a younger daughter shall not be married before an elder one, and sometimes the broker describes a young and charming maiden to the anxious youth while she negotiates the match for her elder and less attractive sister. If he subsequently complains, she assures him that it is all in the family, and says he can imagine that he has wedded the beauty by wedding her sister.
Among the middle and upper classes the man never sees the face of his bride until the marriage ceremony is concluded. This excellent custom greatly facilitates business, as it does away with any absurd notion he may have about beauty.
When the preliminaries are settled, the bridegroom calls upon the girl’s “Wekeel,” or deputy, and concludes the contract. This deputy is her nearest male relative, or her guardian, and his special duty is to fix the terms of the dowry which the husband is to pay. This varies according to the wealth and position of the parties; the least sum allowed by law is equal to about five English shillings, and this is indispensable.
Among respectable tradesmen and people of the middle classes, fifty or seventy-five dollars will suffice, and there is almost always a great deal of haggling before the amount of the dowry is fixed. From the necessity of paying something to the bride’s family, the youths not unnaturally speak of marriage as “buying a wife.” A donkey-driver whom I employed occasionally in Cairo, used to discourse upon the matter as follows: