The Egyptians are a race different both from the dark-skinned people
of Africa and from Europeans. They have olive skins, very dark,
almond-shaped eyes, and dark, straight hair. Most of the men shave
their heads, and wear a turban or tarboosh as a covering. The women
fasten a veil below their eyes, which falls over the lower part of
their face. Both the men and the women wear several loose garments,
which cover the whole body from the neck to the feet. All except the
very poor wear shoes.
In the towns there are a great many people, some very rich and others
very poor. Often a city looks very beautiful, because the houses are
built of white or light-coloured stone or brick. But they are close
together, and the streets are very narrow and dirty, and so the poor
people are often ill. The houses are built in "storeys," one room on
the top of another, with steps leading to the upper rooms. Often
there is a courtyard in the middle of the house, so that all the rooms
can have windows and light. One part of the house is separated from
the rest for the women to use. This is called the "hareem," and no
man, except the master of the house, is allowed to go into it. All
rich Mohammedans have a separate part of their house for the women. A
poor woman in all countries has plenty of work to do, but a rich lady
in Egypt has many servants, or slaves, to do the work, and, as she is
kept shut up in the "hareem" from the time she is ten or eleven years
old, she can learn very little, except how to do beautiful needlework.
She cannot help her husband and her sons to be wise and good, because
she does not know enough about life and work outside the "hareem." So
the Egyptian ladies have little to do and little to think about all
the day while their husbands are away, and they are often very dull.
But the town-people love their children very much, and Egyptian
children are taught always to love, honour, and obey their father and
mother. An Egyptian man may have four wives, but generally he has
only one.
Until a few years ago, all Egyptians who had enough money used to buy
slaves to do their work. Slaves could be bought or sold, or married
or given away, as if they were things instead of people. Masters
could illtreat or even kill their slaves and not be punished, because
it was only as if they had broken their water-jar in a temper, and
that was no one else's business. Often slaves were happy if they had
good masters, but it is a bad custom to take away a person's freedom
and treat him as if he had no soul. During the last few years many
Europeans have been helping the Egyptians to improve their country,
and one of the changes has been to do away gradually with slavery. No
one is now allowed to buy a slave, and anyone born in slavery can
become free if he wishes to do so. Instead of slaves, people now have
servants who receive wages for their work. These are free to leave
their master if he does not treat them well. Although slavery is
dying out of Egypt, there are other parts of North Africa where the
old bad customs still exist, though the great European nations try to
prevent the public markets for slaves being held. People are happiest
in countries where there are no slaves and everyone is free to do the
work for which he is best fitted.
In Egyptian households where there is more than one wife there is
often quarrelling. The wives of one man all live in one "hareem," and
cannot help being jealous if they see their husband likes one better
than another. Then there is quarrelling and ill-will among them. As
the children grow up there is a further cause for jealousy, because
the mothers of boys are more important than those who have only
girl-children. Children cannot respect their mothers if they often
see them quarrelling and jealous. Again, there is always a
possibility that a husband may divorce his wife. He is not likely to
do so if she has a boy-baby, but until she has, her position as a wife
is not very secure. These bad marriage customs lead to much
unhappiness, and prevent the women of Egypt from doing so much good as
the women of some other lands are able to do. We must not, of course,
think that all Egyptian homes are unhappy; probably many poor women
are quite glad when their husband brings another wife to help with the
work. But where servants do the work, there are only the pleasures of
the home to be shared, and then jealousy will be likely to come.