country, and of course have more freedom than the Mohammedans. They
seldom if ever go into the public streets without veils; but at
home they eat and drink with their husbands, and are introduced to
their guests. Even the wealthiest personally assist in the domestic
occupations of the family, and hand refreshments and embroidered
handkerchiefs to their visiters. The Syrian women are said to be
generally distinguished by the peculiar beauty of their hands and arms.
A great number of slaves, of all colors and shades, are sold in Egypt;
and these scenes are characterized by all the brutal and disgusting
particulars which must necessarily everywhere attend the sale of human
beings. When the French army left Egypt, shameful transactions were
witnessed upon the quay at Rosetta. The French were busily employed in
selling to the British troops the women who had lived with them during
their stay in the country. Several of the English soldiers bought very
pretty girls for one dollar each. These scenes occurred between two
_Christian_ nations!
There are public dancers in Egypt, of a character similar to those in
India, but said to have less skill and grace. One of their most common
dances at weddings, and other entertainments, is very similar to the
Spanish fandango, but abundantly more indelicate.
After three o’clock in the day the women have the public baths to
themselves; and here, as in Turkey, they are a favorite place of
resort. Those Egyptians who have not private baths, often hire one of
the public ones for an entire day, and indulge themselves in the luxury
of taking with them their dinners, women, dancers, and story-tellers.
With regard to a change of garments, the Egyptians are very uncleanly.
The marriage ceremonies are like those of Turkey.
The Egyptian women often wear amber or glass beads on the right wrist,
and the left is almost always encircled with a brass twist. Sometimes
they have bracelets above the elbow, with rings on the fingers and
thumb.
As you go south, the swarthy complexion of the people becomes darker.
In Upper Egypt (the site of ancient Egypt) the inhabitants are quite
black. The women are tall, slim, erect, and generally well formed.
They have very perfect teeth; but the mouth is distorted by the custom
of making the under lip project, and coloring it blue. Their hair
generally hangs in braids all round the head, those on the forehead
being shorter. Their dress, ornaments, and occupations, are similar
to those in other parts of Egypt, excepting that they do not wear
veils. They are very modest, but have such simplicity of manners, that
they nurse their babes before travellers without any consciousness of
impropriety. Their dances are rapid and vigorous, mixed with undulating
motions, as they from time to time bend towards their partners. Both
sexes are extremely fond of this amusement, and their performances are
said to be far from ungraceful.
In some remote and poor villages of Egypt the people are more
barbarous; the women grease their hair, wear rings in their nostrils,
and strips of black leather for bracelets.
* * * * *
While Tyre was in its greatest prosperity, the capital of wealthy and
proud Phœnicia, Pygmalion, the king, had a sister Eliza, generally
known by the name of Dido. She married one of her royal relatives,
named Sichæus, whom her brother put to death, in order to obtain
possession of his immense fortune. Dido privately eloped with the most
valuable of her husband’s effects, and after many disasters arrived at
the northern part of Africa, near the place where Tunis now stands.
Here she settled a colony, and built a city, called Carthage, which in
the Phœnician language signified the New City. What Virgil relates of
this queen is a fiction. She is supposed to have lived at least two
hundred years before Æneas. Having bound herself by a solemn oath never
to marry a second husband, she refused the offers of Jarbas, king of
Getulia, who threatened to make war upon her colony, if she persisted
in her resolution. Regarding her vow as sacred, and being unwilling
to bring trouble upon her subjects, she caused a funeral pile to be
kindled, into which she leaped and died.
History gives no information concerning the treatment of females in
Carthagenia: a nation which owed its existence to a woman, who during
her lifetime governed them with wisdom, and died to avoid involving
them in danger, certainly ought to have regarded them with respect and
tenderness. This is in some degree implied by the fact that when Tyre
was besieged by Alexander, the Carthagenians, unable to assist them
because they themselves were at war, offered to receive all the Tyrian
women and children within their walls.
The conduct of Carthagenian women, during the invasion of Scipio,
proves that they could not have been in a very degraded state. They not
only freely gave all their jewels for the public service, but they
labored hard in erecting fortifications, and both maidens and matrons
shaved their heads, that their hair might be used for cordage. And
when at last there was no alternative but to yield to the conqueror or
perish, the wife of Asdrubal, the Carthagenian general, reproached him
for his cowardice in supplicating mercy from the enemy, and seizing her
infant children, rushed into the flames of the temple of Esculapius,
which she herself had kindled.
* * * * *
The inhabitants of the Barbary states and the neighboring deserts are
descendants of the Arabs, known by the general name of Moors. Their
manner of building is nearly the same that has prevailed in Syrian and
Arabian cities from the earliest ages. Their houses have flat terraced
roofs, sheltered courts with fountains in the midst, large doors, and
spacious chambers. One small latticed window looks into the street;
the others open into the private court. The latticed window is for
the convenience of women on the occasion of great festivals. At such
times both the inside and outside of the houses are much adorned, and
the women show themselves in their best apparel. The same custom seems
to be alluded to in Scripture, where we are told that when Jehu came
to Jezreel, “Jezebel heard of it; and painted her face, and tired her
head, and looked out at a window.”
On the occasion of a wedding, or any other great domestic ceremony, the
company are received in the open court, which is strewed with mats and
carpets for their reception. In summer these courts are screened from
the sun by means of an awning drawn up with ropes, like the covering of
a tent. The large chambers are generally entirely separated; each wife
having her own apartment. Sometimes, when married children continue to
reside with their parents, one room serves for a whole family. At the
end of each chamber there is a little gallery raised a few feet above
the floor, with steps leading to it. Here they place their beds; a
custom which explains the Scripture phrases, “go up unto thy bed,” and
“come down from thy bed.”
The wealthy have their walls hung with velvet and damask of various
colors, the ceiling richly gilded, or painted in arabesques, and the
floor paved with painted tiles.
Linen, flax, figs, and raisins, are dried on the terraced roofs, which
are guarded by a balustrade, or lattice work. On these roofs they
likewise enjoy the cool breezes of evening, and when the weather is
very warm they sleep there.
The dwellings of the poor are constructed merely of palm branches,
plastered with mud and clay, which in case of a shower sometimes
dissolves and tumbles in pieces. The wandering tribes, called Arabs,
live in tents, and have habits similar to the Bedouins.
The hills and valleys about Algiers are ornamented with pretty gardens
and country-seats, where the wealthy inhabitants retire during the
summer season. These gardens are well stocked with vegetables and
fruit, and the rivulets afford an abundant supply of excellent water.
Young children go entirely without clothing. The women wear a long
wide robe, generally blue, without sleeves, and modestly high in the
neck. Another piece of cloth, usually of a different color, is thrown
over the shoulders, like a mantle. Some wear sandals, others European
slippers, either of red or yellow morocco. In passing over the hot
sands of the desert, they sometimes wear high wooden clogs, which raise
them several inches above the ground, similar to those used to protect
the feet on entering the hottest rooms of the eastern baths. The long
ample drawers worn by girls are of striped linen or silk, and sometimes
embroidered with divers colors. When women appear in public they muffle
themselves up in large mantles or blankets, called _hykes_, and veil
themselves so that nothing can be seen but their eyes. Like other
Arabs, they stain their eyebrows with powder of antimony, and sometimes
paint a spot on the forehead, the chin, and one cheek; a circle round
the eyes, in red or black, is likewise considered becoming. In the
country they often go abroad without being veiled; but if they see
a stranger approach they hastily screen their faces. Their hair is
generally long and intensely black. They plait it in several tresses,
and adorn it with ribbons, with glass, amber, or coral beads, and
sometimes with shells. Sometimes two of these tresses are tied over the
bosom, while the others fall over the shoulders, nearly to the ground;
at other times the braids are arranged in a very becoming manner on
the top of the head. The latter fashion forms a species of crown, over
which elderly women wrap a piece of blue or white cloth, which crosses
under the chin, and is tied behind. They may be often seen carrying on
their heads large leathern bags, containing clothes, provisions, &c.
The Moorish women have generally bright sparkling black eyes, and
handsome features. Those who are engaged in laborious occupations
become swarthy; but ladies secluded from the influence of the sun often
have delicate complexions. The higher classes in Tunis are particularly
spoken of as handsome in their persons and elegant in dress; they often
wear robes of the richest silk, adorned with gold buttons, lace, and
embroidery.
The Moorish ladies have generally a great passion for ornament. They
decorate their persons with heavy gold ear-rings; necklaces of amber,
coral, and gold; gold bracelets; gold chains and silver bells for the
ankles; rings on the fingers; silver cords around the head, with silver
rings hanging pendent to the shoulder; and around the waist, under
their garments, they wear ten or twelve strings of glass or crystal
beads, which jingle as they walk. The poorer class in Fezzan wear glass
beads around the head, and curl the hair in large ringlets, into which
they stuff a kind of paste made of lavender, cloves, pepper, mastich,
and laurel leaves mixed up with oil. Men are proud of having their
wives handsomely dressed, because it is an indication of their own
wealth and importance. Dr. Shaw says the Barbary women are so partial
to the small mirrors which they wear about their necks, that “they will
not lay them aside even when, after the drudgery of the day, they are
obliged to go two or three miles, with a pitcher or goat-skin, to fetch
water.”
The want of water in many places prevents them from washing their
garments so often as is necessary for cleanliness. They anoint
themselves with rancid butter, in order to keep off musquitoes and
other insects.
When engaged in the house at work, the Barbary matrons not only lay
aside their hykes and tunics, but even their drawers, wearing merely a
cloth wrapped around them.
The women weave a coarse kind of cloth for the tent-coverings, made of
goats’ or camels’ hair. It is woven in broad stripes, impervious to
the rain. One of their principal occupations is the manufacture of the
hykes or blankets, universally worn both by men and women. They have
no looms, or shuttles. The warp is fastened to a peg in the ground,
and the woof carried through with their fingers. They make butter in a
goat-skin exposed to the sun. The Barbary cows give very little milk,
but the sheep and goats are both useful for the purposes of the dairy.
When the women make cheese, they separate the curd from the whey with
the flowers of the great-headed thistle, or wild artichoke. The curds
are put into small baskets made of rushes, or dwarf-palm, bound up
close, and pressed. These cheeses seldom weigh more than two or three
pounds. In the morning, the children and slaves are sent out to tend
the cattle, and do not return until nightfall; the women in the mean
time are engaged in their numerous household occupations, and not
unfrequently work in the fields, and collect wood for cooking. When
the tribes find it necessary to travel, the slaves drive the cattle,
and the women take care of the dromedaries, while the men, mounted and
armed, form a van-guard to protect the troop. The wives and daughters
of the wealthy sit cross-legged on a small round concave saddle, placed
on the back of a dromedary, and generally screened from the sun by a
slight awning. The Barbary ox, a strong docile animal, with a large
hump above the shoulders, is likewise much used for riding.
The Moors are indolent to excess. They lie whole days upon their mats
sleeping and smoking, while the women and slaves perform all the labor.
Owing to their uncleanly habits, they are much infested with vermin;
and as they consider it beneath their own dignity to remove this
annoyance, the task is imposed upon the women. They are very impatient
and tyrannical, and for the slightest offence beat their wives most
cruelly. The women, far from thinking a sound drubbing any disgrace,
are rather disposed to regard it as a sign that their lords and masters
consider them of some importance; but they are extremely mortified if
the husband makes any complaint to relations. The Moors, like other
Mohammedans, regard women as a very inferior race, created to serve
them with unconditional submission. Wives are obliged to stand and
wait upon their husbands while they are eating, and must be content
with whatever food the men choose to leave. When a European expressed
his surprise at such customs, they answered, “Why should such inferior
creatures be allowed to eat and drink with us? If they commit faults,
why should they not be beaten? They were made to bring us children,
pound our rice, make our oil, and do our drudgery; these are the only
purposes to which their degraded natures are adapted.”
Precisely the same arguments for abusing the defenceless are urged by
Christian slave-owners! Among the Moors, masters and their Mohammedan
slaves eat together; but if the slave be a Christian, he must eat by
himself, and even the women and children will not touch the food he
leaves. Illiberal and barbarous as this custom appears to us, they
no doubt would regard as still more absurd the customs of the United
States, which render it an abomination for two people of different
complexions to eat at the same table. Their own superstitious
abhorrence is inculcated by the Mohammedan creed, which they regard as
sacred; but our prejudice is in direct opposition to the maxims of that
religion, which we profess to reverence. In this respect, we must yield
to the Algerine in point of sincerity and consistency.
Moorish daughters receive no portion of their father’s property, and
have no dowry at the time of their marriage. When a man dies, his
wife takes her young children and goes to live with her mother. The
daughters are dependent on their elder brother. If the children are
quite young, the chief of the tribe takes possession of the property,
until the boys are old enough to have it divided among them. If there
is no male child, the brother of the deceased is his heir.
The Moorish women, like the men, are exceedingly ignorant, covetous,
and gluttonous; but they are not, like them, universally licentious;
for they are taught that virtuous wives will become celestial beauties
in another world, while all who fail in this duty will be forever
annihilated. An unfaithful wife is punished with immediate death. A man
has as many wives and female slaves as he can maintain.
Although the inhabitants of Fezzan are Mohammedans, their women are
seen a great deal in public, and are remarkable for wanton manners.
Some of the customs of the Moors seem at variance with their habitual
contempt of women. The wives of chiefs are always appointed to conduct
negotiations for peace; and a feminine voice of entreaty will arrest
the uplifted scimetar just ready to fall on the head of an enemy. In
common with the Bedouins, they consider the female apartments as a
sanctuary, which protects even the murderer. In some tribes, where the
women never appear before the men, the criminal, if he gets within
hearing of their dwellings, calls out, “I am under the protection of
the harem!” The inmates, without showing themselves, cry aloud, “Fly
from him! Fly from him!” and even if the man were condemned to death by
the prince himself, he is from that moment free to go where he pleases.
It would be considered a great breach of politeness for a Moor to enter
his neighbor’s tent. If he wishes to see him, he calls him out; and the
wife, hearing his voice, immediately veils herself. It would likewise
be improper for a husband, when he entered the female apartments, to
recline upon the mat which his wife was accustomed to use.
The Mongearts are an agricultural tribe, less intelligent, and more
mild, than their neighbors. Their wives perform the greater part of the
labor, but are not treated with so much harshness as among the other
tribes. They have a simple method of preventing disputes when they
divide the spoils taken in war or hunting. They separate the booty into
as many lots as there are men; then each one puts some article into a
bag, which is well shaken up, and the first woman or child they see, is
called upon to take an article out of the bag, and lay it upon one of
the lots. Each one recognizes what he put into the bag, and is obliged
to rest satisfied with the lot on which it happens to be placed.
The Monselemines are said to be even more avaricious than other Moors.
Every thing with them is settled by money. Among the other tribes, if
a Mohammedan woman were known to have a Christian lover, she would be
killed, and the man must change his religion to avoid death; but the
Monselemines throw the woman into the sea, and allow the Christian to
atone for his crime with money. The _talbes_, or Moorish priests, take
as many wives as they can support. The women, as in other Mohammedan
countries, do not go to the mosques, but perform their devotions at
home, with their faces turned toward the east.
The Moors have extraordinary ideas concerning female beauty. They
fancy an oily skin, teeth projecting beyond the lips, pointed nails
an inch long, and a figure so corpulent, that two persons putting
their arms around the waist could scarcely make their fingers touch.
A woman of moderate pretensions to beauty needs a slave under each
arm to support her as she walks; and a perfect belle carries weight
enough to load a camel. Mothers are so anxious to have their daughters
attain this unwieldy size, that they make them eat a great quantity of
_kouskous_,[7] and drink several bowls of camel’s milk every day. Mungo
Park says he has seen a poor girl sit crying for more than an hour with
the bowl at her lips, while her mother stood over her with a stick, and
beat her whenever she perceived she was not swallowing.
Still there are some girls of fourteen or fifteen, who have what
Europeans would consider a very graceful shape, with a fine glow of
health flushing their brown cheeks. Their teeth are regular, and always
very white, owing to the constant practice of rubbing them with a
little stick of tamarind wood.
The Moors marry at a very early age. Wives are always purchased; and
the father of the girl cannot refuse an offer, unless there is some
stain upon the young man’s character. The bridal tent is adorned with a
small white flag, and the bridegroom’s brow is encircled with a fillet
of the same color. The bride is conducted to the tent by her parents,
where her lover presents her with garments and jewels, according to his
wealth. A grand entertainment is given, and the young women dance all
day to the sound of instruments, while the spectators regulate their
motions by clapping hands. These dances are not very decorous.
The next day the young wife is bathed by her female relations, who
braid her hair, stain her nails red, and put on a new dress. She visits
in the camp all day, and in the evening is conducted back to her
husband’s tent. If her father be destitute, his son-in-law generally
assists him with a willing heart; and if the bridegroom be poor, her
father does all he can to enable him to increase his flocks and herds.
If a wife does not become the mother of a boy, she may be divorced with
consent of the elders of the tribe, which is always granted; in this
case she is at liberty to marry again. The mother of many sons is held
in the highest respect, and is never suffered to perform any menial
office. If a woman is very unhappy with her husband, she goes back to
her parents; and though he may try to persuade her to live with him
again, he cannot compel her to do it. If she persist in her dislike,
she is even at liberty to marry another. But if she has a child,
especially if it be a boy, this permission is not granted; should she
stay with her parents more than eight days, under such circumstances,
she would be liable to be put to death. Women do not take the name of
their husbands, but always retain the one they received in infancy. The
birth of a son is attended with the greatest rejoicings. The mother,
by way of expressing her delight, blackens her face, for the space of
forty days. On the birth of a girl, she blackens only half her face,
for twenty days.
When a Moor sets out on a journey, his wife follows him about twenty
paces from the dwelling; she then throws after him the stone used to
drive the tent-pegs into the ground, and wherever it stops, she buries
it until his return.
The Moors, like their Arab brethren, are exceedingly hospitable. A
traveller is always sure of some refreshment, for his host would rather
go without food himself than refuse it to a guest. If the master be
absent, his wife, or slave, goes out to meet the stranger, asks him to
stop at twenty paces from the tent, brings milk for him to drink, sees
that his camels are unloaded, and furnishes him with mats and awnings
to erect a temporary shelter for himself. If the guest be a man of
rank, or one who has friends in the tribe, a sheep or an ox is killed
in honor of his arrival. The wife cooks the meat, separating the fat,
which is served up raw. The visiter’s share is placed on a small mat,
carried by a slave, but always handed to him by the master himself, if
he be at home.
The Moors plunder all travellers except those who are protected by the
sacred rites of hospitality. Even the law authorizes theft in the night
time; and on this account the women are very careful to convey into the
tents every article of property before dark.
One of the greatest pleasures of Moorish women consists in visiting
each other. Politeness requires that the guest should dress the
provisions, make the butter, and cook the dinner, while her hostess
entertains her with details of family affairs, and all the scandal and
gossip of the tribe. On these occasions an unusual quantity of food is
provided, and the master invites his neighbors to the repast. The more
cooking the visiter has to do, the more she feels honored.
At funerals, the women howl and lament; a practice they continue at
intervals, from the moment of decease till they return from the grave
where their relative or friend has been deposited.
The Moors continually go out on predatory excursions to seize the
negroes for slaves, to supply the insatiable market produced by
_Christian_ pride and avarice. Sometimes they lie in ambush round a
village for days together, and when the helpless women and children
come to the springs to get water, they seize them and carry them off.
They place their captives behind them on horseback, holding one of
their fingers between their teeth, ready to bite it off, if they give
the least alarm.