CUSTOMS
As I said before, the position of Arab women in Tunisia is so different
from that which they hold in Europe that it is difficult for the two
races ever to understand one another. A wife must not speak to her
husband in the presence of her parents or of his. In referring to him in
conversation she must not mention his name, but use a roundabout method
in speaking of him, such as “the master of the house” or “the father of
my children.” She may not eat or drink in his presence. Usually he takes
his meals with his sons, waited upon by the women folk, who take their
food later by themselves.
Amongst poor people the wife’s lot is a harsh one as all the work falls
upon her, it being below the dignity of her husband to help her in any
way. One often meets a countryman on a small donkey ambling along the
road, his feet almost trailing in the dust, whilst his docile wife runs
behind laden with the family baby and various belongings. Of course it
may be that he knows exercise to be good for her health, but if that is
the case, he does not try the recipe himself.
The rôle of wife is evidently a precarious one. At any moment she may be
repudiated by her husband and for the most trifling causes. Should he
wish to have the repudiation pronounced by the Kaïd, it is easy to find
some pretext. Wishing to insult his wife outrageously, he compares her to
the back of a person he cannot marry, saying for instance: “You are no
more to me than the back of my aunt.” To the European mind this does not
seem a very injurious remark, especially if the aunt is a handsome woman;
but it is enough to send the wife in tears to the nearest Kaïd. She must
wait four months to give her irate husband time to repent and to do the
prescribed penance of fasting two months or feeding sixty poor persons.
In that case his offence would be washed out. But one quite understands
that it is a good deal easier for him to go on with the repudiation. He
probably has been on short commons since his unfortunate remark, for an
aggrieved wife is not careful over her cooking, and he does not therefore
relish the prospect of a two months’ real fast. On the other hand sixty
poor persons would probably have voracious appetites. So it comes cheaper
to lose his wife. One can imagine many a mild-mannered man being driven
into this position.
To do Mohammed justice, he endeavoured to improve the lot of wives, and
laid down that the sum paid for one on marriage should be settled upon
her. But there is a difference between law and custom, and the old
custom still prevails by which the father receives the money.
The head of the family holds a very important position in a Mussulman
household, and is treated with great deference by his children. A well
brought up son never enters a house in which his father is without
asking his permission, nor does he smoke in his presence or speak to him
till addressed. Adoption is much practised in Tunisia, and the adopted
children are treated in the same way and hold the same rights as the real
ones.
A man must never speak to any woman in the street even though she be
his own wife or mother. He must even feign not to see these last. It is
one of the things that strikes one most on first visiting a Mohammedan
country. You never see men and women talking or walking together. The men
walk with each other, whilst the few women you see scutter about in twos
and threes, closely veiled. If in the company of a husband or father they
follow behind.
The Arab is very punctilious as to manners; his courtesy is remarkable,
and there are fine gradations of salutation which it takes some time
for the stranger to grasp. Should a younger man meet an acquaintance
older than himself, he bows with his right hand on his heart. The elder
responds in the same way. A child greets his master by taking his hand
and kissing it, and then placing it against his own forehead. This
same form of obeisance was paid me by women of the poorer classes. An
inferior kisses the turban of the superior. Two people of equal rank kiss
each other’s shoulders, whilst relatives meeting after a long absence
kiss each other on the lips. Women embrace each other repeatedly when
meeting.
No business can be conducted quickly; before approaching the real subject
the weather must be commented upon, the health of the other enquired
into, and that of his wife under the ambiguous title of his “house”
or his “family.” Compliments must pass and a thousand and one polite
formulas. To plunge into the matter in hand shows ill breeding of the
worst description.
I was sketching one morning from the office of a lawyer in an oasis
village, so had ample scope for watching professional etiquette. He
was sitting cross-legged on the floor in flowing robes, his stock of
small inkbottles, pens and other awesome implements of his trade ranged
carefully on the clean matting round him, whilst he was laboriously
writing some document from right to left. A yellow jonquil stuck behind
his left ear seemed to me to bring a perilously burlesque note into the
legal atmosphere, but I found it taken as a matter of course.
When I asked permission to sit in the doorway of his office, it was given
most graciously and he forthwith sent out for a tiny cup of black coffee
which he begged me to accept. I felt it would be delightful to become a
client under these conditions. Why do not the denizens of Lincoln’s Inn
offer us scented coffee, and wear flowers behind their ears? It would
render the making of a will a pleasant interlude and do much to cheer
a drooping bankrupt. If a yellow jonquil proved a little voyant for a
London complexion, a white one could be substituted, and how pleasant the
flower-bed in the early morning train up to town!
Whilst I was there a young man appeared in company of three or four
friends, and after removing their shoes they were shown into the office
with great ceremony. There they all squatted down on the far side of the
ink bottles, and coffee was at once sent for and handed round. Grave
compliments passed backwards and forwards, and the client praised the
well-known acumen and mental gifts of the lawyer, who in gracefully
denying any special talent, dislodged the jonquil which fell with a flop
to the floor. Picking it up he absentmindedly tucked it in again, this
time over his right ear, and the conversation was resumed. The state of
the crops was discussed, the probability under the blessing of Allah of
a good harvest, talk of an extension of the railway, etc. I left half an
hour later, wondering whether the young man had called about the renting
of a piece of agricultural land, but heard later that he was about to
sue a neighbour for debt. Doubtless the real reason of his interview was
reached by the afternoon.
[Illustration: Village Scene
I. M. D.]
In Tunis itself the women veil themselves in a particularly ugly way.
They bind two thick pieces of black stuff across their faces, leaving
only a slit for the eyes free. In their voluminous white draperies, and
with the white head covering, this gives a most uncanny appearance. They
look some dreadful kind of grub. Below the full skirts can be caught a
glimpse of stockinged ankles and heelless slippers surmounted by silver
bangles.
They may only unveil before their husbands, fathers and very near male
relations. The Koran has a deep distrust of feminine charms. “As soon as
a man seeth the eyes of a woman he is running into danger. For the glance
of a woman is as an arrow without bow or cord.” And again “How often do
the looks cast upon women return to do harm to those who sent them.”
In this leisurely land it is considered bad form to hurry, this being one
of the signs by which those possessed of devils can be readily detected.
Since the opening of tourist agencies, there has been a great influx of
these latter into the country.
With that care for hygiene so noticeable in ancient religions, there are
countless observances of cleanliness imposed upon the faithful. Hands
must be washed after a meal, and the face as well before prayer. If water
is not available then fine sand may take its place. Five prayers must be
said daily: in the morning, just before sunrise, at midday, during the
afternoon, at sunset, and an hour and a half after the going down of the
same. The call to prayer can be heard at these stated times, and it is
curiously impressive to wake just as dawn is about to break, and to hear
the long drawn-out wail of the muezzin from the minaret in the silence of
the night.
Contact with Western civilisation is loosening the hold of their religion
upon the people of Tunisia, and the change is probably not for the
better. A devout follower of the law of the Prophet is an upright man,
but in the slackening of his faith he is apt to acquire only the vices of
the European and is in danger of losing his own religion and being left
with nothing to take its place.
There are religious schools as well as the Government ones where French
is taught, and many boys attend both. In walking through the narrow
streets one often hears the drone of small voices, and sees a neat row of
little slippers outside a doorway. On going inside, one finds a master
intoning the Koran, each phrase of it being repeated interminably by
the scholars sitting cross-legged on the matting and rocking themselves
backwards and forwards. Each pupil is provided with a board painted white
on which the text is written, and when at last all the scholars know it
by heart it is washed out, and a fresh one inscribed and taught.
In one tiny village on the edge of the Sahara the school was being held
in the courtyard of the minaret, up which I had gone to see the view. The
master was intoning the Koran in an inner room, whilst the class of small
boys followed it with the correct prostrations outside, facing a sort of
recess in the wall which indicated the direction of Mecca. They withstood
the intense temptation to stare at a stranger, and went on solemnly
with their devotions, whilst I took a snapshot from behind them, quite
unperceived.
Service is held in the mosques on Fridays, the prayers being led by a
kind of priest called the ‘iman.’ Women are not allowed to take part in
public worship. Friday is always a busy and crowded day in the Souks, as
it is then that the countrymen come in from the outlying districts to
attend service.
Charity is strictly enjoined on the faithful, and apparently no one
need ever starve in Tunis. He has but to sit in the gutter and call for
alms in the name of Allah, and he will be supported, even if meagrely,
for life. Every mosque possesses its clientèle of beggars who reap a
livelihood from the worshippers. Fasts are also observed, and the big
fast of the year is that of Ramadan, which lasts for a month, during
which time not a morsel of food nor a drop of liquid may be taken between
sunrise and sunset. When Ramadan falls in the hot weather, the pious
undergo real sufferings from thirst.
Wine is forbidden to a Moslem, but this prohibition is now often set
aside, especially amongst the younger generation. Probably the drinking
of coffee took its place, for the Arab swallows innumerable tiny cups of
it during the day.
The Tunisian café in a small town or village is a pleasant place. The
customers sip their coffee in a leisurely way, sitting in the sunshine,
and discussing the news of the day. Many play dominoes or chess, and
sometimes strolling musicians, snake-charmers or professional story
tellers collect a group round them. The teller of tales is a very popular
personage, and is always sure of a large audience, and now and again one
comes across the impromptu bard who weaves his chant as he goes along,
introducing apt stanzas about each giver of a coin, to the delight of the
crowd.
Life is leisurely. No one is in a hurry, the day is long. Why trouble to
do to-day what may as well be left till to-morrow? There is none of the
feverish activity and restlessness of modern civilisation. “About each
man’s neck hath Allah hung his fate,” and therefore it is useless to try
to avert it. Interminable discussions are carried on over the coffee
cups, and as in village-life all the world over, a neighbour’s affairs
are of only secondary importance to one’s own. The fierce light that
beats upon a throne is but a taper to the penetrating beam focussed upon
every household in a small community.
They are an attractive race, and the poorer classes seem to have the
virtues and faults of children. They require constant supervision at
their work and plenty of the syrup of praise when they do well, and like
children they are quick to see and take advantage of any weakness in
an employer. George Washington would have found himself lonely indeed
amongst them, for they cannot speak the truth. They lie as a matter of
course and often most inartistically. A servant will deny that he has
been smoking, even with the half-consumed cigarette between his fingers.
When it is pointed out to him he professes extreme astonishment and
declares that Allah must surely have placed it there. It is difficult to
receive such an excuse with calm. They are said to be untrustworthy, but
I was not in the country long enough to be able to judge of this. Their
dignity is admirable, they are gentle, charitable to the poor and treat
the aged with reverence. They love flowers, scent, the shade of trees and
the sound of running water. Missionaries say the children are very quick
and intelligent up to the age of thirteen or fourteen when their minds
seem to cease developing. If they make some impression on the girls when
young, the influence of fathers and husbands tends quickly to destroy it.
Education is looked on far more favourably than it was, however, and even
the daughters of a family are now sometimes allowed to attend school,
especially in the towns.
There are two opposing opinions as to the people of Tunisia. One side
holds that they are a played-out race, of whom no further development
can be expected. The other declares that their evolution was arrested by
the triumph of Mohammedanism, that in earlier days there were brilliant
intellects amongst them and that there is every possibility of an
awakening of their slumbering mentality. The French scientist Saint Paul
is of this latter belief. He was for years in the country living amongst
the people and penetrating to their houses in his character of doctor,
and in his book _Souvenirs de Tunisie_ published in 1909 he made an
exhaustive study of their psychology and testified warmly to their good
qualities and intelligence.