SOME THINGS THAT MATTER--TO THE ARAB
There are three kinds of _noblesse_ among the Arabs: there is the
aristocrat class, the _noblesse de race_, descended, so they think, from
Fatma, the daughter of the Prophet; the _noblesse militaire_,
descendants of the Arab conquerors, of which Mohammed and his family are
also descended; and finally the _noblesse réligieuse_, a hereditary
_noblesse_ like the preceding, but a distinction that can only be
acquired by meritorious performance of a religious duty.
The tribes each have a head known as a _Caïd_, and each tribe is divided
into smaller tribes and factions who obey implicitly the sub-head or
_Cheikh_ (sheik). The head of a _douar_,--a group of tents,--if the
collection is not great enough to have a presiding Sheik, is a sort of
committee, like the bodies of selectmen of a New England village.
Over and above all _indigène_ control, the French administration is the
real head of the Arabs in Algeria, and the Tunisian French
_fonctionnaires_ hold the same powers in Tunisia.
The Arab or Kabyle chiefs in Algeria are merely the agents for the
execution of the government's laws, civil or military, and in Tunisia
the laws for each province (_outhan_) are made known to the _Caïd_ by
the authorities, and it is he who is held responsible for their
observance. As for punishment for a crime committed,--for they are not
all plaster saints,--the Arabs would much prefer the old Turkish
_bastinado_ to a sentence behind prison walls or a fine in money, sheep
or goats. Does civilization civilize?
The Arabs are full of wise saws mostly adopted from the Koran, or from
the Apocryphal books of the Prophet. They have a saying which might well
be put into a motto suitable for the creed of any man:--
"_El-Khams_, _El-Miter_, _El-Ansab_ and _El-Aglane_ are the inventions
of the devil."
_El-Khams_ is worry; _El-Miter_ is gambling; _El-Ansab_ are the stones
or thorns in one's road; and _El-Aglane_ is the argument by sword
instead of by reason. The following might well be printed in Gothic
script and hung in our own "dens" and boudoirs along with Stevenson's
"Prayer."
"_When a woman says to her husband, I have never received a single
benefit from you, all the good acts she may have done lose their
value._"
"_God detests those who show pride before their companions._"
"_Go a mile to visit a sick man, two miles to reconcile a pair of
quarrellers and three miles to see a holy man._"
"_When you think of the faults of your neighbours, think also of your
own._"
"_He who salutes thee first is free from pride._"
"_God hates dirtiness and disorder._"
With respect to this last, the Arab performs his ablutions with great
regularity and devotion, but by contrast, curiously enough, enshrouds
himself frequently in dirty, verminous rags.
The most detested sequence of events that can happen to an Arab are
ranked as follows:--
I. The drunkenness which makes a fool of a man.
II. The sleep which dissipates the drunkenness.
III. And the chagrin which destroys the sleep.
The emotion has been felt by others, who cannot slip on and off the
_peau de chagrin_ as did Balzac's hero.
The Arabs explain their abstention from wine by an act of the Prophet
forbidding its use.
One day the Prophet saw, in passing, a group of young men who were
making free and drinking of wine. He blessed them, saying, "Drink at
your ease, you have the benediction of God." At the end of a brief
interval the Prophet, passing that way again, saw them disputing among
themselves, and learned that one had been killed. Thereupon he vowed
upon their heads that "wine was a curse upon them, and that not one who
was given to it should hope to enter Heaven."
Among the Arab _indigènes_ to-day, one remarks an almost total
abstention from the "wine when it is red." Contrariwise they may
frequently be seen drinking white wine, and indeed they have a great
fondness for champagne,--but they are not particular about the brand,
the label on the bottle means nothing to them, so long as it is a gaudy
one, and so, like many Americans, they drink something which they think
is champagne, and is just as "heady."
Arab hospitality is famous, their very manner of life, even to-day, as
in olden times, makes it a sort of compulsory tenet of their creed.
"Ida andek ktir, ati men mulek.
Ida andek glil, ati men galbeck."
"If you have much, give of your best.
`If you have little, give from the heart."
Never ask an Arab his age; you will be disappointed if you do. The Arabs
have no civil register and generally ignore their exact age, frequently
reckoning only by some great event which may have happened within their
memories, like the "Uncle Toms" and "Old Mammies" of "way down Souf."
With such a rule-of-thumb reckoning, you are likely to remain as much in
the dark as before.
It is a belief among the Arabs that they can carry on a conversation
with animals. Not all amongst them are thus accomplished, but the speech
of animals, they say, can be learned, and many of their head men know
it. They share this belief with other Orientals; but there is no proof
that they have learned their lessons as well as did Garner in his
attempts to acquire "monkey talk." The Arabs, too, are superstitious.
They believe in the evil eye, and they object most decidedly and
vociferously if you point your finger at them; also, they wear charms
and amulets against disease and disaster.
They used to object to the camera man and the artist, but to-day, since
they have come to learn that you carry away with you no actual part of
themselves, only an impression, their attitude has changed.
The Arab warrior must have ten qualities, or he is _déclassé_ in the
favour of all other Arabs.
I. The courage of a cock.
II. The painstaking of a chicken.
III. The heart of a lion.
IV. The brusqueness of a wild boar.
V. The tricks of a fox.
VI. The prudence of a hedgehog.
VII. The swiftness of a wolf.
VIII. The resignation of a dog.
IX. The hand always open.
X. The sword always drawn, and one sole speech for friend or foe.
The Arab warrior, save as he now serves France, has disappeared, but his
precepts were good ones for a soldier.
The Arabs' regard for womankind has often been misunderstood and
misstated. Not all Mussulmans have the same noble regard for womankind.
The Turk and the Persian is notably a tyrant in his home; and, among the
Arabs, the Bedouin is frequently a brute towards his wives and
daughters; but the conventional _Arab-Berberisé_ is quite compassionate
and liberal in his views and treatment of the female members of his
family.
"_Auprès de Dieu, le maître du monde, une fille vaut un garçon._"
Thus say the Arabs, but in practice it's all the other way. The boy
stays with the family and adds his strength and talents to his father's
tribe; but the daughter, arriving at the marrying age, which comes early
with the Arabs, leaves not only her family, but the ancestral _douar_ or
community, perhaps even the tribe, and goes where her new master
pleases.
In a word, the boy is another sword or brain for his family's interests,
whilst the daughter goes to augment those who may, perhaps, at some
future time, be enemies of her parents.
From this one judges that with the Arabs, as with many other exotic
nations, the birth of a son brings real joy to the parental roof-tree;
but that of a girl merely a lukewarm expression of gratification, or
perhaps nothing
[Illustration]
more than a disappointed resignation. If it is a boy that is new-born,
the parents are congratulated with: "God has made you a good gift!" If
it is a girl: "May you be as happy as possible!" is considered as all
that is needful, a sort of commiserating congratulation this, and the
father perforce responds ordinarily: "_Zaddat di nââla!_" ("It is my
sorrow.")
Once the child is born, the sex determined, the "rejoicings," properly
called, do not differ in one case from the other, for the Arab believes
profoundly in Mohammed's diction--"These are the innocents and the _Fête
des Anges_ must be the same in each case."
Seven days after the birth, the baby daughter's _Fête de Naîssance_
takes place in presence of the Caïd, the marabout, parents and friends.
The women cry and sob joyfully, and dance with the abandon of a dervish,
and the screech and roll of the _guellal_ and the flute make things
hideous for one who has no special responsibility bound up in the event.
The men, too, give themselves over to the dance quite as vigorously and
quite as gracefully as do the women, and a feast--all birth and wedding
celebrations end with a feast--terminates the great event so far as a
general participation goes. The eternal _couscous_ is the _pièce de
résistance_, with dates, raisins, figs, honey, butter and milk in
addition.
For a choice of names for their little daughter, the Arab parents,
almost without exception, choose one of the following:--
Aicha (the life)
Aatika
Badia
Djohar (the pearl)
Fathma
Fatima (diminutive)
Halima (the gentle)
Kheddouma
Khedidja
Kreira (the best)
Kheroufa
Kadra (the blossom)
Kneltoum
Meryem (Marie)
Nedjma (the star)
Sofia (the pure)
Yamina (the prosperous)
Yetan
Zina (the belle)
Zinent
Zohra (the flower)
Sometimes the child is given the name of some female friend of the
family, who agrees to act as godmother through the early years of its
life, and is obliged to spend a relatively large sum of money in
supplying a baptismal present, as do godmothers the world over. The boy
under the same circumstances would probably have been named Mohammed or
Achmed and have done with it.
After the actual naming ceremony the great bracelet talismans are put on
the girl-child's arms, and a little later a similar decoration will be
given her for her neck. If the parents are rich their children are often
rudely sent away to be nourished and given strength beneath the shade of
some Saharan oasis, not too far away but that they can be visited once a
year. The nurse who guards the children in their desert home is called
the second mother, but she is a nurse pure and simple and bears no
relation to the godmother.
The child is carried pick-a-back by day, by one or another of its
mothers, clumsily swathed in a none too clean-looking woollen cloth
during the first few months, and at night is securely stowed away in a
fig-leaf basket which is hung from the tent poles, a cradle which is
soft, flexible and cheap.
In time light foods, such as the milk of goats, cows, or camels is given
the child, and as early as possible it is told or shown how to take a
bath--and made to take it whenever the idea enters the parents' heads.
For dress, the girl is clothed as becomes the station and wealth of her
parents; her ears are pierced in two or three places, but as no jewelry
is worn by infants the holes are kept open by silk cords.
The home life of these early years is very much _en famille_ among the
Arabs of the countryside, with horses, oxen, and cows as dwellers under
the same roof.
As soon as possible the child is taught to pray according to the
religion of its parents. Each prayer is preceded by an ablution. Truly
the Mohammedan religion is a cleanly and purifying one!
The practical education of an Arab girl commences when she is shown how
to cut and fit a burnous (nothing of the tailor-made or Paris mode about
this to make it difficult; any one who can handle a pair of scissors can
do the thing), to sew a tent-covering together, and the thousand and one
domestic accomplishments of women everywhere, not forgetting spinning
and weaving.
In the poorer families, those who live in mean, ragged tents, not the
"Great Tents," the child is most likely first set to doing the cooking.
At the age of fourteen or fifteen, she begins to "take notice" of the
youth of the other sex, meanwhile partaking of the fare of the family
board only when there are no strangers present. During visits to friends
and neighbours, or to the marabouts, or at fêtes given in her honour,
the young Arab girl of whatever social rank is closely chaperoned,
always accompanied by her mother. The
[Illustration: _The Life of the "Great Tents"_]
daughters of the "Great Tents" are veiled from their tenth year onwards,
only the poor remain with their visage uncovered. Music is a part of the
early education of the Arab girl. She learns to dance, _yatagan_ in
hand; and to play the _bendir_, a sort of Spanish _tambourin_, and the
_touiba_, a similar instrument, somewhat smaller and less sonorous.
At an early age, too, she learns the rudiments of the arts of coquetry.
She puts rouge (_zerkoun_) on her face, and blacks her eyelids with
_koheul_; and, finally, colours the tips of her toes and fingers a
coppery red with henna. She has her wrists and ankles tattooed in bands
or bracelets; and paints beauty spots, a star or a crude imitation of a
fly, on her cheeks or forehead. By this time she is thought to be a
ravishing beauty.
Even the poorest of Arab families guard their daughter's honour with the
greatest circumspection, never a doubtful word or phrase is uttered in
her presence. She is brought up in the greatest purity of atmosphere.
Should there be any doubts as to this, her spouse, even on the marriage
day, will send her back to her parents dressed in a white burnous--with
no thanks. Dishonour can be punished by death. The Cadi is the referee
in all matters of dispute or doubt of this nature, and his word is
final.
Among the wealthiest tribes the daughters are often promised in marriage
at the age of four or five, and frequently they marry between ten and
fifteen. Indeed they must marry at an early age or people say unkind
things about them. In the Sahara the rich marry three or four wives, the
poor one, rarely two. One may not marry but one wife in any one year.
The Arab proverbs concerning women are many and mostly complimentary.
"_The quarrelsome wife is for her spouse a heavy burden, but a happy
wife is as a crown of gold._"
The Arab poet says of his chosen type of female beauty:--
_Hair black as the feathers of the ostrich._
_Forehead wide and eyebrows thick and arched._
_Eyes black like a gazelle's._
_Nose straight and finely modelled._
_Cheeks like bouquets of roses._
_Mouth small and round._
_Teeth like pearls set in coral._
_Lips small and coloured like vermilion._
_Neck white and long._
_Shoulders broad._
_Hands and feet small._
_Manners agreeable._
_Laughter delicate._
"She must laugh soberly, must not gad about nor dispute with her husband
or neighbours, have a well-governed tongue, may rouge slightly, guard
well the house, and ever give good counsel."
The formula might well be any man's ideal; though the Arabs say when you
meet this paragon of a woman, you become crazy, and if she leaves you,
you will die. All of which may be true also! The ideal is one made up of
an appalling array of virtues.
An Arab tale tells of a warrior horseman, El Faad-ben-Mohammed, rich in
this world's goods and lands, who met a certain Oumya-bent-Abdallah, and
would marry her, so beautiful was she. He sent his emissary to her to
plead his cause, for he was timid in love, if brave in war.
The young girl asked what might be her wooer's position in life,
whereupon his friend replied: "He is a warrior; when the fight is at its
thickest, it is he who cleaves a passage through the ranks of the foe.
He is taciturn and sober and knows well how to take adversity." This
seems a good enough send-off for a proxy to give, but the maid would
have none of it. She said simply: "Go back to your friend. It is a lion
that you tell me of. He wants a lioness, not a woman. I would not suit."
The suitor for a young girl's hand among the Arabs often does make his
demand of her parents by proxy; and much bargaining and giving and
taking of concessions goes on, all without embarrassment to the swain.
It's not a bad plan! A contract follows, and finally legal sanction.
Every Mussulman marriage must have the consideration of the _dot_ as a
part of the legal agreement. The _dot_ may vary with the fortunes of the
girl's family, or with the condition of the suitor; and, in case of
divorce, this _dot_ must be returned to the unfortunate lady's parents,
not to her, whatever may be the cause.
The wedding trousseau of the young wife, that which she brings in the
way of clothes and jewelry, must comport with her former station in
life; but her _dot_, which may be in kind, not necessarily in money, may
be as great as the prospective husband can worm out of the girl's
parents. A rich Arab of the "Great Tents" whom we heard of at Jouggourt
gave up the following: Three camels, fifty sheep, eighteen skins, three
bolts of cotton cloth (made in Manchester--the "Manchester goods" of
commerce as it is known in the near and far East); a gun (a Remington
so-called, most likely made in Belgium), with brass and silver inlaid in
the stock; two pairs of silver rings for ankles and wrists; two buckles
for the _haïk_, a silken burnous, a silk sash, a string of coral beads
(made of celluloid at Birmingham), earrings, a mirror (of course) and a
red _haïk_, and a _melhafa_ or _haïk_ of cotton.
Among the desert tribes the women of all classes of society frequently
have their faces unveiled; but, as they approach the great trade-routes
and the cities, they closely enwrap the face so that only a pair of
glittering black eyes peep out. Without regard to class distinctions or
age all Arab women are passionately fond of jewelry of all kinds,
finger-rings, anklets, bracelets, chains, and brooches.
Repudiation, or divorce, is legal among the Arabs if accomplished in a
legal way, and is simply and expeditiously brought about. The following
is an account reported recently in an Algerian journal:--
El Batah had presented himself before the Cadi for the purpose of
"repudiating" his wife, "_une femme grande et forte, d'une éclatante
beauté_." "Well, what is it?" said the Cadi, scenting in the affair a
big fee, at least big for him. The Cadi was very much smitten by the
lady, it appears, though he did not know it, or at any rate admit it, at
the time.
"I come to complain of my wife, who has beaten me and nearly broken in
my head," said the poor man.
"It is true," echoed the woman, "but I did not mean to do it, I am
sorry; I ought not to be punished." (This doesn't seem logical, does
it?)
"Well, I shall '_repudiate_' her" said the man; "I will have none of
her."
"Return her _dot_, then, to her family," said the Cadi.
"Great Allah! It is impossible, it is four thousand _dirhems_, how can I
pay it?"
By this time the Cadi saw his fat fee vanishing, and his ardour for the
lady of the _striking_ beauty rising. He had just lost his fourth wife,
the Cadi, and there was a place in the ranks for another.
"If I will give you the sum," said he, "will you '_repudiate_' this
woman?"
"Yes, willingly," said the fellow.
"Well, here's your money," said the accommodating official.
No consideration of the women of North Africa ought to terminate without
a reference to the Mauresque, that gracious type found all through
Northwestern Africa, a product of the mixture of the races, an outcome
of civilization and the growth of the great cities of the seaboard. They
are usually named Fathma, Zohra, Aicha, Houria, Mami, Mimi, Roza,
Ourida, Kheira, etc.; and they leave the bed and board of their parents
usually between the ages of twelve and fourteen to be married, or for
other reasons. Practically all the world looks upon the Mauresques as
social outcasts. The class had become so numerous about the middle of
the nineteenth century that the hand of philanthropy was held out to
them to enable them to better their condition in life. They were given a
rudimentary book education, and were taught the art of Oriental
embroidery with all its extravagance of capricious arabesques and
threads of gold.
As for the other class of Mauresques, the _rikats_, those who have
become contaminated,--for not all are saved, nor ever will be,--one
recognizes them plainly as of the world worldly whenever they take their
walks abroad. The sad amusement of visiting mosques and cemeteries is
not _their_ sole pleasure, as it is that of the legitimate Arab wife, or
Mauresque, even though her spouse be wealthy.
The Mauresque _partner de convenance_ of a wealthy _indigène_ or
European may have her own horses and carriages, perhaps by this time
even her own automobile; and rolls off the kilometres in her daily
promenades on the fine suburban roads of Algiers, in company with the
_haute société_ of the city, and the thronging American, English and
German tourists from Mustapha. She even dines at the _cabarets_ of Saint
Eugène, Pointe Pescade or the Jardin d'Essai, and no one does more than
look askance at her. Algiers is very _mondaine_, and its morals as
varied as its population.
Even though the _rikat_ dresses after the European mode, there is no
mistaking her origin. Her great, snappy black eyes, livened and set off
by dashes of _koheul_, are fine to look upon; and her figure, as she
sits in her cabriolet or opera-box, is so well hidden that one does not
realize its cumbersomeness. At home she wears the seraglio "pantalon" of
the Arabian Nights, ankles bare and feet stuffed into _babouches_--which
an Indian or a plainsman would call moccasins. Over all is the _r'lila_,
a sort of cloak of gold-embroidered, silken stuff, very light and wavy.
It's not so graceful as the _kimona_ of the Japanese, but it's far more
picturesque and useful than the most ravishing tea-gown ever donned in
Fifth Avenue or Mayfair.
The Mussulman calendar is simple, and, except in the nomenclature of its
divisions, is not greatly different from our own. The Arab year has
twelve lunar months, making in all three hundred and fifty-four or three
hundred and fifty-five days.
Moharem 30 days
Safer 29 "
Rbia el ouel 30 "
Rbia el tani 29 "
Djoumad el ouela 30 "
Djoumad et tania 29 "
Rdjab 30 "
Châban 29 "
Ramdan 30 "
Choual 29 "
Dzou el Kada 30 "
Dzou el Hadja 29 or 30
----------
354 or 355
Seasons
Spring El rbia
Summer Es Saïf
Autumn El Kherif
Winter Ech Chta
The principal fêtes of the Arab are those of the Mussulman religion, the
same one observes in Bombay, Constantinople and Cairo.
Ras el âm 1 Moharem (first day of year)
El âchoura 10 Moharem (anniversary of the death of the
son of Sidi Ali bou Thâleb)
El Mouloud 12 Rbia el ouel (anniversary of the
birth of the Prophet)
Çiam 1 Ramdan
Aïd es srir
(or little Beïram) 1 Choual
Aïd el kbir
(or great Beïram) 10 Dzou el haja (in commemoration
of sacrifice of Abraham)
The following glossary of commonly met with Arab words is curious and
useful:--
Allah Dieu--God
Bab Porte or passage, gateway (as Bab Souika at Tunis)
Burnous A woollen cloak
Cadi A judge or notary
Caïd Sheik, chief
Calif or Khalif Chief, commander
Cheikh (Sheik) Chief of a community or douar
Coran (Koran) The Book of Islam
Couscous or Couscoussu (Kouskouss)
Derviche (Dervish) A member of a certain
sect of religious dancers
Divan The council-chamber of a Sultan or Bey
Djebel Mountain
Djinn Evil spirits, demon
Dof A square drum
Douar Group of tents, a community
Effendi Title of quality
Fakir A mendicant monk
Fellah Egyptian peasant
Ganoun (or Kanoun) Harp of 75 strings (seen at Alexandria and Tunis)
Goule Vampire
Goum Native soldiery from the South
Gourbi Hut or cabin
Hadji Pilgrim who has been to Mecca
Hammam Moorish or Turkish baths
Harem The place reserved for Mussulman women
Henne Henna for staining hair or body
Houri Celestial Virgin of Paradise
Imam The prayer leader
Islam The religion of the Prophet
Kabyles Berber mountaineers between Algiers and Tunis
Khalifa Chief of a religious community
Kheloua Cave, grotto
Kouba Chapel above the tomb of a saint
Lella Madame
Marabout A holy person or his tomb (mark the distinction;
one word for two entities)
Mehari A "high speed" dromedary
Moghreb Occident
Moghrabin Man of the Occident
Mosque Mussulman place of worship (in French Mosquée)
Narghileh Arab or Turkish pipe
Ouali Marabout
Oukil Guardian
Raïa Flag
Raïs Captain
Roumi Christians
Scheriff (or Cheriff) Descendants of the Prophet
Sidi Monsieur, sir
Simoun (Sirocco) The South wind of the Sahara
Spahi Native warrior horseman
Sultan Virtually King or Emperor
Sultani Gold money
Tarr or Tar Tabor drum
Teboul Tambourine
Zaouia Hermitage, chapel, school
Zerma Clarionet