is in England--the representation of some episode, generally of love.
Formerly there was, near Cairo, a little village called Shaarah, the
Eleusis of modern Egypt, where the mystical rites of Athor were,
until recently, celebrated. It was a collection of small mud huts,
distinguished from those of the common people by superior cleanliness
and comfort. Numbers of the Ghawazee dwelt here, and when Mr. J. A.
St. John visited their abode, came out to meet him, dressed in elegant
attire, with a profusion of ornaments. All were young--none were more
than twenty, many not more than ten years of age. Some were exceedingly
handsome, while others, to an European judge, appeared quite the
reverse. In this village lived a considerable number of the Ghawazee.
The greater part of their lives was passed in the coffee-house,
where they lounged all day on cushions, sipping coffee, singing, and
indulging in licentious conversation. In the great room a hundred might
assemble, and here they were visited by the profligates of Cairo, to
whom the village of Shaarah was a regular place of resort. In the
towns they frequented the common coffee-houses, and in the smaller
hamlets up the valley, they wandered all day among the dwellings,
or reclined on benches in the open air until a boat with travellers
appeared on the Nile, when they immediately hurried down to the shore
and commenced their lascivious songs. The Arabs have the reputation of
being extremely profligate, and when on their journeys never visited a
city or village without paying a visit to the Ghawazee quarter. Indeed,
the manners of the population have been debased under every vicious
influence. A despotic government, an epicurean religion, and the spirit
of indolence thus engendered, have encouraged among the men every
species of crime against nature. The corruption which brought a curse
on the Cities of the Plain is emulated in the cities of Egypt.
When Burckhardt wrote, about 1830, the number of males and females of
the Ghawazee nation in Egypt was estimated at from 6000 to 8000. Their
principal settlements were in the towns of the Delta in Lower Egypt,
and, in the Upper country, at Kenneh, where a colony of at least 300
generally resided. The scattered companies generally formed a great
concourse at Tanta, in the Delta, at the three annual festivals, when
a vast multitude was collected from all parts of the valley. Six
hundred Ghawazee have on such occasions pitched their tents near the
town. During the reign of the Memlooks, the influence of these women
was, in the open country, very considerable. Many respectable persons
courted their favour. They were accustomed to dwell in the towns until
the brutality of the soldiers--who sometimes killed one in a fit of
jealousy--drove them into the rural parts. At each of their chief
places of sojourn one was invested with the title of Emir, or chief
of the settlement. She was entitled to no authority over the rest,
yet exercised much influence by virtue of her dignity. In Cairo itself
their number was small, and they inhabited a spacious Khan, or hotel,
overlooked by the castle. “In a city,” says Burckhardt, “where among
women of every rank chastity is so rare as at Cairo, it could not be
expected that public prostitution should thrive.” This is a harsh
judgment on the character of the Caireen females, and, according to the
accounts of most travellers, it is unjust.
Before Mohammed Ali, instigated by the priests, made his awkward
crusade against the Ghawazee tribes, the public prostitutes were put
under the jurisdiction of a magistrate--an aga, or captain of the
dancing girls. He kept a list of them, and exacted from each a sum of
money by way of tax. He also acted as a censor on the general morality
of the people. One of these agas took upon himself an extension of
his jurisdiction, and whenever he found a woman, no matter of what
class, who had been guilty of a single act of incontinence, he added
her name to the list of common prostitutes, and extorted the tax from
her, unless she could offer him a sufficient bribe, and thus escape
the infamy. Nor was this all. To gratify private revenge, he sometimes
inserted in his list the names of respectable ladies; but was at length
detected and punished with death. Whenever a party of Ghawazee was
engaged, they had to pay to their chief a sum of money and procure his
permission to dance. This practice was pursued by persons who farmed
the tax, until Mohammed Ali was smitten by a sudden reverence for
morals, and made an attempt, characteristic of his vulgar genius, to
abolish the profligacy of Egypt. In June, 1834, a law was published
compelling the Ghawazee throughout the country to retire from their
profession. It is said that the Moolahs, or Muslim bishops, objected
to them, not on account of the impurities they practised, but because
it was a scandal that women belonging to the race of true believers
should expose their faces to infidels for hire. An agitation was
raised on the subject; a storm of sacerdotal rage assailed the palace;
and the viceroy, priest-ridden, banished all the dancers to Esneh,
500 miles up the Nile. There they were herded together, with a small
stipend from government to keep them from starvation. The effect of
this truly barbarian device was just what might have been expected. The
profligacy, which had been chiefly confined to them, broke out in other
classes, and demoralization advanced several steps further. It is said
that the Moolahs repent their policy, since some additional burdens
have been laid on them to make up for the loss of revenue.
Under the old system, when all the known prostitutes paid a tax, the
amount contributed by those of Cairo alone was 800 purses, or 4000_l._,
which was a tenth of the income-tax on the whole population. This will
suggest an idea of the numbers in which they existed. The Ghawazee
formed the chief element in this system of prostitution, and Mohammed
Ali imagined that with one stroke of the pen he could obliterate this
blot on the social aspect of Egypt--he who had so worn himself out with
licentious pleasures that his physicians had to persuade him to disband
an army of concubines which he had kept at the expense of his miserable
people. At once prostitution was denounced as a crime. The Ghazeeyeh
daring to infringe the new law was condemned to fifty stripes for the
first, and imprisonment with severe labour for the second, offence. The
punishments of these and of all other women were illegal, according
to the code of the Prophet. It has, however, been a blessing to the
Mohammedan population of the East that their great lawgiver left his
frame of legislation, for, invested with the authority of religion, it
has been some check on the caprice of tyrants.
The men, also, who were detected encouraging the Ghawazee were made
liable to the punishment of the bastinado. Legal enactments, however,
cannot purify the morals of a whole community. Prostitution was
abolished by law, but remained in practice as flagrant as ever. The
Egyptians borrowed a device from the Persians. When a man desires to
have intercourse with a woman of the prostitute class, he marries her
in the evening and divorces her in the morning. The dowry he pays
her is no more than she would receive were this transaction not to
take place. She dare not apply for the usual stipend to maintain her
afterwards. Even these connections are often kept entirely secret.
The dancing has been more successfully suppressed, for many of the
performances were public; but the Europeans, as well as the rich
natives, frequently indulge by stealth in the prohibited amusement.
The Almehs, at least since the banishment of the Ghawazee, dance, and
prostitute themselves, as well as sing--though their name implies
neither practice, meaning simply “learned or accomplished women.” When
an entertainment of the kind is given, it is usual to choose for the
scene a lonely house in the outskirts of the city, surrounded by a
garden with a high wall. There, with the windows veiled, parties meet,
and the dancers are introduced. Women with children at the breast come
sometimes to take part in these abominable orgies; but do not usually,
unless excited by the men, develop all their powers of licentious
expression. Occasionally a party of soldiers breaks in on the forbidden
revel, and the girls are carried off to prison, where stripes, or,
perhaps, sentences of banishment, await them.
There are, however, in Egypt considerable classes of women solely
devoted to prostitution, who practise none of the accomplishments in
which the Almeh and Ghawazee excel. Among them is a peculiar tribe
called the Halekye, whose husbands are tinkers or horse and ass
doctors. They wander about the country like gipsies, and most of the
women engage in prostitution. Prostitutes of the common order swarm in
all the cities and towns of the valley. In and about Cairo they are
particularly numerous, whole quarters being inhabited exclusively by
them. Legislation is powerless to suppress their calling. Their dress
differs from that of the other sorts of women only in being more gay
and less disguising. Some even wear the veil and affect all the airs
of modesty. Many are divorced women, or widows, or wives of men whose
business has obliged them to go abroad. The wives of many of the Arabs,
if neglected for a short time, slide easily into prostitution. When
Ibrahim Pasha was away on the expedition to Syria, it was said that
on his return the soldiers would find all their wives courtezans; but
this, of course, was a satire.
Numbers of the common prostitutes in Cairo have been accustomed to sell
pigeons and other birds in the different bazaars. Hence has arisen a
proverb, that a person who marries in the bird-market must divorce his
wife next morning. We find in these popular sayings many indications
of the features which mark the system in Egypt. We have some in
allusion to the shouts and disorderly conduct of persons issuing from
the brothels in the morning, and others describing the career of the
prostitutes themselves. “The public woman who is liberal of her favours
does not wish for a procuress.” “If a harlot repent she becomes a
procuress.”
One reason assigned for the practice of early marriages is, the
proneness of the young men to be seduced by prostitutes. It is only
just, however, to observe, that in Alexandria, though it is considered
the _refugium peccatorum_ of the Mediterranean, the European community
has preserved itself to an unusual degree uncontaminated by the general
corruption of the male population.
The women of Egypt, as we have already observed, are, in point of
morals, far superior to the men. They are generally silly and childish,
because they are treated as soulless creatures and children; but, on
the whole, their character is not so degraded by unnatural vices as
that of their male rulers. These generally are coarse voluptuaries, in
whom little except the animal appetite is developed.
We perceive in Egypt the illustration of some signal truths. We find
there the proper fruits of Oriental despotism; we see the results of a
vulgar barbarian attempt to reform public morals. We witness also the
influence of its position upon the character of the female sex. Women
in Egypt have been made by their social laws what the originator of
those laws considered them to be--the mere servitors of man. In the
prostitute system of the country we discover some singular features,
which contribute to render modern Egypt, in relation to our actual
subject, one of the most interesting regions in the East. The Christian
population we do not notice, because it is composed of fragments of
races which will be noticed in their proper countries[77].
OF PROSTITUTION AMONG THE STATES OF NORTHERN AFRICA.
A very brief notice is all that is required by the other States of
northern Africa. They are distinguished from the barbarous communities
of that region by having assumed the forms of regular society, which
places them under a separate head, but, in relation to our subject,
they present little that is characteristic. In describing the condition
and morality of the female sex in other Mohammedan countries we shall
meet with nearly all the features offered by Algiers, Barca, Morocco,
Tunis, and Tripoli. Nevertheless, on account of the extraordinary
mixture of the population, some curious details are observed. Turks,
Christians, Arabs, Jews, Berbers, and Moors mingle in the cities of
those States. The last, however, form the mass, and it is to them our
remarks must apply.
The Moors of northern Africa possess all the vices, and scarcely any of
the virtues, of the Mohammedans of the East. They are proud, ignorant,
sensual, and depraved, without any of that high spirit of honour which
often, in the oriental Muslim, half redeems his character.
The treatment of women among the Moors answers exactly to this
view. They are regarded as the mere material instruments of man’s
gratification. Accordingly their whole education is modelled so as to
render them fit to serve the lust of a gross sensualist. Among the more
elevated nations of Asia, men sometimes tire of their wives’ company,
because they are simple beauties, without animation of mind, seeking
the society of educated courtezans, more for their wit and vivacity
than for their meaner and more material accomplishments. But, with the
Moors, the animal appetite is all that they seek to satisfy. A woman
with daughters does not train them in seductive arts; she _feeds_ them
into a seductive appearance--as pigeons and doves are fed in certain
parts of Italy. They are made to swallow daily a number of balls of
paste, dipped in oil, and the rod enforces their compliance. This
practice is adopted as well by the inmate of the rich man’s harem as
by the courtezan; for to be plump, sleek, and fair, are the objects of
their common ambition. A girl who is a camel’s load is the perfection
of Moorish beauty. Thus intellect and sentiment are not the possessions
to recommend her, but fat.
It is strange that the woman’s character does not correspond altogether
with her mode of life. Heavy, corpulent, and sensual, she is,
nevertheless, alive to the keenest feeling. Hot impulses, untameable in
their outbreak, characterize her sex. Rivarol once said, that in Paris
the veins of the women were full of milk; but in Berlin, of pure blood.
Pananti says that in the Moorish woman fire is the circulating fluid.
Fiery hearts, indeed, are general among the women of the East; and are
as remarkable in Egypt as in Morocco, where Oriental passions seem to
spring from African soil.
Immured as the wives of rich men are in splendid harems, and rigidly
excluded from intercourse with the other sex, they seek their whole
enjoyment in the gratification of their passions or their senses. Their
time is spent at home, or at the bath, lounging on cushions, sipping
coffee, smoking, gossiping, or multiplying the devices of the toilette.
The Moors are extravagantly jealous. Some have been known to slay their
women before proceeding on a long journey; others have forbidden them
to name even an animal of the masculine gender. They are, therefore,
entirely shut up within the walls of the harem; muffled under mountains
of ungraceful black drapery as they move along the streets; or secluded
from the sight of the world in the impenetrable recesses of the bath.
There they exhaust all the ingenuity they can command in the perfuming
and decoration of their persons.
Many have wondered why women thus prevented from displaying themselves
should be so untiring in the offices of vanity. The reason, however, is
clear. In the Moorish harem all that a wife or concubine has to look to
is the favour of her lord. If she succeed in charming him, her lot is
far more happy than under any other circumstances. Besides, it is not
only to please him that she labours. The mortification of her rivals is
an additional source of triumph, for in the narrow sphere of the harem,
where the nobler qualities of the mind have no room for development,
the meanest naturally flourish most profusely.
The marriage laws of Mohammedan countries in general prevail in the
Barbary States, with slight modifications. The husband has more
absolute control over the wife. Few take more than one, though polygamy
is universally allowed. Opulent men, however, sometimes indulge in the
full complement of four, besides a number of concubines. Though the
betrothal usually takes place at an extremely early age, the actual
union seldom takes place until the bride is twelve or thirteen, when,
as a poet of Barbary expresses it, “The rose-bud expands to imbibe the
vivifying rays of love.”
An extensive system of professional prostitution prevails in all the
cities of these States. In Algiers and Morocco they are particularly
numerous. The low drinking shops are crowded with men, and the loose
characters of the town have each a companion who is a harlot. The
public dancers all belong to this sisterhood. They exist in large
numbers and are very much encouraged by both sexes. The women in the
baths, after steeping their bodies in warm water until every nerve is
relaxed, and all their limbs are softened into a voluptuous languor,
lie on cushions and sip coffee, while dancers, attired in a slight
costume, display their licentious arts, and Almeh sing songs equally
lascivious. These prostitutes are of various classes, from the low
vulgar wretches, encouraged by the French soldiers in Algiers, to the
wealthy courtezans who live amid luxury and splendour.
A late traveller was introduced by a friend to “a Moorish lady.” She
occupied a fine house, situated, however, in a narrow and retired
street. Its architecture was rich, and on the door being opened,
signs of wealth became everywhere apparent. The visitor was ushered
into a spacious apartment, roofed with graceful arches, and hung with
rich-coloured silks. A lamp burning amid piles of freshly-gathered
flowers, stood on the table. Reclining on a luxurious divan, with a
tiger-skin spread at her feet, was a woman of extreme loveliness,
attired in a superb costume. Though of a fair and brilliant complexion,
her hair was jet black, braided with curious art and bound up with
strings of pearl. Its heavy tresses were partly concealed by a tiara of
crimson, figured with gold. Diamond drops hung from her ears; corals
and gems sparkled round her neck.
A garment, of a fabric almost transparent, was folded over her bosom,
and fastened with a golden ornament. A loose pelisse of blue brocade,
confined at the waist with a cymar of embroidered silk, displayed the
contour of her figure, and full trousers of muslin were furled about
her limbs. Her cheek was tattooed with a blue star, and her nails were
stained pink with henna. She was waited upon by a negro girl wearing
a white muslin turban ornamented with a rose, the leaves and stem of
which were gilded. Elegant in her manners, easy in her mode of address,
this woman appeared to the uninitiated traveller the model of feminine
grace. When he took his leave, however, his friend undeceived him,
with an apology, and he discovered that he had been conversing with a
Moorish prostitute.
This sketch of a woman, belonging to the class, may serve to show the
extent to which some of them are encouraged. Indeed the society of the
dancers, who are all prostitutes, is a favourite recreation with the
Moors of all classes. The women, as we have said, belong to various
grades, from those who debase themselves by their obscene postures
in the low coffee-houses, to those who display their more elegant
licentiousness to amuse the wealthy. A man, entertaining a party of
friends, sends for a company of dancers to enliven them in his kiosk
or pavilion. There, amid the fumes of tobacco, and sometimes of strong
liquors (for the precepts of the Koran are often disregarded), these
unhappy women descend from ordinary immodesty to the most degrading
obscenity, until the orgies become such as no pen could describe. When
the master of the feast is particularly delighted with the beauty or
the dexterity of any girl, he performs a favourite act of gallantry
by dropping a few golden coins into her bosom. The whole company is
liberally rewarded[78].
OF PROSTITUTION IN ARABIA, SYRIA, AND ASIA MINOR.
In whatever countries the Mohammedan religion has been established,
to describe the condition of women would be generally to repeat
the accounts already given. Their character varies in different
populations, but everywhere the laws to which they are subject are
substantially the same.
In Syria and Asia Minor the marriage code is, among the Muslims,
precisely similar to that of Egypt and Turkey, and so also in Arabia.
In Natolia, especially, the influence of the Prophet’s law is powerful,
and the comparative simplicity of its inhabitants leads them to respect
the boundaries laid down to their indulgences. Possessing within
their own country all the materials of prosperity, they might, with
virtue and industry, become once more a powerful and wealthy race; but
misgovernment adds yearly to the mass of their corruption, and they
perish in misery and servitude.
In such countries ambition sees no path but that of reckless crime,
and mental activity only stimulates to sensual pursuits. Accordingly
profligacy flourishes in the cities of Asia Minor, though in the
thinly-peopled tracts there is perhaps more purity of manners than in
any other Mohammedan country, except Arabia. Polygamy, permitted as
it is by the law, is far from being generally adopted. In 1830, the
extensive city of Brussa contained only a single man who had more than
one wife. Women are secluded to some extent, but enjoy great freedom.
Loved and indulged they are, but not respected; and, consequently,
their morals are inferior to those of the Bedouin wives.
The Christians, who are so freely tolerated among the Mohammedan
population of Asia Minor, preserve very much the customs of Europe,
except in the lesser details of their life. In the rich provinces of
Syria, Arabs, Greeks, and Ottomans have mingled, bringing each some
characteristic habits to modify the general social scheme. The pastoral
and the Christian tribes are by far the most moral.
Among the Maronites of Lebanon, who hold our faith, a rigid code
exists, with purity of manners; but, as among the ancient Germans, the
severe law is only the moral influence in action. The law, without the
feeling which upholds it, would be powerful; which constitutes the
difference between a community which frames its own code according to
its own spirit, and that which receives decrees from the caprice of a
ruler. If a man among the Maronites seduce a girl, he must marry her;
should he refuse, fasts, imprisonments, and even blows are employed,
which force him to submit. The illicit intercourse of the sexes,
married or unmarried, is reprobated by the sense of the community, and
the profession of prostitution is unknown. On the whole, this may be
described as a simple and comparatively innocent race, removed above
the profligacy which ferments around them.
The Druses, also, are distinguished by the same characteristics; they
do not permit polygamy, and marry very young. A man may divorce his
wife, however, by only saying, “Go;” or if she ask permission to visit
her relatives, and he concede it, without enjoining her to return,
she must consider herself put away. In spite of this facility such
separations scarcely ever occur. An adulteress is mercilessly put to
death by the hands of her friends. One who commits fornication suffers
a similar punishment, but in this case the father may pardon her if he
choose. The tenderness of the parent sometimes induces him to spare
his child, though her guilt may stain the honour of his house; but
brothers, it is said, never relent, visiting the sin of their sister
with unsparing sternness.
Prostitutes and dancing girls are common in all the cities and towns of
Syria, but they are never met with among any of the pastoral or nomade
tribes. In Asia Minor and Palestine the same circumstance is to be
observed.
There is little to remark upon in the habits or characteristics of the
class, which is similar to others of the same sisterhood in Egypt,
Turkey, and other parts of the East[79]. Since, therefore, little could
be gained by dwelling at length upon these countries, we quit them,
and pass to a region which, if the spirit of romance still remains on
earth, may be described as its chosen home.