The death of the girl gave rise to a conversation
upon drowning: this turned upon the subject of the
girl herself, and ended in a discussion upon the
value of women; the question originating in a
lament on the part of the sheik that a nice young
curl had been drowned O instead of a useless old
woman. The sheik laid down the law with great
force, “ that a woman was of no use when she
ceased to be young, unless she was a good strong
person who could grind corn, and carry water from
the river; ” in this assertion he was seconded, and
supported Unanimously, by the crowd of Arabs
present.
Now it was always a common practice among
the Arab women, when they called upon my wife,
to request her to show her hands; they would then
feel the soft palms, and exclaim -in astonishment,
“ Ah! she has never ground corn!” that, being
the duty of a wife unless she is rich enough to
possess slaves. Sheik Achmet requested me to give
him some account of our domestic arrangements in
England ; I did this as briefly as possible, explaining
how ladies received our devoted attentions, extolling
their beauty and virtue, and in fact giving him an
idea that England was paradise, and that the ladies
were angels. I described the variety of colours;
that instead of all being dark, some were exceedingly
fair; that others had red hair; that we had many
bright black eyes, and some irresistible dark blue;
and at the close of my descriptions, I believe the
sheik and his party felt disposed to emigrate immediately
to the chilly shores of Great Britain;
they asked, “ How far off is your country ? ” “ Well,”
said the sheik, with a sigh, “ that must be a very
charming country; how could you possibly come
away from all your beautiful wives ? True, you have
brought one with you : she is, of course, the youngest
and most lovely; perhaps those you have left at
home are the old ones! ” T was obliged to explain,
that we are contented with one wife, and that, even
were people disposed to marry two, or more, they
would be punished with imprisonment. This announcement
was received with a general expression
of indignation; the sheik and his party, who a few
minutes ago were disposed to emigrate, and settle
upon our shores, would now at the most have
ventured upon a return ticket. After some murmurs
of disapprobation, there was a decided expression of
disbelief in my last statement. “Why,” said the
sheik, “the fact is simply impossible! How can a
tp an be contented with one wife ? It is ridiculous,
absurd!; What is he to do when she becomes old?
When she is young, if very lovely, perhaps, he might
be satisfied with her, but even the young must
some day grow old, and the beauty must fade. The
man does not fade like the woman; therefore as. he
remains the .same for many years, but she changes
in a few years, Nature has arranged that the man
shall have young wives to replace the old ; does not
the Prophet allow it ? Had not our forefathers many