There was nothing, it will be thought, so extremely alarming in
this partial exhibition of female beauty; and the favoured inhabitants
of less decorous, and more civilized countries, would scarcely
dream of being shocked at a similar spectacle. But to men who
inhabit those regions of delicacy, where even one eye of a female
must never be seen stealing out from the sanctuary of her veil, the
sudden apparition of a sparkling pair of those luminaries is not a
vision of ordinary occurrence. At the same time, the alarm of
the worthy Shekhs assembled, which the bright eyes and naked
face (as they termed it) of our fair young countrywoman had so
suddenly excited, was in no way diminished by the heinous exposure
of a snowy neck and a well-turned pair of shoulders; and
had they been placed in the situation of Yusuf, when the lovely
Zuleika presented herself in all her charms as a suitor for the
young Hebrew’s love* or in the more embarrassing dilemma of
the Phrygian shepherd-prince, when three immortal beauties
stood revealed before his sight, they could scarcely have felt or
expressed more confusion. Every Arab, who saw the picture, actually
blushed and hid his face with his hands ; exclaming—w’Allah
haram—(by Heaven ’tis a sin) to look upon such an exposure of
female charms!
I t is, no doubt, very gratifying, in these ages of assurance, to witness
so unequivocal a display of genuine modesty ; and we confess
that we ought not to have laughed so heartily as we did at this
* Yusuf and Zuleika are the Mahometan names of Joseph and Potiphar's wife.
laudable expression of it in our guests: but it certainly did appear to
us somewhat ridiculous to see men, with long beards, who had each of
them two or three wives, so completely discomfited at the sight of a
rosy-faced girl. At the same time, we must allow that we have also our
prejudices; and it is probable, that the appearance of a young Arab
damsel, with her veiled face and naked legs and feet, in the midst of
a party of Englishmen, might occasion no trifling confusion ; scarcely
less, perhaps, than that which was occasioned by the display of the
fair face and neck above mentioned. I t was some time before our
worthy Arab friends recovered from the serious shock which their
modesty had sustained; but as modesty (for what reason we will not
pretend to determine) is by no means an unconquerable feeling,
we prevailed upon the blushing Shekhs, when the first impression
had subsided, to take a second look at the picture; declaring, that
there was nothing in so innocent a display at which the most correct
of true believers need be shocked. We will not venture to say that
they were quite of our opinion; but it is certain that their curiosity
(at least we suppose it to have been that) very soon got the better
of their scruples; and we even think, that some of them might actually
have been persuaded to trust themselves in those sinful
regions where a pretty face and figure may be looked at and admired
without any very serious breach of decorum. As for Shekh Mahom-
med, he had so far recovered himself as to put the object of his former
confusion into his pocket, though merely to show it (as he said) to
his wives ; and was hardy enough to keep it three or four days, before
he returned it to its owner.