Traveller.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 402, 21 January 1904, Page 2

Traveller.

.- ELECTIONEEEINfl IN ¥B$toC&; ; . \ JS«S9 PARLIAMENTARY candidate in ' wHre England ; is, rhelieveil generally JK3k 3 u^i? by hia public acts a*d utterances; and. his.; only resentment for his opponent, is that he may beat him.' It 8 quite another colour in France, and,it would simply freezs the marrow of a Mergathon to hear and read the remarks hurled at One candidate by another.: No respect is paid to private affairs. If there is a skeleton in the family cupboard it is brought out, and every bone arranged in the most attractive fashion. One candidate makes a remark one .night, and the following morning bills are pasted up all over the' constituency calling him a liar. Neither one side nor the other appears to have any scruples, and I should say that hardly one candidate in Paris has escaped the gratuitous indiotment of being a German spy, a Dreyfusard, a renegade, a traitor, or an exploiter.

'DELLALEHS.' In - most Mohammedan countries there exists a trade very indicative of their peculiar customs. It is'followed; by;a' similar description of persons, but; somewhat inferior in rank to the goßßip-dis-peasers of Caina Like them, they are generally old and solitary women, and t oallod • tfellalehs/ or female ;brokers. They go from house to house, collecting those specimens of needlework oh which the inmates of the harem employ their abundant leisure. Purses, veils, embroidered aha wis, and other appendages of Eastern fashion, are thus fabricated and entrusted to the dellaleh, who eells them to wealthier or ; less industrious ladies. From the very nature of her business, she knows where one article may be found and another is wanted, and bo conducts a species of domestic commerce, from which considerable profits are said to be realized by the workers. Their industry is encouraged by the exclusive possession of the money thus acquired, it being inalienable, eves in the case of slaves; and Lane, in his edition of the ' Arabian Nights,'supplies an instance''-of one of these girls, who privately gave her lover a sum of money from her own earnings, sufficient to purchase her in the public market. Tee dellalehs receive a small commission on their sales, and are usually trustworthy, as the contrary conduct would upset, their business. They are also enabled to do a trifle in the gossiping line, and there axe hone more welcome visitors to an Eaßtern-hownehold?

BOMB. * Not even t'ae tourists can make the City of the Seven Hills lively. Not even the splendour of St. Peter's, rising above the countless domes, can detract from the gloomy aspect of the town. The huge mansions jof nobles, the ugly Palace of Qumnal, the glariag contrast between the old and thejhew, all jar upon sensitives nerves, ggsupposa it is that we have heard so much about Borne from the earliest times, that we carry in our midst ideal pictures, that reality destroys. There might be relief in thinking over the past, in exploring the narrow ways of the city by day-light—it is hardly prudent to do so by night—but at Easter che city is in the hands of the tourists, *nd, to my miad, they make it unbearable. You meet them in all parts, particularly in the Trastevere q darter. Imagine what it means, to be walking quiatly along the narrow streets with the red-tiled houses on either side, or crossing the Tiber, or idling round the Vatican, and comiag suddenly upon a crowd of festive people, with guide book in hand, sometimes with pipes in their mouths, often in loud check suits, with knitted stockings, occasionally with an accent that would bruise you badly if you ran against it. The fine services„the splendour of the celebrations, the silent grandeur of picture gallery and ' palazzo' are all lost when, as you oome out into the sunlight, you Bee and hear the touiist. I sometimes think that if the city could speak it would utter a protest against the men and women, who, while quite out cf sympathy with all it stands for, go from end to end staring at thiags whose appeal they cannot understand. Perhaps there are seasoas of the year when Borne is visited by People who are quiet aad respectful in their baaring and their costume; at Easter restraint is conspicuous by its abience.