Moorish Husbands and Wives.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 916, 20 September 1889, Page 9

Moorish Husbands and Wives.

Cornhill Magazine. The Moslem women are not such complete slaves to their husbands as is generally supposed. A Moorish officer we took to Jeddah from Tangier had his wife .with him. She was his only wife, and, though only eighteen years of age, had been married to him five years, and had had three children, one of whom was dead, and the other two alive and left behind at their home in Fez, whence they came. He had twice before perfoimed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and each time had been accompanied by his young wife. This time they were taking her mother with them ; and, indeed, the thoughtful and considerate way in which he treated them occasioned me a good deal of surprise. This bigoted Mussulman —looked upon by his European brethren as a jealous tyrant of women, as one utterly incapable of appreciating their higher qualities, and merely using them as means wherewith to gratify his coarse passions -—could certainly have shamed many of them in this matter. The ship was lying in the bay about a mile from the city of Tangier ; the sea was running pretty high, and long beEore they came alongside, both ladies were very sick. Gently he lifted them on board, and laid them down in a quiet corner, whilst he rushed about to seek the best place on deck whereon to fix his tent. Then be tore open his packages, and drew out from them carpets and pillows and curtains, and in a short while a well-fitted tent was ready, aud into it he carried the two women, and laid them down and made them comfortable. There they lay till the next day, as much like two bundles of clothes as anything else, for even their faces and hands were invisible, and I really believe they did not move once, although in a,few hours, as soon as we had got through the Straits and entered the Mediterranean, the sea became perfectly calm, and a gre.-t deal of their indisposition musb have been of that inexplicable nature which

Would have tried the patience of many a Christian husband considerably. But he busied himself about and lit a fire, and presently turned out a nice little dinner, and didn’t lose his temper a bit because they would have none of it, but only gazed sorrowfully at the provisions that were to be wasted. Then he made them some tea, and then some coffee, and left nothing untried in the whole category of things to make them comfortable, patiently sitting there fanning them, or anon starting up to get them some water or any other thing they might want. When, the next morning, the ladies had been induced to look over the side of the ship, and had convinced themselves that the sea was as calm as it possibly could be, and that therefore they could not any longer be sick, then did they bestir themselves, and do their proper work in attending to the house and doing the cooking. They took great pride in making the tent look clean and neat, and altogether they seemed a very happy couple. These pilgrims scramble on board with great agility, and with no regard whatever for dignity or decency. A ladder, of course, is always welcome; but if one is-not handy, they are quite capable of swarming up ropes, or climbing up the sides. If the women are unable to help themselves, they are handed up like any other bundles. For an hour or two after the decks give one the idea of a pandemonium of yelling demons. Everybody seems to be fighting with everybody else ; screams of distress, yells of furious anger, threats and prayers, curses and blessings, succeed each other in bewildering and ludicrous confusion. The gesticulation is startling. Arabs certainly excel Frenchman in this accomplishment. The disturbance, whilst it lasts, is something awful, and is produced by the search after and identification of baggage, and selection of sites for erecting tents or spreading carpets. Women are no less forward in this business than they are in any other, oven amongst us. One fat old negress we took up at Tangier came on board, and instantly took a fancy to a part of the deck which three grave long-bearded Moors had taken possession of the night before. Furiously she ordered them away, and as at first they seemed too much lost in astonishment to comply with her modest request, she proceeded to give them a practical demonstration of her meaning by preparing to pull up the carpets on which they were sitting. On this they started up, and not only let her take the best spot for herself and her husband, who stood by looking on in a half-frightened mannsr, but also served her submissively in bringing up her boxes and massing them around her, whilst she squatted on her haunches and treated them to her views of things in general.