CHAPTER IX

SOME THINGS THAT MATTER--TO THE ARAB

There are three kinds of _noblesse_ among the Arabs: there is the aristocrat class, the _noblesse de race_, descended, so they think, from Fatma, the daughter of the Prophet; the _noblesse militaire_, descendants of the Arab conquerors, of which Mohammed and his family are also descended; and finally the _noblesse réligieuse_, a hereditary _noblesse_ like the preceding, but a distinction that can only be acquired by meritorious performance of a religious duty.

The tribes each have a head known as a _Caïd_, and each tribe is divided into smaller tribes and factions who obey implicitly the sub-head or _Cheikh_ (sheik). The head of a _douar_,--a group of tents,--if the collection is not great enough to have a presiding Sheik, is a sort of committee, like the bodies of selectmen of a New England village.

Over and above all _indigène_ control, the French administration is the real head of the Arabs in Algeria, and the Tunisian French _fonctionnaires_ hold the same powers in Tunisia.

The Arab or Kabyle chiefs in Algeria are merely the agents for the execution of the government's laws, civil or military, and in Tunisia the laws for each province (_outhan_) are made known to the _Caïd_ by the authorities, and it is he who is held responsible for their observance. As for punishment for a crime committed,--for they are not all plaster saints,--the Arabs would much prefer the old Turkish _bastinado_ to a sentence behind prison walls or a fine in money, sheep or goats. Does civilization civilize?

The Arabs are full of wise saws mostly adopted from the Koran, or from the Apocryphal books of the Prophet. They have a saying which might well be put into a motto suitable for the creed of any man:--

"_El-Khams_, _El-Miter_, _El-Ansab_ and _El-Aglane_ are the inventions of the devil."

_El-Khams_ is worry; _El-Miter_ is gambling; _El-Ansab_ are the stones or thorns in one's road; and _El-Aglane_ is the argument by sword instead of by reason. The following might well be printed in Gothic script and hung in our own "dens" and boudoirs along with Stevenson's "Prayer."

"_When a woman says to her husband, I have never received a single benefit from you, all the good acts she may have done lose their value._"

"_God detests those who show pride before their companions._"

"_Go a mile to visit a sick man, two miles to reconcile a pair of quarrellers and three miles to see a holy man._"

"_When you think of the faults of your neighbours, think also of your own._"

"_He who salutes thee first is free from pride._"

"_God hates dirtiness and disorder._"

With respect to this last, the Arab performs his ablutions with great regularity and devotion, but by contrast, curiously enough, enshrouds himself frequently in dirty, verminous rags.

The most detested sequence of events that can happen to an Arab are ranked as follows:--

I. The drunkenness which makes a fool of a man.

II. The sleep which dissipates the drunkenness.

III. And the chagrin which destroys the sleep.

The emotion has been felt by others, who cannot slip on and off the _peau de chagrin_ as did Balzac's hero.

The Arabs explain their abstention from wine by an act of the Prophet forbidding its use.

One day the Prophet saw, in passing, a group of young men who were making free and drinking of wine. He blessed them, saying, "Drink at your ease, you have the benediction of God." At the end of a brief interval the Prophet, passing that way again, saw them disputing among themselves, and learned that one had been killed. Thereupon he vowed upon their heads that "wine was a curse upon them, and that not one who was given to it should hope to enter Heaven."

Among the Arab _indigènes_ to-day, one remarks an almost total abstention from the "wine when it is red." Contrariwise they may frequently be seen drinking white wine, and indeed they have a great fondness for champagne,--but they are not particular about the brand, the label on the bottle means nothing to them, so long as it is a gaudy one, and so, like many Americans, they drink something which they think is champagne, and is just as "heady."

Arab hospitality is famous, their very manner of life, even to-day, as in olden times, makes it a sort of compulsory tenet of their creed.

"Ida andek ktir, ati men mulek. Ida andek glil, ati men galbeck."

"If you have much, give of your best. `If you have little, give from the heart."

Never ask an Arab his age; you will be disappointed if you do. The Arabs have no civil register and generally ignore their exact age, frequently reckoning only by some great event which may have happened within their memories, like the "Uncle Toms" and "Old Mammies" of "way down Souf." With such a rule-of-thumb reckoning, you are likely to remain as much in the dark as before.

It is a belief among the Arabs that they can carry on a conversation with animals. Not all amongst them are thus accomplished, but the speech of animals, they say, can be learned, and many of their head men know it. They share this belief with other Orientals; but there is no proof that they have learned their lessons as well as did Garner in his attempts to acquire "monkey talk." The Arabs, too, are superstitious. They believe in the evil eye, and they object most decidedly and vociferously if you point your finger at them; also, they wear charms and amulets against disease and disaster.

They used to object to the camera man and the artist, but to-day, since they have come to learn that you carry away with you no actual part of themselves, only an impression, their attitude has changed.

The Arab warrior must have ten qualities, or he is _déclassé_ in the favour of all other Arabs.

I. The courage of a cock. II. The painstaking of a chicken. III. The heart of a lion. IV. The brusqueness of a wild boar. V. The tricks of a fox. VI. The prudence of a hedgehog. VII. The swiftness of a wolf. VIII. The resignation of a dog. IX. The hand always open. X. The sword always drawn, and one sole speech for friend or foe.

The Arab warrior, save as he now serves France, has disappeared, but his precepts were good ones for a soldier.

The Arabs' regard for womankind has often been misunderstood and misstated. Not all Mussulmans have the same noble regard for womankind. The Turk and the Persian is notably a tyrant in his home; and, among the Arabs, the Bedouin is frequently a brute towards his wives and daughters; but the conventional _Arab-Berberisé_ is quite compassionate and liberal in his views and treatment of the female members of his family.

"_Auprès de Dieu, le maître du monde, une fille vaut un garçon._"

Thus say the Arabs, but in practice it's all the other way. The boy stays with the family and adds his strength and talents to his father's tribe; but the daughter, arriving at the marrying age, which comes early with the Arabs, leaves not only her family, but the ancestral _douar_ or community, perhaps even the tribe, and goes where her new master pleases.

In a word, the boy is another sword or brain for his family's interests, whilst the daughter goes to augment those who may, perhaps, at some future time, be enemies of her parents.

From this one judges that with the Arabs, as with many other exotic nations, the birth of a son brings real joy to the parental roof-tree; but that of a girl merely a lukewarm expression of gratification, or perhaps nothing

more than a disappointed resignation. If it is a boy that is new-born, the parents are congratulated with: "God has made you a good gift!" If it is a girl: "May you be as happy as possible!" is considered as all that is needful, a sort of commiserating congratulation this, and the father perforce responds ordinarily: "_Zaddat di nââla!_" ("It is my sorrow.")

Once the child is born, the sex determined, the "rejoicings," properly called, do not differ in one case from the other, for the Arab believes profoundly in Mohammed's diction--"These are the innocents and the _Fête des Anges_ must be the same in each case."

Seven days after the birth, the baby daughter's _Fête de Naîssance_ takes place in presence of the Caïd, the marabout, parents and friends. The women cry and sob joyfully, and dance with the abandon of a dervish, and the screech and roll of the _guellal_ and the flute make things hideous for one who has no special responsibility bound up in the event. The men, too, give themselves over to the dance quite as vigorously and quite as gracefully as do the women, and a feast--all birth and wedding celebrations end with a feast--terminates the great event so far as a general participation goes. The eternal _couscous_ is the _pièce de résistance_, with dates, raisins, figs, honey, butter and milk in addition.

For a choice of names for their little daughter, the Arab parents, almost without exception, choose one of the following:--

Aicha (the life) Aatika Badia Djohar (the pearl) Fathma Fatima (diminutive) Halima (the gentle) Kheddouma Khedidja Kreira (the best) Kheroufa Kadra (the blossom) Kneltoum Meryem (Marie) Nedjma (the star) Sofia (the pure) Yamina (the prosperous) Yetan Zina (the belle) Zinent Zohra (the flower)

Sometimes the child is given the name of some female friend of the family, who agrees to act as godmother through the early years of its life, and is obliged to spend a relatively large sum of money in supplying a baptismal present, as do godmothers the world over. The boy under the same circumstances would probably have been named Mohammed or Achmed and have done with it.

After the actual naming ceremony the great bracelet talismans are put on the girl-child's arms, and a little later a similar decoration will be given her for her neck. If the parents are rich their children are often rudely sent away to be nourished and given strength beneath the shade of some Saharan oasis, not too far away but that they can be visited once a year. The nurse who guards the children in their desert home is called the second mother, but she is a nurse pure and simple and bears no relation to the godmother.

The child is carried pick-a-back by day, by one or another of its mothers, clumsily swathed in a none too clean-looking woollen cloth during the first few months, and at night is securely stowed away in a fig-leaf basket which is hung from the tent poles, a cradle which is soft, flexible and cheap.

In time light foods, such as the milk of goats, cows, or camels is given the child, and as early as possible it is told or shown how to take a bath--and made to take it whenever the idea enters the parents' heads.

For dress, the girl is clothed as becomes the station and wealth of her parents; her ears are pierced in two or three places, but as no jewelry is worn by infants the holes are kept open by silk cords.

The home life of these early years is very much _en famille_ among the Arabs of the countryside, with horses, oxen, and cows as dwellers under the same roof.

As soon as possible the child is taught to pray according to the religion of its parents. Each prayer is preceded by an ablution. Truly the Mohammedan religion is a cleanly and purifying one!

The practical education of an Arab girl commences when she is shown how to cut and fit a burnous (nothing of the tailor-made or Paris mode about this to make it difficult; any one who can handle a pair of scissors can do the thing), to sew a tent-covering together, and the thousand and one domestic accomplishments of women everywhere, not forgetting spinning and weaving.

In the poorer families, those who live in mean, ragged tents, not the "Great Tents," the child is most likely first set to doing the cooking. At the age of fourteen or fifteen, she begins to "take notice" of the youth of the other sex, meanwhile partaking of the fare of the family board only when there are no strangers present. During visits to friends and neighbours, or to the marabouts, or at fêtes given in her honour, the young Arab girl of whatever social rank is closely chaperoned, always accompanied by her mother. The

daughters of the "Great Tents" are veiled from their tenth year onwards, only the poor remain with their visage uncovered. Music is a part of the early education of the Arab girl. She learns to dance, _yatagan_ in hand; and to play the _bendir_, a sort of Spanish _tambourin_, and the _touiba_, a similar instrument, somewhat smaller and less sonorous.

At an early age, too, she learns the rudiments of the arts of coquetry. She puts rouge (_zerkoun_) on her face, and blacks her eyelids with _koheul_; and, finally, colours the tips of her toes and fingers a coppery red with henna. She has her wrists and ankles tattooed in bands or bracelets; and paints beauty spots, a star or a crude imitation of a fly, on her cheeks or forehead. By this time she is thought to be a ravishing beauty.

Even the poorest of Arab families guard their daughter's honour with the greatest circumspection, never a doubtful word or phrase is uttered in her presence. She is brought up in the greatest purity of atmosphere. Should there be any doubts as to this, her spouse, even on the marriage day, will send her back to her parents dressed in a white burnous--with no thanks. Dishonour can be punished by death. The Cadi is the referee in all matters of dispute or doubt of this nature, and his word is final.

Among the wealthiest tribes the daughters are often promised in marriage at the age of four or five, and frequently they marry between ten and fifteen. Indeed they must marry at an early age or people say unkind things about them. In the Sahara the rich marry three or four wives, the poor one, rarely two. One may not marry but one wife in any one year.

The Arab proverbs concerning women are many and mostly complimentary.

"_The quarrelsome wife is for her spouse a heavy burden, but a happy wife is as a crown of gold._"

The Arab poet says of his chosen type of female beauty:--

_Hair black as the feathers of the ostrich._ _Forehead wide and eyebrows thick and arched._ _Eyes black like a gazelle's._ _Nose straight and finely modelled._ _Cheeks like bouquets of roses._ _Mouth small and round._ _Teeth like pearls set in coral._ _Lips small and coloured like vermilion._ _Neck white and long._ _Shoulders broad._ _Hands and feet small._ _Manners agreeable._ _Laughter delicate._

"She must laugh soberly, must not gad about nor dispute with her husband or neighbours, have a well-governed tongue, may rouge slightly, guard well the house, and ever give good counsel."

The formula might well be any man's ideal; though the Arabs say when you meet this paragon of a woman, you become crazy, and if she leaves you, you will die. All of which may be true also! The ideal is one made up of an appalling array of virtues.

An Arab tale tells of a warrior horseman, El Faad-ben-Mohammed, rich in this world's goods and lands, who met a certain Oumya-bent-Abdallah, and would marry her, so beautiful was she. He sent his emissary to her to plead his cause, for he was timid in love, if brave in war.

The young girl asked what might be her wooer's position in life, whereupon his friend replied: "He is a warrior; when the fight is at its thickest, it is he who cleaves a passage through the ranks of the foe. He is taciturn and sober and knows well how to take adversity." This seems a good enough send-off for a proxy to give, but the maid would have none of it. She said simply: "Go back to your friend. It is a lion that you tell me of. He wants a lioness, not a woman. I would not suit."

The suitor for a young girl's hand among the Arabs often does make his demand of her parents by proxy; and much bargaining and giving and taking of concessions goes on, all without embarrassment to the swain. It's not a bad plan! A contract follows, and finally legal sanction. Every Mussulman marriage must have the consideration of the _dot_ as a part of the legal agreement. The _dot_ may vary with the fortunes of the girl's family, or with the condition of the suitor; and, in case of divorce, this _dot_ must be returned to the unfortunate lady's parents, not to her, whatever may be the cause.

The wedding trousseau of the young wife, that which she brings in the way of clothes and jewelry, must comport with her former station in life; but her _dot_, which may be in kind, not necessarily in money, may be as great as the prospective husband can worm out of the girl's parents. A rich Arab of the "Great Tents" whom we heard of at Jouggourt gave up the following: Three camels, fifty sheep, eighteen skins, three bolts of cotton cloth (made in Manchester--the "Manchester goods" of commerce as it is known in the near and far East); a gun (a Remington so-called, most likely made in Belgium), with brass and silver inlaid in the stock; two pairs of silver rings for ankles and wrists; two buckles for the _haïk_, a silken burnous, a silk sash, a string of coral beads (made of celluloid at Birmingham), earrings, a mirror (of course) and a red _haïk_, and a _melhafa_ or _haïk_ of cotton.

Among the desert tribes the women of all classes of society frequently have their faces unveiled; but, as they approach the great trade-routes and the cities, they closely enwrap the face so that only a pair of glittering black eyes peep out. Without regard to class distinctions or age all Arab women are passionately fond of jewelry of all kinds, finger-rings, anklets, bracelets, chains, and brooches.

Repudiation, or divorce, is legal among the Arabs if accomplished in a legal way, and is simply and expeditiously brought about. The following is an account reported recently in an Algerian journal:--

El Batah had presented himself before the Cadi for the purpose of "repudiating" his wife, "_une femme grande et forte, d'une éclatante beauté_." "Well, what is it?" said the Cadi, scenting in the affair a big fee, at least big for him. The Cadi was very much smitten by the lady, it appears, though he did not know it, or at any rate admit it, at the time.

"I come to complain of my wife, who has beaten me and nearly broken in my head," said the poor man.

"It is true," echoed the woman, "but I did not mean to do it, I am sorry; I ought not to be punished." (This doesn't seem logical, does it?)

"Well, I shall '_repudiate_' her" said the man; "I will have none of her."

"Return her _dot_, then, to her family," said the Cadi.

"Great Allah! It is impossible, it is four thousand _dirhems_, how can I pay it?"

By this time the Cadi saw his fat fee vanishing, and his ardour for the lady of the _striking_ beauty rising. He had just lost his fourth wife, the Cadi, and there was a place in the ranks for another.

"If I will give you the sum," said he, "will you '_repudiate_' this woman?"

"Yes, willingly," said the fellow.

"Well, here's your money," said the accommodating official.

No consideration of the women of North Africa ought to terminate without a reference to the Mauresque, that gracious type found all through Northwestern Africa, a product of the mixture of the races, an outcome of civilization and the growth of the great cities of the seaboard. They are usually named Fathma, Zohra, Aicha, Houria, Mami, Mimi, Roza, Ourida, Kheira, etc.; and they leave the bed and board of their parents usually between the ages of twelve and fourteen to be married, or for other reasons. Practically all the world looks upon the Mauresques as social outcasts. The class had become so numerous about the middle of the nineteenth century that the hand of philanthropy was held out to them to enable them to better their condition in life. They were given a rudimentary book education, and were taught the art of Oriental embroidery with all its extravagance of capricious arabesques and threads of gold.

As for the other class of Mauresques, the _rikats_, those who have become contaminated,--for not all are saved, nor ever will be,--one recognizes them plainly as of the world worldly whenever they take their walks abroad. The sad amusement of visiting mosques and cemeteries is not _their_ sole pleasure, as it is that of the legitimate Arab wife, or Mauresque, even though her spouse be wealthy.

The Mauresque _partner de convenance_ of a wealthy _indigène_ or European may have her own horses and carriages, perhaps by this time even her own automobile; and rolls off the kilometres in her daily promenades on the fine suburban roads of Algiers, in company with the _haute société_ of the city, and the thronging American, English and German tourists from Mustapha. She even dines at the _cabarets_ of Saint Eugène, Pointe Pescade or the Jardin d'Essai, and no one does more than look askance at her. Algiers is very _mondaine_, and its morals as varied as its population.

Even though the _rikat_ dresses after the European mode, there is no mistaking her origin. Her great, snappy black eyes, livened and set off by dashes of _koheul_, are fine to look upon; and her figure, as she sits in her cabriolet or opera-box, is so well hidden that one does not realize its cumbersomeness. At home she wears the seraglio "pantalon" of the Arabian Nights, ankles bare and feet stuffed into _babouches_--which an Indian or a plainsman would call moccasins. Over all is the _r'lila_, a sort of cloak of gold-embroidered, silken stuff, very light and wavy. It's not so graceful as the _kimona_ of the Japanese, but it's far more picturesque and useful than the most ravishing tea-gown ever donned in Fifth Avenue or Mayfair.

The Mussulman calendar is simple, and, except in the nomenclature of its divisions, is not greatly different from our own. The Arab year has twelve lunar months, making in all three hundred and fifty-four or three hundred and fifty-five days.

Moharem 30 days Safer 29 " Rbia el ouel 30 " Rbia el tani 29 " Djoumad el ouela 30 " Djoumad et tania 29 " Rdjab 30 " Châban 29 " Ramdan 30 " Choual 29 " Dzou el Kada 30 " Dzou el Hadja 29 or 30 ---------- 354 or 355

Seasons

Spring El rbia Summer Es Saïf Autumn El Kherif Winter Ech Chta

The principal fêtes of the Arab are those of the Mussulman religion, the same one observes in Bombay, Constantinople and Cairo.

Ras el âm 1 Moharem (first day of year)

El âchoura 10 Moharem (anniversary of the death of the son of Sidi Ali bou Thâleb)

El Mouloud 12 Rbia el ouel (anniversary of the birth of the Prophet)

Çiam 1 Ramdan

Aïd es srir (or little Beïram) 1 Choual

Aïd el kbir (or great Beïram) 10 Dzou el haja (in commemoration of sacrifice of Abraham)

The following glossary of commonly met with Arab words is curious and useful:--

Allah Dieu--God

Bab Porte or passage, gateway (as Bab Souika at Tunis)

Burnous A woollen cloak

Cadi A judge or notary

Caïd Sheik, chief

Calif or Khalif Chief, commander

Cheikh (Sheik) Chief of a community or douar

Coran (Koran) The Book of Islam

Couscous or Couscoussu (Kouskouss)

Derviche (Dervish) A member of a certain sect of religious dancers

Divan The council-chamber of a Sultan or Bey

Djebel Mountain

Djinn Evil spirits, demon

Dof A square drum

Douar Group of tents, a community

Effendi Title of quality

Fakir A mendicant monk

Fellah Egyptian peasant

Ganoun (or Kanoun) Harp of 75 strings (seen at Alexandria and Tunis)

Goule Vampire

Goum Native soldiery from the South

Gourbi Hut or cabin

Hadji Pilgrim who has been to Mecca

Hammam Moorish or Turkish baths

Harem The place reserved for Mussulman women

Henne Henna for staining hair or body

Houri Celestial Virgin of Paradise

Imam The prayer leader

Islam The religion of the Prophet

Kabyles Berber mountaineers between Algiers and Tunis

Khalifa Chief of a religious community

Kheloua Cave, grotto

Kouba Chapel above the tomb of a saint

Lella Madame

Marabout A holy person or his tomb (mark the distinction; one word for two entities)

Mehari A "high speed" dromedary

Moghreb Occident

Moghrabin Man of the Occident

Mosque Mussulman place of worship (in French Mosquée)

Narghileh Arab or Turkish pipe

Ouali Marabout

Oukil Guardian

Raïa Flag

Raïs Captain

Roumi Christians

Scheriff (or Cheriff) Descendants of the Prophet

Sidi Monsieur, sir

Simoun (Sirocco) The South wind of the Sahara

Spahi Native warrior horseman

Sultan Virtually King or Emperor

Sultani Gold money

Tarr or Tar Tabor drum

Teboul Tambourine

Zaouia Hermitage, chapel, school

Zerma Clarionet