Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1865-03-15
0ar StOrg- Gtutr.
CURIOUS HAMMERS And CUSTOMS.

From a journal kept in Egypt in 1s55-6'l
g Is THE question of slavery" I asked
Created in the Tanzimat?"
No." said Stephan Bey, "the abo
litiOn of slavery in Egypt was the act o
Said Pasha alone. I doubt whether an,
of his ministers would have ventured tt
propose it to him. Slavery is. in som,
measure, interviewer with Mahometanism
The attempt to extirpate it is producing
much discomfort, and, if it succeeds, mus
occasion great changes in the habits O.
the high classes. According to the Ko
ran, as usually interpreted, a man sins
who sees the face of any woman, ezcep
his wife, his daughter, and his slave
Again, he can have only four wives, and
he sins if he intrigues with any free. wo
mau but he may have as many concu
bines as he pleases, provided they BE-
slaves.
All the servants, therefore, in the ha
rem, are, slaves; if they were free they
would lave to vail themselves or hide
whenever the husband entered. The
rich, again, have seldom more than onc
wife, but they buy all the handsome
slaves that they hear Of, and as the 8tatu,
of the mother does not affect the legiti
macy of the child, they obtain, thus, what
they delight in, very large families. a
friend of mine, Achmed Pasha Tahir, the
governor of Middle Egypt, had two hun
dred and eighty children, perhaps by
two hundred and eighty mothers. Said
Pasha began by prohibiting, after GER
tain day, the introduction of slaves by
any frontier. Large caravans of them
used to reach Stout every year from Oar
four The interruption of this profitable
trade was very unpopular, and occasion
ed considerable loss to the revenue.
"About three months ago he issued an
edict prohibiting also internal slave-deal,
ing, and compelling every master to en-.
franchise every slave who asks for hi:
freedom. No one, therefore, now car
buy a slave, and no one can retain one
against his will. This, as I said before
must occasion revolution in our domes-
tic habits.
"Do you mean to say" rasked, " that
if Mussulman we're to enter this room
and find Mrs. Senior unvailed, it would
be his duty Immediately to run out ol
it?"
Certainly" he answered. every
instant that he remained he would com
nit sin"
"Solyman Pasha," I said, "told me
that the Koran required a woman to show
five parts Of her person; her hands, her
feet, and her face"
"SOlyman Pasha," answered Stephan
Bey, has not the zeal or the knowledge
of an apostate. He is a merely nominal
Mussulman. The truth is, that OF the
four orthodox sects into which Mussul-
mans are divided, only one, that of the
Shafe-ees, holds the tenet which goa
mention; the three others, that is to say
the Hanafees, the Malikees, and the Han
balees, hold the doctrine which I have
mentioned, namely, that except in the
cases of husband and wife, father and
daughter, and master and slave, the wo-
man sins who shows her face to a man,
and the man sins who looks at the face
of woman"
4 suppose" I said, " that the women
whom see with uncovered faces are
Gopts.
"No," he replied, they are Shafe-ees,
who are numerous in Cairo. The Copts,
who are few and we're oppressed, are
afraid to go uncovered, and have taken
to the vail"
"But," said Mrs Senior, "wben Me
hemet Kuprisi Pasha, the Turkish en-
bassador, dined with US in London, he
was not sOandalized by our naked faces
Nay, he gave a ball to five hundred
naked faces"
There is much more laxity," replied
Stephan Bey, "at COnstantinOple than
there is in Egypt. Excepting the Shafe-
ees, 1 do not believe you will find one
hundred and fifty educated Caireens who
would 60, without scruple, to ball Oi
Europeans. Such prejudiees are not tc
be irritated with impunity. If the Sui
tan, however, were a man of sense, per
haps he might gradually weaken many
Of them. As the opinions held by al
80, g.