Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-03-29

feet, The feet are encased in slippers or
sandals, which can be removed instantly.
Some, like the Algerian Jews, wear the rich
est of silk stockings. The outer garment is
the white burnous, wrap often of the most
delicate wooden textu re, frequently seven
yards in length, which is gracefully draped
from the shoulders, or head and shoulders.
With the pure Arab the burnous becomes a
part of the headgear, sort of hood. bound
round and round with silk or hempen cord;
but the Moor, who is greater dandy, may
always be distinguished by his turban, a
piece of spotless muslin wound about q
bright red skull cap, called a shashea. Eli
ther the Arab or Moor is a ludicrous figure
bumped on the back of the diminutive DON
key, which seems to have reached an extreme
of littleness in Algiers, for here it is scarce
ly larger than healthy goat. But astride
his white, or dappled, Arab horse-although
the idea of the "Arab steed" being Won
derful animal ia all a mistake, as it simply
possesses the hardy and lively qualities of q
spirited mustang-or striding with measured
tread and flowing robes along these quaint
old streets, or still standing against some
Moresgue gateway, he Ia always majestic
and impressive figure.
The Arab woman, save in rare and pleasant
exceptions, is hardly what the poets and
painters have shown US. If she be graceful
or beautiful, it Is extremely difficult to dis
cover it; and she possesses neither of these
attractions after she Is twenty five, for she is
a "wife" at from twelve to fourteen years OF
age, whatever that station or condition
means among the Arabs. All there is about
this being to become ecstatic over is that
subtle prompting of the poetic fancy which
ever, to the male mind peculiarly, blooms
like the rose in any soil of apparent coyish-
ness and mystery in the gentler sex. The
Arab woman is simply vacuous, insensate,
voiceless and dreamless human animal,
sheeted like the dead, in the streets, and
dead to the world when within the four win
dowless walls where the majestic being who
owns her keeps her penned. You can make
nothing more or less of her. And while
upon the subject the thought involuntarily
comes that the relation of woman to society
in this oriental existence affords q curious
ethical study, in its striking sinilitude to
that tendency towards extremes, which 1s SO
marked a.feminine characteristic of our own
civilization. Our female agitators are in
constant state of wonder and resentment
| that oriental woman Ia satisfied with her
| condition of nonentity. Missionary zeal,
which insists upon the introduction by hook
or by crook of the element of disafection
ana 66plratlOu, ls largely UokA VI 1uAo SeAVA-
ment. However this may be, oriental Gus
| tom, the result of Mohammedanism, has
| forced the eastern woman to the opposite ex-
| traordinaIy extreme of accepting her 'de-
| graded" position with the same sense of su-
perior satisfaction as that exhibited by the
| enlightened and cultured woman, who, to
further establish her "rights," endlessly re"
sents, opposes and asserts in defense of her
personal Importance, however little the same
| may be questioned. The dress of this Arab
woman is all concealing upon the street and
| all revealing in her home. The outer gar
ment is the haik, white, usually of wool,
sometimes of silk, often of cotton. 1t is
frequently twenty feet in length and nearly
| two yards wide. Beneath this are precisely
| unstifened corset or bodice, frequently
| msssively embroidered and bejeweled, PAN
falcons reaching to the feet and comprising
| countless yards of material, and the tantali-
zing adjar tied tightly around the face. and
| falling about twelve inches below. Most
| women not satisfied with this retirement, or
perhaps, more strictly speaking, most women
whose husbands are not satisfied with this
| observation, further hide the face by bring
| ing the haik down over one side of the fore
| head 80 that but one eye, dark eyebrow
and tiny patch of the forehead are visible.
| Their feet are usually encased in brown or
yellow slippers; danglets and bsnglets of in
describable jewelry tinkle and chime from
wrists, ankles and concealed portions of the
F.! figure; and, in this swathing of ghestly haik,
with bumped bodies and mincing steps,
| those who are allowed upon the streets at all ,
| wriggle, glide and scurry along, like bevy
| of escaped wraiths from among the as silent
graves upon the heights. But this privilege
of waddiing about like lot of sheeted
spooks is by no means an universal one.
The young and fair see the sunlight only
| <bo of THAR 6UaI1inOa
or from the white terraces for brief hour
towards sunset. Only the aged and safe are
ever permitted to visit the mosques, with
the exception that on Fridays, in company
with servants or elders, little excursions are
allowed to the suburban marabouts, or sa-
cred temples, and the khoubas at the ceme-
teries, as at Belcour, where they are allowed
the cheering diversion of filling with water
the little cups resting at the heads of tembs;
for the birds drink from these and fly tc
heaven with greetings from the souls at rest
beneath.
In doors the dress of these women is ethe'
real enough for the most fervid artists fan
cy. They never see in their own homes any
male but their husbands and children. The
climate, like that of Cuba In winter, an6
excessively hot from May until October, hal
also much to do with this. There are really
but two garments for every day home wear
One is gauze chemise through which thu
olive hued form is wholly revealed in outline
and detail. The other is the wide, ampl'
trowsers, terminating just below the knees
and almost as feecy and gauzy in effects
The lowlier women are bare legged, bare
footed and bare headed at home. Wives o
the wealthier Arabs will don pink, yellow O
blue gauze silk hose and dainty yellow ba
bouches, or slippers. Their hair will b.
coiled in simple Grecian knot and fastened
with some huge jeweled ornament, and per
haps tiny skull cap, richly embroidered
will rest coquettishly on one side of tn
head. But all are bedecked with jewelry
The poorer are fond of FURNISHED coppe
bands about the arms, wrists and ankles, o
brilliant quartz and glass cubes and crystals
The rich are ablaze with jewels, prinoipall
pearls, emeralds and sapphires, badly set
but always genuine and of great value
: There is legend in Algiers that the hidde
riches of the wealthier Arabs, principal
, comprising jewels, exceeds the sum total i
value of all coin, plate and jewels otherwia
possessed by all nationalities in the "whit
1 oity."
! which formerly existed in the city of Algieri
a only five now remain. The most interestin
q of these are Djamaa el Kebir. the gran
q mosque, in Rue de Ia Marine, Djamaa ell Die
). did, or the Fisher place mosque, also In To
a Rue de 10 Marine, and the enchanting lit
Z mosque of Djamaa Sidi Ramdan, overlookin
: the garden Of Marengo, and taking it nam
i from the marabout, or Mohammstan prie
J. of most venerated memory, Sidi Add
a Rhaman, who died in 1471 and is interre
l. here within an inner sacred chapel or kho'
!, ba. surrounded by several pachas and dsy
Il Two distinct and jealous sects, the Male
q rite and the Hanef rite, worship respective
= 81 the GRAND mosque and the Fisher pla