Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-29
A PEEP AT ALGIERS.
Naive Arabs Not in Every Instance as
represent, d to the Reading Public.
A Description Of Their Habits. customs, Tress
WorshIp E c.-The Women No What
the FOsls Have Repre- sented.
copyright, 1901
ATrrrps Feb - II


means the wierd, uncouth and ferocious
Arabs of the desert. They are as a body
as different in appearance, dress, GUS
toms, and what may be at least called an
oriental refinement, as are the splen-
didly- formed, intellectual and cultivated
people OF our American cities different
from the toughest COWBOY Of the plains,
OF the poor whites'' of the mountain
regions of the South. Their manner is
at all times of the most polished dignity
and austere~ gravity. This is perhaps
more true Of Arab men than Arab
women; and 1t is possible that his inter-
esting costume adds much to his impress
iveness in this regard. The city Arab or
Moor as he is termed, of good circum-
stances, is always a well-drCssed man
and is invariably one OF the cleanest be-
ings on earth. do not know just how
many "doors OF heaven are opened
for cleanliness by Islam; but the Koran
makes IL a part of, rather than "next
to- goodness. The city Arab pure and
simple, as well as the Algerian Moor,
who, for distinction, should be fixed in
tHe mind as the Arab who has intermar-
ried with other, chiefly oriental, races,
alike wear richly embroidered waist
coats with bright colored and often jew
eled sashes. baggy, Zousve-like trous-
eTs, which stop short just below the
knees, exposing bare brown legs to the
"a an sod in aIi ar
sandals, which can be removed instantly.
Some, like the Algerian Jews, wear the
richest Of silk stockings. The outer gar
ment is the white buTuous, a wrap often
of the most delicate wooden texture, fire.
Quently seven yards IN length, which is
gracefully draped from the shoulders, or
head and shoulders. With the pure
Arab the bur nous becomes a part of the
headgear, a sort of hood, bound round
and round with a silk or hempen cord;
but the Moor, who is a greater dandy,
may always be distinguished by his tur-
ban, a piece of spotless muslin wound
about a bright red skull cap, called q
sashea. Either the Arab or Moor is lu-
dicTous figure bumped on the back of
the diminutive donkey, which seems TO
have reached an extreme of littleness IN
Algiers, for here 1t is scarcely larger
white or daDpled Arab hoTse-although
the idea of the "Arab steed'' being
wonderful animal is all mistake, as it
simply possesses the hardy and lively
qualities of a spirited mustang-or strid-
ing with measured tread and flowing
robes along these quaint old streets, or
still standing against SONS MoTesQue
gateway, he is always a majestic and
impressive figure.
The Arab woman, save in rare and
pleasant exceptions, is hardly what the
poets and painters have shown u.s. If she
be graceful or beautiful, IL is extremely
difficult TO discover 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 20 become ecstatio over, is
that subtle prompting of the poetic
fancy which ever. TO the male mind Pc
culiarly, blooms like the rose in any soil
of apparent coyishness and mystery in
the geutler sex. The Arab woman is
simply a vacuous, insensate, voiCeleSs
aud dreamleSs human animal, sheeted
like the dead in the streets, and
dead TO the world when within the four
Einuowless walls where the majestic be-
ing 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 re-
latiou of woman to society in this ORR
entail existence affords a curious ethical
study, in its striking similitude to that
tendency towards extremes, which is so
marked a feminine characteristic of our
own civilization. Our female agitators
are constant ctofa of y-onIar md ra-
sentiment, that oriental woman is satis-
fed with her condition of noueutity.
Missionary zeal, which insists upon the
Introduction by hook or by crook of the
element of disaffeCtiOB and aspiration, is
largely born of this sentiment, How
ever this may be, oriental custom, the
result of Mohamidanism, has forced the
Eastern woman to the opposite eXtraordi-
nary extreme of accepting her ''de-
graded position with the same sense of
superior satisfaction SIS that exhibited by
the enlightened and cultured woman,
who, to further establish her ''rights, -
endlessly reseuts, opposes aud asserts in
defense of her personal Importance,
however little the same may be ques-
toned. The dress of this Arab woman
Is all conccalng upon the street, and all
revealing in her home. The outer gar
meut is the haik, white, usu-
ally Of wool, sometimes Of silk, often
Of cotton. It is frequently twenty
feet In length and nearly two yards wide.
Beneath this are precisely four articles
Of apparel, gsuze chemise, an unstff-
ened corset or bodice, frequently mas
slvely embroidered and beJeweled, pan
falcons reaching to the feet and COM
prisiug ccuutless yards of material, and
the tsntalizing sdjar 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 OBJ
scuration, further hide the face by bring
ing the haik down over one side Of the
forehead so that but one eye, q dark eye
brow and tiny patch OF the forehead
are visible. Their feet are usually EN-
caSed &c brown or yellow slippers; dang
lets and bRuglets of Understandable jewelry
huSle aud chime from wrists, ankles and
concealed portions of the figure; and in
this swathing OF ghostly hGik, With
bumped bodies and mincinE steps, those
who are allowed on the streets at all,
Wrggle, glide AMI scurry along ike a
herW 1F f-urv, the