Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1891-01-30
ORIENTAL LADIES.
tT is Possible TO SEE THEM.
BUT NOT ar FAIL EASY.
Interesting Things About the Homes
and the Home Life of the People
OF Mohammedan Countries
inquisttiye Beauties.

& 1ssea phuer eue prevailing iron system
OF seclusion the beauties of islam are not
wholly cut off from the civilized world.
Men, indeed, are absolutely forbidden to
| approach them, and so strict is this pro
hibitiol that it extends itself not merely
to foreigners and unbelieyefs, but to those
OF their own race and creed and even to
their nearest relations. From the day.of
her marriage to the day of her death
Dloslem bride must never see or be seen
by any man save her husband. But with
lady visitors it is quite different matter.
Seldom, indeed, does the most Jealous
and fanatical of AIussulman husI ands oh
ject to admit them to the society of his
wives, and, in fact, such visits arc often
looked upon by the honest Bluebeard in
the light of favor rather than an affront,
inasmuch as it keeps his own ladies in
good humor for the time being aud saves
him the trouble of doing anything to
entertain them.
Let us suppose that you are European
or American lady travelling along the
North African seaboard and about to nav
visit to the Gagged beauties In the homo
OF some great Moorish dignity in Mo-
rocco. Following the two tall, red.
capped, white-frocked Moorish soldiers
sent to conduct you, you thread your
way through cobweb ofnarrow, gloomy,
ilthy lanes, almost blocked at times by
heaps of dust and garbage, among which
numbers of gaunt, wolfish dogs are root
ing hungrily. Meanwhile your two guides
clear tho way for your horse or donkey
through the eddying whirl of men, bows,
camcls, asses, horses and old women by
constant shouts of 'sChelohl chelohin
Qook QUIT and remorseless punches with
the brass-shod butts of their rifles.
at length you halt in front of high.
bare, windowless wall, the only visible
opening in which is deep, shadow
porch of the key-shaped form, peculiar
to Saracenic architecture, edged with
curious fretwork, and brilliantly paint.
cd with alternate stripes of crimson
and blue. This leads into marble
paved quadrangle with tiny fountain
splashing and tinkling in the centre
the "patio" OF the Spaniards. in fact.
borrowed by them from their Moorish
conquerors. Shady colonnades run along
its four sides, above which are clustered
passages protected by screens of lattice
work. And now you discover why the
outside of Moorish house is always
windowless, for with jealous prccau-
ton thoroughly characteristic of the
East all the windows open upon the in
ner court!
Visitors being frequently received in
the court itself, it is strewn with mats or
carpets and shaded from the weather by
colored awning, which subdues the
burning African sunshine into rich
summer gloom of purple twilight, such
as that which fills the aisles of some vast
cathedral. Beyond this lies spacious
saloon, with a richly carpeted floor and
a paneled ceiling, for which any Vene-
tan noble of the fourteenth century
would gladly have given half his YEARLY
revenue. No chairs are to be seen. but
the soft cushions scattered about the
hoor and the velvet or damask holsters
placed along the sides of the room show
where the inmates are wont to SQUAT or
recilne. The upper part of the wall is
1rcscoed with appropriate texts from the
Koran in quaint, arrowy, Eastern char
acters, while along the lower part da-
mask hangings of white, scarlet or blue
mask the doorways of, several bedrooms
from which three or fear steps of pol
Ished white marble lead down into the
saloon itself.
Suddenly the hangings of curtained
archway at the far end OF the room arc
thrust aside, and the master of the house
In person comes forward to greet you-a
stately old Eastern gentleman in flowing
Moorish robes, whose long silky beard is
as white as the many folded turban that
overshadows it. He puts his hand to
his forehead in graceful oriental saluta-
ton, and begs you lin broken French or
Spanish if you do not understand Ara.
bic) to consider his house and all that it
contains as your own, after which Won
are requested to "honor with the touch
OF your foot the threshold of his home %
Following the old gentleman's puid-
ancc, you are led through maze of dark
passages and low doorways till you feel
as II playing neyer-ending game of
hlde-and-seek. AT length you halt be-
fore flight of broad marble steps lead
ing up to high archway, through the
curtains of which come the ripple of te.
male voices and the silver tinkle of girl
ish laughter. Beside the steps stand
like bronze statues two gigantic black
slaves, gorgeous in white and crimson,
with drawn swords cleaning in their
huge bony hands. But at the sight of
the '.master" and the s.Faringhi kha-
noon" (foreign LADY, the sabres are low
cred in salute. the curtains fall back and
you are ushered into the midst of a scene
which appears to have come bodily out
of the "Arabian Nights.
Before you lies large and lofty room,
the shadowy interior of which looks de,
lightfully cool aud shaded, after the
clustering glare outside. The rich Per
sian carpets leave enough of the floor un-
covered to let you admire to the full one
of those miracles of ornamental Mosaic
which are still the wonder of all who
visit the Tai Mahal or the Alhambra.
From tho vaulted roof hang splendid
silver lamps of the kind familiar to
those who have seen the mosques of Tun-
Il