Sunday morning globe., 1901-08-18
A Woman Traveller Relates Some Of
Her Experiences.
THE FIERCE ARAB ATTACK.
Life In Tho Desert and tho Fearful Peril Of Tho
Writer - Rough Treatment BY Mozaletes-
WOmans Hand In Sunken AIgeta-An inter
eStng narrative BY an obseuani Woman TTaI-
alor who reaches civilization In safety


sne has written the following interest
ing paragraphs are taken:
Naturally | was more interested in
the condition of the woman among the
various tribes we encountered than In
any other feature of the journey. What
do you advanced women" think OF
country where the women order and
command, preside at councils, conclude
peace, decide war, travel alone, inherit
a husbands effects, titles and preroga
tives, to the exclusion of his children
and male relatives; where the mothers
and daughters study the literature OF
the land, while the husbands and sons
are left in ignorance; a country where
the men do the washing, sewing, cook
ing and ordinary household drudgery,
even to minding the babies. And, won
der Of wonders, a country where man
must hide his face, while woman goes
unveiled!
This "womans land" Is I'm the cOun-
try of the Touareg, I'm Southern Alge-
ria. IL is pleasant and peaceful en-
ough when once reached, but it is an
arduous journey to get there. 1t must
be done by caravan, and the interven-
ing way is filled with trackless wastes,
days of blistering heat, with now and
then prowling "resouts" (robber
bands) to make life uncertain but in
teresting
OF course, we never could have ac-
complished the trip had we not Joined
a party Of merchants with a strong es-
cort I was the only woman in the
party but the friendly Arabs were uni
formly courteous to me. Our expert
ence with the Assassins, relics Of the
band founded by that infamous Has.
san ben Sabbah, the one-time friend of
the immortal Omar Khayyam, was the
only one that almost proved fatal. One
night we had pitched tent in the shade
Of an oasis, and were preparing our
evening meal Suddenly, from among
the rocks, came the shrill whistle If
bullets. A palm leaf fell on my head.
The Assassins were giving us notice
Of their approach. We prepared a de-
fense by putting the camels, with their
knee tethers on them, between the
palm trunks. There was a soft thud
and camel laid its long neck along
the ground and closed it's eyes, We
knew enough of the "resouts meth
DDS to feel sure they would not rush
us until they were sure Of their prey,
A bullet passed through a pan Of bar
ley water making a tremendous noise,
and then the first shout came from the
rocks above.
lay there bheind a camel, more fas-
cinated than fearful. The firing had
begun at a distance Of some hundred
yards, which put it out of the question
for us, with our lighter weapons, to
make amy reply to It. Had Uur autus-
onists continued to keep that range we
would have been hopelessly lost, but
fortunately the desert Assassin has
never taken kindly to the rifle, and fl
is his primitive instinct to close with
his enemy. Slowly they drew in, and
now for the first time I caught sight
of a face peering over a rock. IL was
the huge head Of a black ruifian with
silver trinkets cleaning i'm his ears.
From behind another boulder / saw a
fine-featured Arab with a black pointed
beard and green turban wound around
his head. They sprang over the boul-
ders, four others following in their
wake. waW gntheir arms that cleaned
with flashing ornaments. How pictu-
rescue | thought, when something
whlzzed close to my head and brought
home the realization that this was not
opera comique but might prove
tragedy.
Our men were firing now, and I saw
the red gush out on an Arabs brown
breast. A revolver shot rang out at
my very elbow, and the black giant
swayed, but only for a second, and
then with gnashing teeth he tugged at
his trigger "My Cod said a familiar
voice and a sickening fear blinded my
eyes. "Only a chip off my shoulder"
came in reassuring tones from my hus-
band. And then / must have tainted,
for when / ouened my eyes again a
handsome Arab was stretched a few
yards from me, his eyes with the death
stare IN them, looking wierdly out un-
der the green turban. l shut my eyes
and when I could summon courage to
look up again my husband was moist
ening my parched lips and cooling my
fevered brow.
Four Of our men had lost their lives,
while three of the Assasins had been
killed. The rest had fed, glad to es-
cape with their lives instead Of the
booty they had hoped to capture. We
had several smaller skirmishes with
the Assassins, but no lives were lost
To return to the women Of the Sa-
hara. We tarried among various tribes,
and the farther desertward we went
the more advanced the women were I'm
their emancipation from the control Of
men.
The place where I was most roughly
treated by the women was among the
M'Zabetes. They represent the lowest
rung on the Saharan ladder of enamel
pated women, in fact they are prac-
tically shutinwomen. Most Of them /
are tall, stout and rather good-looking /
The wellto-do among them simply eat |
sleep and vegetate. They consider |
themselves too dignifed to sing and |
dance, those pleasures being reserved
for their slaves, Their husbands are |
the spectators Of the desert and never |
take their wives along on their trading |
but leave them "shut in
ia their windowless, stuffy houses. The |
women never dare venture forth dur
ing their husbands absence, unless it |
is to visit the house Of a dying relative |
OF to go 10 the cemetery. On such oc-
casions they swathe themselves In a |
thick woolen veil, through which 10 is |
impossible 10 see or be seen. A slave |
leads them. When the husband re- |
turns there is a great feast, but in a
few days he departs on another expe- /
dition, so the lives OF the women are |
spent In almost complete desolation.
In complete contrast with the lifeless |
existence Of these women are the lives |
Of The women Of Touareg. the most |
women I have met in my |
travels around the world Their moral, |
mental and physical freedom lift them /
far above the women in the adjacent |
tribes. On lfst meeting them you are
most struck by the fact that they are