The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-21
The Oasis of Barbary .:=. : :::> s:::
By Frank G. Carpenter
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1 plays the Lady Beautiful. sitting on the to.-lb of her parents while she hands out the soup and dispenses her aims. 1 have seen many of the Mozabites during my travels. They are short stout and light eomplexioned, with features Jewish In cast They are noted for their stingIness. Most of them sleep in their shops. where they sometimes do their own cooking, saving every cent to take home.
 Love and Marriage in the Sahara.
 All the women of the Sahara marry young. A girl is often betrothed at eight or nine she is married at twelve or thir- teen, and is an old woman at thirty. At ten she begins to primp and look at the men, and something is supposed to be wrong with her if she Is not married at seventeen or eighteen. As to the age of the husband, that matters not. He may be sixteen or sixty, and he may have sev- eral wives.
 The marriage is usually arranged by & female matchmaker, employed by the groom, who is supposed to find out all the details as to the character and wealth of the bride. She goes with her to the bath and investigates her beauty; she makes such inquiries at home about her cooking and housekeeping ability as enables her to furnish full description. The groom is supposed to pay certain sum for the bride, and she Is expected to bring him a small fortune in jeWelry and household effects.
 Preparatory to the wedding the bride is put through course of training. She is bathed and greased again and again, and her skin is coated with powder On the wedding day she is wrapped up in so many wells that she looks more like a bundle than a woman. and in this shape she is carried on a camel or donkey to the home of the groom.
 The first home of the desert bride Ia with her husbands family; but only when she Is the first wife. If he has other wives she goes to the common tent and there takes her place as boss of he establishment. She holds this position for a year or so, but after that comes down to everyday life and does her share of the work. She aids in the cooking, in gathering fuel and in weaving the cloth for tents and the family clothing.
 The OuIed Nails.
 Have you ever heard of the Oued Nails? They are to be found in every oasis and there is a whole street given up to them In Bislxra, the so-called Paris of the Sahara. They are noted for their beauty and are professional entertainers, much like the Nautch girls of India, the GhawaZi of Egypt or the Geshas of Japan. Robert Kitchens rather effsive- ly describes them in "The Garden of AL lah, making them more beautiful than I have found them either In Bskra or here. The Ouled Nails sing and dance for money in the Moorish cafes Any one who will pay for a cup of coffee can see tn --.i, and scores of these dark faced, turbaned, long bearded Arabs will sit and watch them for hours. The girls are paid by the owners of the establishments, but they also collect contributions from the foreigners present, coming to them and kneeling down at the close of each dance Thereupon the foreigner vets a sil-'er coin with his lips and presses 1t upon the forehead of the dancer The coin sticks and the girl rises and goes through the wild abandon of another dance. nov ing her head so gently that the coin re- mains where 1t was placed.
 The dance of the Ouled Nails Is the well known stomach dance, in vogue throughout the orient. It consists of series of contortions of the hips and ab- domen, while the rest of the body re- mains stationary or perhaps sways back and forth The girls are fully dressed; there is no. exposure of person. and they lack the ballet tights of our wicked stage. Nevertheless their actions are more de- mora IizipS ti4s.4 +hess ef tho ~ofst or our dance halls. Their profession is consid- cred respectable and after a time they take the money they have thus made and go home to marry their lovers. FRANK CARPENTER.