The Washington times., 1923-04-25
DESERT WOMEN
LOVELY AND
FREE
Nine. Citroen, First European
to Cross Sahara, Tells OF
Life There.

Life There.
NEW YORK, April 25.--Woman's
paradise has been found.
The first white woman known to
have crossed the Sahara desert,
Nine. Andre Citroen. wife Of "the
French Henry Ford" discovered the
very spot while spending some
what warm winter on the Sahara
sands. At the Plaza here today
she told for the first time Of this
land where "sheiks n everything
abound" which she saw five weeks
Lago.
In the first place there's no
such thing as age in the Ahaggar
plateau, in the heart Of the Sahara,
Nine. Citroen explained.
mo man knows woman's age
and she doesn't have to lie about
her age. She doesn't know 1t her.
self" the petite FrenchWoman said,
wide-eyed. when you ask the
girls how old they are they look at
you with pity and say, Wen see
when we die. No need before They
realize that time slips by quickly,
so they just refuse to keep records
Of births and years.
Women are Free.
This particular group of the eau
casian race which lives on the
Plateau of Ahaggar are great tall
dark people, as dark as the Hindu.
They live in most primitive fash
ion, shut in by the desert. But:
1.-THE women are remarkably free.
They do just what they want to,
domineering the men. They are the
only women of the desert who are
not forced to wear wells over their
faces.
''The men wear the wells instead.
They think the wells make them
very mysterious and enticing. OF
course, the wells also serve as pro-
lection against the strong sun, but
the men are vain 'sheiks.'
There <are never any dishes to
wash. When hungry, one just
walks out and pulls a date from a
palm tree. Often there aren't any
palm trees. Then don't know
what they eat. That is the ques-
ton kept asking all through the
desert, what do the people eat?' 1t
seemed the answer was nothing.
Dates, and not always plenty of
them, were the only food to be
seen. They do not need cooking.
THE sand is hot enough to cook
an egg, If they had an egg, in
summer, I was told. When 1 was
there it was only 100 in the shade
In the day time. At night it always
grew cold-as low as zero. 1t was
too cold for snakes-a desert danger
in the summer.
"The women are devinely happy.
They have such an easy life.
They have such jealous hus-
bands-and they love it.
They are good looking women
with rich brown skin and we'll.
knit bodies.
"A man has a right to all the
wives he wants, but there aren't
enough dates to be sold to afford
him more than one or two. So
women are not troubled with com.
petition.
II a man wants a divorce all he
has to do is inform the chief. called
the 'Caid,' and send her away and
the divorce is complete. There
used to be more wealth in Ahagsar
ana then a man was nicer about
keeping his wives after he grew
tired Of them. But this little de-
velopment does not disturb the
women"
They Like Perfume.
With the few pennies that these
people get together they indulge their
passion for perfume and cigarettes,
Nine. CitrOen said. Bathing is a
mystery to these people. They prob
ably never heard Of washing in
water, that precious stuff which
drops from the sky maybe once in
three Or four years.
But they love perfume, q cheap
violet perfume that the caravans
bring from Algiers. Both the men
and women glory in it. Next to per-
fume they favor cigarettes-for the
women, too. The John D. Rookie
Teller of the desert probably affords
a package twice a year.
Nine. Citroen spent three weeks
travelling in her husbands cater.
pillar automobile toward Timbuktu.
She wore a heavy wooden knicker-
booker suit to keep the suns rays
from burning her skin, a. thick
helmet hat and a heavy green veil
over the face and neck. She also
wore thick gloves. Even then the
sand seeped inside the veil and chung
to her hair.
There was never a chance to un-
dress at night, and the boudoir was
a sandy tent. They travelled for
days and days without seeing a thing
but sand and few heaps of camels'
bones and graves of pioneer Eu.
ropeans which marked the Journey,
Nine. Citroen believes American
women receive very little care and
petting from their husbands. In
France, husband wife are much more
interested in one another, she thinks
Have American women achieved
independence but lost the petting?"
she asked.
EXECUTION OF PRIEST