Having avoided as much as possible marking the _accentuation_ in Arabic words, I must request the reader to bear in mind, not only that a single vowel, when not marked with an accent, is always short; but that a double vowel, or diphthong, at the end of a word, when not so marked, is not accented (“Welee,” for instance, being pronounced “Wĕ′lee,” or “Wel′ee,”): also, that the accents do not always denote the principal or only emphasis (“Sháweesh” being pronounced “Sháwee′sh”); and that “dh,” “gh,” “kh,” “sh,” and “th,” when not divided by a hyphen, represent, each, a single Arabic letter. As some readers may observe that many Arabic words are written differently in this work and in my translation of “The Thousand and One Nights,” it is necessary to add, that in the present case I write such words agreeably with the general pronunciation of the educated classes in Cairo. For the same reason I often use the same European character to express two Arabic letters which in Egypt are pronounced alike. E W L _May, 1842._ CONTENTS. --- PAGE BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR v PREFACE ix ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION xviii INTRODUCTION. THE COUNTRY AND CLIMATE—METROPOLIS—HOUSES—POPULATION 1 CHAPTER I. —PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DRESS OF THE MUSLIM 21 EGYPTIANS II. —INFANCY AND EARLY EDUCATION 42 III. —RELIGION AND LAWS 52 IV. —GOVERNMENT 98 V. —DOMESTIC LIFE (MEN OF THE HIGHER AND MIDDLE ORDERS) 120 VI. —DOMESTIC LIFE, _continued_ (WOMEN OF THE HIGHER AND 141 MIDDLE ORDERS) VII. —DOMESTIC LIFE, _continued_ (THE LOWER ORDERS) 174 VIII. —COMMON USAGES OF SOCIETY 179 IX. —LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE 188 X. —SUPERSTITIONS (GENII, SAINTS, AND DARWEESHES) 202 XI. —SUPERSTITIONS, _continued_ (CHARMS AND AUGURATION) 226 XII. —MAGIC, ASTROLOGY, AND ALCHEMY 242 XIII. —CHARACTER 255 XIV. —INDUSTRY 285 XV. —USE OF TOBACCO, COFFEE, HEMP, OPIUM, ETC. 303 XVI. —THE BATH 307 XVII. —GAMES 315 XVIII. —MUSIC 323