An account of the manners and customs of the modern EgyptiansLane, Edward William
History
An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians
Lane, Edward William
Egypt -- Social life and customs
he generally does by emancipating her, giving her a dowry, and marrying
her to some person of honest reputation; or by presenting her to a
friend. I have already mentioned, that a master cannot sell nor give
away a slave who has borne him a child, if he acknowledge it to be his
own; and that she is entitled to her freedom on his death. It often
happens that such a slave, immediately after the birth of her child, is
emancipated, and becomes her master’s wife: when she has become free,
she can no longer lawfully supply the place of a wife unless he marry
her. Many persons consider it disgraceful even to sell a female slave
who has been long in their service. Most of the Abyssinian and black
slave-girls are abominably corrupted by the Gellábs, or slave-traders,
of Upper Egypt and Nubia, by whom they are brought from their native
countries: there are very few of the age of eight or nine years who have
not suffered brutal violence; and so severely do these children,
particularly the Abyssinians, and boys as well as girls, feel the
treatment which they endure from the Gellábs, that many instances occur
of their drowning themselves during the voyage down the Nile.[310] The
female slaves of every class are somewhat dearer than the males of the
same age. Those who have not had the small-pox are usually sold for less
than the others. Three days’ trial is generally allowed to the
purchaser; during which time, the girl remains in his, or some friend’s,
hareem; and the women make their report to him. Snoring, grinding the
teeth, or talking during sleep, are commonly considered sufficient
reasons for returning her to the dealer.—The dresses of the female
slaves are similar to those of the Egyptian women.
The female servants, who are Egyptian girls or women, are those to whom
the lowest occupations are allotted. They generally veil their faces in
the presence of their masters, with the head-veil; drawing a part of
this before the face, so that they leave only one eye and one hand at
liberty to see and perform what they have to do. When a male visitor is
received by the master of a house in an apartment of the hareem (the
females of the family having been sent into another apartment on the
occasion), he is usually, or often, waited upon by a female servant, who
is always veiled.
Such are the relative conditions of the various classes in the hareem. A
short account of their usual habits and employments must be added.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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