See the chapter on Religion and Laws. Eunuchs are allowed to see the face of any woman; so also are young boys. Footnote 303: Commonly thus pronounced (or rather “durrah,” with a soft _d_) for “darrah”; originally, perhaps, by way of a pun; as “durrah” is a common name for a _parrot_. Footnote 304: The law enjoins a husband who has two or more wives, to be strictly impartial to them in every respect; but compliance with its dictates in this matter is rare. Footnote 305: See Genesis xvi. 4. Footnote 306: This has been explained in the 3rd chapter, page 88. Footnote 307: In general, the most beautiful of a man’s wives or slaves is, of course, for a time, his greatest favourite; but in many (if not most) cases, the lasting favourite is not the most handsome. The love of a Muslim, therefore, is not always merely sensual; nor does the relative condition and comfort of his wife, or of each of his wives, invariably depend so much on his caprice or her own personal charms, as on her general conduct and disposition. Footnote 308: A Muslim cannot take as a concubine a slave who is an idolatress. Footnote 309: The white female slave is called “Gáriyeh Beyda;” the Abyssinian, “Gáriyeh Habasheeyeh;” and the black, “Gáriyeh Sóda.” Footnote 310: The Gellábs generally convey their slaves partly over the desert and partly down the river. Footnote 311: The motion here described they term “ghung.” Footnote 312: The Egyptians (unlike the Maghrab′ees, and some other people of Africa and of the East) do not generally admire very fat women. In his love-songs, the Egyptian commonly describes the object of his affections as of slender figure and small waist. Footnote 313: I observed here,—“It would seem that these insects were eaten by the Jews (see Leviticus xi. 22); but we cannot suppose that they derived this custom from the Egyptians, who regarded the beetle as sacred.”—A learned friend, however, has informed me, that the word rendered “beetle” in our version of the passage of Scripture which occasioned this remark properly signifies a kind of locust. Footnote 314: It is also called “homár mughattee” (covered ass). ---------------------------- CHAPTER VII. DOMESTIC LIFE—_continued_. The domestic life of the _lower orders_ will be the subject of the present chapter. In most respects, it is so simple, that, in comparison with the life of the middle and higher classes, of which we have just been taking a view, it offers but little to our notice.