[25] The prejudice against the use of tea has much decreased since this book was written, owing to its cultivation in India. Musalmans and many Hindus now drink it freely. [26] _Dali_, the 'dolly' of Anglo-Indians. [27] See p. 13. [28] _Huqqahbardar_. [29] _Munhnal_. LETTER XIII Plurality of wives.--Mahumud's motive for permitting this privilege.--State of society at the commencement of the Prophet's mission.--His injunctions respecting marriage.--Parents invariably determine on the selection of a husband.--First marriages attended by a public ceremony.--The first wife takes precedence of all others.--Generosity of deposition evinced by the Mussulmaun ladies.--Divorces obtained under certain restrictions.--Period of solemnizing marriage.--Method adopted in choosing a husband or wife.--Overtures and contracts of marriage, how regulated.--Mugganee, the first contract.--Dress of the bride elect on this occasion.--The ceremonies described as witnessed.--Remarks on the bride.--Present from the bridegroom on Buckrah Eade. The Mussulmauns have permission from their Lawgiver to be pluralists in wives, as well as the Israelites of old.[1] Mahumud's motive for restricting the number of wives each man might lawfully marry, was, say his biographers, for the purpose of reforming the then existing state of society, and correcting abuses of long standing amongst the Arabians. My authority tells me, that at the period of Mahumud's commencing his mission, the Arabians were a most abandoned and dissolute people, guilty of every excess that can debase the character of man: drunkards, profligate, and overbearing barbarians, both in principle and action. Mahumud is said unvariedly to have manifested kindly feelings towards the weaker sex, who, he considered, were intended to be the companion and solace of man, and not the slave of his ungovernable sensuality or caprice; he set the best possible example in his own domestic circle, and instituted such laws as were then needed to restrain vice and promote the happiness of those Arabians who had received him as a Prophet. He forbade all kinds of fermented liquors, which were then in common use; and to the frequent intoxication of the men, were attributed their vicious habits, base pursuits, and unmanly cruelty to the poor females. Mahumud's code of laws relating to marriage restricted them to a limited number of wives; for at that period they all possessed crowded harems, many of the inhabitants of which were the victims of their reckless persecution; young females torn from the bosom of their families and immured in the vilest state of bondage, to be cast out upon the wide world to starvation and misery, whenever the base master of the house or tent desired to make room for a fresh supply, often the spoils of his predatory excursions.