"As to cooping up," said Aga Meer, who here resumed the contest, "Jaffier Ali has already explained the indulgences they have, in going abroad, and seeing their friends at home; and with respect to wearing veils, what you deem a punishment they consider a distinction, and look down with pity on the women of the Eelyât tribes and others, who do not follow this custom. "I do not exactly know," said he, "what you mean by a knowledge of the world; nor do I distinctly understand the benefits you expect them to derive from such knowledge. "We," he added, smiling, "consider that loving and obeying their husbands, giving proper attention to their children, and their domestic duties, are the best occupations for females." "That is," I replied, "your females are either the slaves of your pleasures, or drudges to perform the work of your house. This is their lot in the present world, and in the next, though you do not exclude them from heaven, you only allow, even to the most virtuous, as I said before, half the joys which are destined for a good man. They are in fact neither treated nor instructed in a manner that can elevate them to the rank which God meant them to hold, as the companions and friends of man; and, in the condition in which your laws and usages place them, they never can have that respect for themselves, nor receive it from others, which is essential to form a civilized community." "But," said the Meer, "we are not a civilized community, such as you allude to; some of our ladies, whose husbands or fathers are learned men, have considerable knowledge, and many of these have received an excellent education." "This," said I, "is a fact of which I am aware; my friend Jaffier Ali, who married the daughter of a physician, informed me how well the mind of his consort had been cultivated by her wise and pious father, and I have seen a small volume of poems copied by her, which he means to present to the Elchee; but I consider her, and some others with similar endowments, as exceptions to the general rule." "Very fortunately," replied Aga Meer, "they are exceptions: if the majority of our females were so well instructed, they would be far before their fathers and husbands, and that would never do. Changes must begin with the men or we shall have all in confusion.