"What excited their curiosity more than anything else was Mrs. ----'s hair. They pinched it and twisted it in all sorts of ways, passed it through their hands, and were not contented until they satisfied themselves that it grew naturally on her head. Even then they kept touching it and looking at it closely every few minutes, all the time we were in the harem." [Illustration: EASTERN LADIES LISTENING TO MUSIC.] Frank made a memorandum, for the benefit of his sister and Miss Effie, that the lady in question was English, and had hair of the purest blonde. It was rich and glossy, of the hue of old gold, and was doubtless the first hair of the kind these Arab ladies had ever seen. It was no wonder that their curiosity was roused by it. Black hair is universal among the Arabs, and the tricks of the bleachers of London and New York are unknown in Egypt. "Before we knew what they were doing," the lady continued, "they had our heads in their laps, and were staining our eyelids. They wanted to stain our finger-nails and tattoo our chins, but we declined the honor, as we did not like the effect of the coloring matter, which will not wash off. It remains on for several days, and when it begins to wear off it makes the hands very dingy. They were as much amused at the whiteness of our finger-nails as we were at the dark color of theirs. "They wore their hair loose, with bands around the head to keep it in place, and the youngest of them had a very rich head-dress with many pieces of gold attached to it. They served us with pipes and coffee soon after we entered, and seemed much surprised at our refusal to smoke. One of us tried a few whiffs from a nargileh, and it made them laugh very much when the smoke choked her and set her to coughing. "Our visit lasted about half an hour. They embraced us when we came away, but did not offer to kiss us, and the last thing they did was to give a farewell pinch to Mrs. ----'s hair. They intimated by signs that they would like to come to the boat to see us; but of course that would not be according to Eastern usage, and they are not at all likely to come." Frank gathered other details about the life of Eastern women which he appended to his account of the visit we have just described. A few of them will not be out of place in this narrative. "According to all I can learn," wrote Frank, "the life of an Eastern woman must be very monotonous. She goes out very little, and after she is married can only rarely visit her relatives. Day and night her place is in the harem, and she never speaks to any man except her husband--not even to his most intimate friends or to her own brothers. The time must hang very heavily on her hands, especially when, as is generally the case, she is unable to read, and cannot obtain the consolation which books afford. [Illustration: AN ORIENTAL DANCING GIRL.]