"I have told you of the marriage ceremonies among the modern Egyptians; they are practically the same in most of the Moslem countries, and have the same result among all except the poorer classes. The wife of a man who can afford the expense of a harem passes the most of her time there, and only goes out on rare occasions. Ladies of her own rank may call on her, and she can return their visits, but they are not very frequent, and she passes the most of the time entirely among the other women of her house. These include the servants or slaves, and possibly the other wives of her husband. "Speaking of other wives, let me say here that, according to the Koran, an Arab or Turk may have four wives, provided he can take care of them, but by custom he sometimes has more. Doctor Bronson says the intercourse of the East with Europe has caused a great many men to adopt the customs of the latter country and have only one wife. Some of the high officers of Egypt have done so, and they are occasionally seen in public with their wives, which is a great innovation upon the old habits of the land. "Where a man has two or more wives each of them is entitled to separate apartments, and to servants whose whole business is to wait on her; consequently, a harem is an expensive luxury, and there are not many who can afford it. Perhaps the saving of expense has something to do with the spread of European ideas among the Orientals. And then, too, there are apt to be quarrels among the occupants of the harem which the master is called upon to settle, and with a sufficient number of them his life is anything but a happy one. [Illustration: AN EASTERN STORY-TELLER.] "The amusements of the ladies of the harem consist of music and story-telling, and for this there are professional narrators and performers who go from house to house, and are paid for their services. Of course these are women, as no man except the master of the house can enter the harem. Their visits are always welcome, as they greatly assist in passing away the time. When a story-teller is present the women gather about her, and sometimes the master of the house is seated in a balcony, where he can hear the performance and look upon the assemblage below. For the musical entertainments there are generally two or more performers, one of them playing on the flute and the other on the guitar. Then there are women who sing in addition to playing, or, if singers cannot play, they bring their own accompanists.