And then the houses! All of the Mohammedans have homes so latticed that the women cannot be seen from the streets. In some cases the windows are built over the sidewalks, hanging out like cages of wooden network. This is true even in the new apartment houses which are now going up, as well as in the huts of the poor, although the latter seldom have windows except at the back. The ordinary lattice is made of canelike rushes or sticks, and preparing them is a special trade followed by many. The rushes are brought in to Damascus on the backs of donkeys, which as they go fill the streets with their loads. It behooves the Mohammedan woman to be strict in her conduct. The husband here has most of the rights, and can divorce his wife, or wives, whenever he will. He sometimes does so without thinking, and that to his sorrow. I heard of such a case yesterday. According to the laws of Damascus, if a man wishes to get rid of his wife he has only to say, “I divorce you! I divorce you! I divorce you!” and the woman must leave. Once she has gone she cannot come back as a wife until after she has been married to someone else. To get around this, an angry husband, relenting and longing for the dear departed, arranges to marry her to a friend, a dervish, or some half-crazy man, who for a sum will go through the ceremony of a wedding and immediately divorce the woman, who can then be married again to her former husband. In the case referred to the man had a petty quarrel with his wife, and angrily muttered the words of divorce. As soon as she had gone he repented, and thereupon brought about her marriage with an alleged friend, with the understanding that a divorce was to follow right after the ceremony. The friend, however, refused to utter the words of divorce, saying, “I like the woman and will keep her myself,” and so it is at this writing. Such divorces are always on the part of the husband. As for the women, they have more difficulty in getting rid of the marriage tie, although they can do so provided the husband does not perform his duty to them or give them an equal amount of attention with the other wives of the family. According to Mohammed every man had the right to four wives, but the Koran provides that he must spend an equal time with each of them, and in some places he is required to give each a separate establishment. During my travels in the Holy Land I have picked up some interesting stories of marriage and divorce. Every sect has its own customs. The Jews can divorce easily, and after that they can marry again. The orthodox Greeks can marry only three times, and some of the Christians are not allowed a divorce without cause.