Swearing is very largely indulged in by men and women alike; it seems to come as naturally to them as swimming to a duck. Originally the words "wallah," "yallah," "billah," were used as swear expressions; but are now looked upon more as ejaculations equivalent to our "good gracious!" "goodness!" &c.; the real swear words being "wallahi," "billahi," &c. Some of the women cannot keep the expression wallah out of their conversation, though I try hard to persuade them to do so. For instance, a visitor comes; you remark to her on the extreme heat. "Wallah," comes the answer, "it is hot!" Or you inquire after some member of her family. "Wallah, she is very ill," is the reply. I was visiting one day in a Moslem house, and the old mother-in-law said to me, "What has happened to X.?" mentioning her daughter-in-law; "she never swears now!" I was indeed thankful for this unexpected tribute to that woman's efforts. We started an anti-swearing society amongst a few of the women; it was quite funny to see how they endeavoured to keep back the old familiar words which had been on their lips since childhood. One little boy joined with the women, and he found it hardest of all; but when we left he was still persevering. He learnt the Ten Commandments by heart, so whenever I heard him use a swear word I made him repeat the third commandment. The women are terribly fond of couching their denials in the form of oaths, as "May my hand be broken," "May I become blind," "May my interior become dried up if I did such and such a thing!" It makes me shiver sometimes to hear them swearing to a lie in this way; and I often tell them that if God only took them at their word, they would be stricken blind many times over. It is not an unknown thing for women to resort occasionally to fighting as a pastime, but I am thankful to say I have not seen much of it. A woman came to the Dispensary once with a fearful-looking hand: the thumb was about six times its normal size and had become gangrenous. My husband said the only possible cure was amputation; to this the woman would not consent. She said that a short time before she had been fighting with another woman, who had bitten her thumb in her fury. I asked this woman what she had done to her opponent. "Oh," she said, "I only pulled out her hair!"