Domestic Life in Palestine/Preface
While residing in Palestine, I was placed in circumstances which gave me unusual facilities for observing the inner phases of Oriental Domestic Life. I mingled freely with the people, of all creeds and classes, and daily became better acquainted with their habits and modes of thought. The women especially interested me, and I gleaned many facts concerning them, which have never hitherto been published, and probably have never been collected.
The pleasure which my Notes and Journal afforded to members of my home-circle, on my return to England, led me to think that, possibly, my countrymen would like to gain a further insight into the mysteries of Eastern life. Hence it was that I resolved to publish this volume. In compiling it I have avoided, as much as possible, those subjects with which the public are already familiar. Descriptions of well-known places are only given when they are necessary to form an introduction or background to those scenes of real life which I have attempted to portray.
To avoid complication, I speak of the people of Palestine generally as Arabs; for, though they are a mixed race, they all call themselves "Arabs" or "Sons of the Arabs," and Arabic is their mother tongue. I classify them only according to their creeds; but I may here mention, that the Christians of the land are said to be of pure Syrian origin, while the Moslems are chiefly descended from the Arabians, who settled in the towns and villages of Syria and Palestine in the seventh and eighth centuries.
In preparing this volume for the press, I have had the valuable assistance of my brother, Mr. E. T. Rogers, Her British Majesty's Consul at Damascus, and have enjoyed the opportunity of personally consulting him. He has suggested a few alterations in the orthography of Oriental titles and names of persons and places, and has added a few notes of explanation, which are distinguished by his initials.
M. E. R.
21 Soho Square, London.