WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
lessened and modified. The guardians of the harem are often dull, inactive, and effeminate in their habits. Some tend to obesity. It is doubtful whether the moral qualities suffer to the extent that is usually believed. But it is stated that many of these neuter men are exceedingly sly, cunning, and perfidious.
It is generally believed that eunuchs are lacking in courage, and that they show certain docile, timorous, and cowardly traits. This has, however, been denied in some instances. The guardians of the harems are reputed to be extremely cruel. This attribute may derive from their changed physical qualities, but it is probably a normal manifestation of Oriental indifference to suffering and the stoicism long inculcated by precept and example.
An Egyptian will flog a servant until he faints. Many are the accounts of Eastern severity and excessive callousness to the pain endured by others. Torture still exists in several parts of the East as a corrective and a penalty for crime.
I know the English wife of an eminent Moor, who related to me her sensations of horror and indignation when she saw her husband cruelly thrash a slave-boy, on the bare back, with a cane until the blood flowed. She could not reconcile this utter indifference in the infliction of suffering upon a helpless servant with her husband's conjugal tenderness and his kindness to his own children.
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