WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
says that the women of the seraglios were not guarded by eunuchs; in fact, there were then no eunuchs in Arabia. But Sir Richard Burton alludes in two or three passages to eunuchs in modern Arabia. Pinkerton asserts that the Arabs strongly disapproved of castration.
Burton, in his "Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah," relates that while staying in the house of the Shayk Hamid he never saw any women but the slaves. Those girls were shy, and usually covered their faces while they talked to him. Slave girls could be bought for about £60, and the Abyssinians were the most highly valued among the women of colour. The Circassians were worth £100 to £400.
Yet it is amongst the wandering, adventurous Arabs that we must look for the birth of the ideals of romantic love and chivalry. These sons of the desert, who have been unjustly charged with cruelty to women, were, even in early times, very ardent and tender lovers. Sir Richard Burton says that men will die for love in the East. The passionate, imaginative Bedouins are mostly chivalrous in their conduct towards women. They are still gentlemen, retaining strong, lasting traditions of honour, courtesy and hospitality.
The Bedouin women are lithe and active. Arabs dislike fat persons. As a rule, the women are unveiled, though they wear a head covering. Burton
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