WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
describes some of the beauties of the plains as extremely handsome. The Bedouins do not only esteem the women for their bodily attractions. There is a real sentiment of conjugal love, and both husband and wife lament partings, if only for a few months. On the return of the husband, the wife greets him with cries of delight.
Ages ago the women of Arabia were "a race of heroines." We cannot suppose that the spirit of those days is dead; that Arabian poets do not voice the emotions of living men, and that the Arab lover of to-day looks upon his bride, or his concubine, as a mere serf. Men do not languish, lapse into despair, and commit suicide for the simple possession of slaves. Yet Letourneau is inclined to class the Arabs with barbarians.
A form of capture-marriage is practised among the Bedouins. The girl is wooed and her consent secured; but she must flee from her suitor and assume a defensive attitude, in accordance with ancient convention. Sometimes she hides coyly from her lover, and is provided with food by her relatives. In one tribe the bride is protected by her women friends, but she allows herself to be caught and carried to the bridegroom's tent.
It is curious to note the pains taken by some writers to underrate the refinement of sentiment in love among
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