WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
Arabia," discerns many inequalities and evils in the lives of the anderun women. This author hints at tragedies in the harems of the two countries visited by her. She refers to poison being placed by jealous women in a rival's coffee. In her view, "love has no part in the life of a Moslem woman," and she regards the whole system of polygamy as one of "degradation and vice."
Mrs. M. E. Hume Griffith has only condemnation for the harem: "There is no hope for the children of Mohammedan lands until the mothers have learnt a little of the meaning of pure life and conversation. There is no hope for the women while the men are what they are. The whole system is one of degradation and vice."
"The longer I live amongst Moslem women the more my heart yearns with love and pity for them, and the more thankful I am that their lot is not mine."
"Poor, blind, misguided Moslem women of Mosul and other Mohammedan lands! How my heart aches for them! Will no one heed the cry of anguish and despair which goes up from their midst?"
In her volume "Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan," Miss Bird refers with pity to the condition of the Persian woman. She sees only the darker aspects of harem life, and declares that polygamy militates against all the higher interests of women. Miss Bird was allowed to converse with some of the inmates of
233
