WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
wives when they begin to fade, and marry younger women who are more attractive.
The Moors of the cities are more inclined to polygamic unions than those of the country regions. But many rich Moors refrain from plural marriage, and maintain one wife and several concubines. Discarded wives are often compelled to live as courtesans. Mr. Foster Fraser describes the disorderly houses of Fez as "dens of crime."
The æsthetic standard of beauty in women is plumpness, both in Morocco and Tunis. It is every Moorish and Tunisian woman's ambition to be fat. The stouter a woman is, the more she is desired as a wife; and to attain the necessary embonpoint, girls are fattened from infancy by their mothers. They are almost forcibly fed. In Tunis the women are often extremely ungainly through this induced adiposity.[1] Unlike the roving Arabs, who admire lithe and slightly-built women, the Moors and the Tunisians are attracted by unwieldy forms.
Tunis is chiefly Mohammedan, but there is a large Jewish population. The Bey keeps a resplendent harem, and sets the fashion to a number of his wealthier
- ↑ Mr. Foster Fraser writes: "A Tunisian girl is slim like other girls. As she reaches the marriageable age she takes no exercise. She gorges on kous-kous, which is farinaceous and flesh-producing."
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