XLIII 



THE Arab is a tall, straight-featured, well-shaped man, 

 varying in color from a dark bronze to a tone quite as 

 white as some Europeans. He is decidedly handsome. 

 Women are apt to be struck by the manly beauty of the 

 Tunisian, and he is indeed a fine specimen. Men have less 

 chance to be struck by the good looks of the Tunisian 

 women, for only the veriest apologies for women are ever 

 allowed outside the harem walls unless closely veiled. I 

 must, however, except the pretty young Jewess bless her 

 heart ! who goes freely about in a sack - coat and tight 

 trousers, and showing her face bar powder just as the 

 Lord made it. 



The Arab is, in his way, cleanly. He is supposed to 

 wash his feet before praying, and his hands and face be- 

 fore and after eating many, in fact, do so ; and he is apt 

 to bathe in streams at not infrequent intervals, unless the 

 weather be too cold. But and there is in the Orient 

 always a but on this subject he can scarcely be gauged as 

 up to our standard of what is next akin to godliness. One 

 sees at the hut doors all too many instances of cerebral 

 insecticide to be reconciled to the Arab as a clean mortal. 

 Xo odor of nationality is, however, apt to exist in a dry 

 climate, so that he is, quoad the nostril, unobjectionable. 



I am not so sure, by-the-way, that cleanliness is next 

 akin to godliness ; I should be tempted to reverse the 

 terms. If you want to convert a heathen, it is, despite 

 the precedent, clearly a blunder to begin by telling him 



