en. XXVI.] TJicir Marriages. 227 



excuse left for intrigue, on the ground of domestic 

 unhaj^piness. The men, too, affect an extreme indif- 

 ference to the charms of female society, possibly- 

 more than they feel ; l3ut the fact proves that no 

 credit is attached, even among the young and 

 thoughtless, to what are called " successes." Indeed, 

 extreme attention to women is always looked down 

 upon by the Arabs as effeminate and "Turkish." 

 Mohammed ibn Taleb, who had been away from his 

 house for a month, when I asked him if he was not 

 anxious to get back to his wife and children, re- 

 plied, as if mortified at a charge of weakness, " ^\Tiy 

 should I wish it? I have hardly yet left home." 

 Open licentiousness is unknown in the desert. 



The poorer Bedouins seldom have more than one 

 wife at a time, thouo-h there is no restriction in their 

 law on that head. Nor do the rich often contract a 

 second marriage, as long as the first remains a happy 

 one. A woman who pleases her husband and hasborne 

 him sons is pretty safe against the introduction of 

 new women into his tent. The common cause of 

 disagreement is when the wife fails to give a son to 

 her husband, for the lack of male heirs is considered 

 not only a misfortune, but a disgrace among the 

 Bedouins. Then, after two or three years, the hus- 

 band is pretty sure to contract a new marriage, 

 sometimes sending back the first wife to her parents, 

 or more commonly retaining both. Where this is the 

 case, and especially after repeated failures to obtain 

 male issue, quarrels and disagTcements will arise 



