%84< TRAVELS IN THE SAHARA. 
neral procession is closed by the howls of the fe- 
males. 
The women never assume the name of their 
husbands, and never eat with them at meals. They 
are faithful to their husbands, and cannot be di- 
vorced except by the decree of the seniors of the 
horde. The Arabs display their opulence by the 
ornaments of their women, whose ears, arms, and 
legs, are generally adorned with rings of gold and 
silver. An Arab beauty must have long teeth 
shooting out of her mouth, a body extremely 
thick, and limbs of the longest size. At the birth 
of a son, every woman, to testify her joy, blackens 
her face for 40 days. At the birth of a daughter 
she only daubs the half of her face during the 
space of 20 days. A mother treats her son with 
the same respect as her husband, almost as soon as 
he is able to walk ; she prepares his food, serves 
him, and eats when he has finished his repast. In 
the education of their young men, the most im- 
portant acquisitions are dexterity in the use of the 
poignard, skill in embowelling their enemies with 
their long nails, and a plausible air in concealing a 
falsehood. More rude and ferocious than the 
tribes whose territories lie upon the shore of the 
sea, the Labdesseba and Ouadelim Arabs are also 
more confined and illiberal in their ideas, not only 
believing that they are the first nation in the world, 
but fancying that the sun rises only for them. 
