In the times of plague he was seen day and night carrying eager help to
the Mussulmans; thus, his virtue had conquered even religious hatreds;
and wherever he passed, he and the persons who might accompany him
received from multitudes of the people, from the janissaries, and even
from the officials of the mosques, the most respectful salutations.

During our long hours of sailing on board the Algerine vessel, and our
compulsory stay in the prisons at Rosas, and on the hulk at Palamos, I
gathered some ideas as to the interior life of the Moors or the
Coulouglous, which, even now when Algiers has fallen under the dominion
of France, would perhaps be yet worth preserving. I shall, however,
confine myself to recounting, nearly word for word, a conversation which
I had with Raïs Braham, whose father was a "_Turc fin_," that is to say,
a Turk born in the Levant.

"How is it that you consent," said I to him, "to marry a young girl whom
you have never seen, and find in her, perhaps, an excessively ugly
woman, instead of the beauty whom you had fancied to yourself?"

"We never marry without having obtained information from the women who
serve in the capacity of servants at the public baths. The Jewesses are
moreover, in these cases, very useful go-betweens."

"How many legitimate wives have you?"

"I have four, that is to say, the number authorized by the Koran."

"Do they live together on a good understanding?"

"Ah, sir, my house is a hell. I never enter it without finding them at