possessions. The Koran says, (Sura iv.) "Women ought to have a part of
what their parents leave." A male shall have twice as much as a female.
But a man's parents, and also his brothers and sisters are to have equal
shares, without reference to sex. "God commandeth you to give the male
the portion of two females. If she be an only daughter, she shall have
the half. Your wives shall have a fourth part of what ye leave, if ye
have no issue."

Among the Pagan Arabs, divorce was a mere matter of caprice. The Koran
says, (Sura ii.) "You may divorce your wives twice (and take them back
again). But if the husband divorce her a third time, it is not lawful
for him to take her again, until she shall have been actually married to
another husband, and then divorced by him." I have known cases where the
husband in a fit of passion has divorced his wife the third time, and,
in order to get her back again, has _hired another man_ to marry her and
then divorce her. A rich Effendi had divorced his wife the third time,
and wishing to re-marry her, hired a poor man to marry her for a
consideration of seven hundred piastres. He took the wife and the money,
and the next day refused to give her up for less than five thousand
piastres, which the Effendi was obliged to pay, as the woman had become
the lawful and wedded wife of the poor man.

No Mohammedan ever walks with his wife in the street, and in Moslem
cities, very few if any of men of other sects are willing to be seen in
public in company with a woman. The women are closely veiled, and if a
man and his wife have occasion to go anywhere together, he walks in
advance and she walks a long distance behind him. Nofel Effendi, one of
the most learned and intelligent Protestants in Syria, once gave me the
explanation of this aversion to walking in public with women, in a more
satisfactory manner than I had ever heard it before. Said he, "You