splendid bronze figure, who lay on the shop-front, moved one leg to let
me sit down. They got interested in my purchase, and assisted in making
the bargain and wrapping the cloak round me Bedawee fashion, and they too
complimented me on having 'the face of the Arab,' which means Bedaween. I
wanted a little Arab dress for Rainie, but could not find one, as at her
age none are worn in the desert.

I dined one day with Omar, or rather I ate at his house, for he would not
eat with me. His sister-in-law cooked a most admirable dinner, and
everyone was delighted. It was an interesting family circle. A very
respectable elder brother a confectioner, whose elder wife was a black
woman, a really remarkable person, who speaks Italian perfectly, and gave
me a great deal of information and asked such intelligent questions. She
ruled the house but had no children, so he had married a fair, gentle-
looking Arab woman who had six children, and all lived in perfect
harmony. Omar's wife is a tall, handsome girl of his own age, with very
good manners. She had been outside the door of the close little court
which constituted the house _once_ since her marriage. I now begin to
understand all about the _wesen_ with the women. There is a good deal of
chivalry in some respects, and in the respectable lower and middle
classes the result is not so bad. I suspect that among the rich few are
very happy. But I don't know them, or anything of the Turkish ways. I
will go and see the black woman again and hear more, her conversation was
really interesting.



May 12, 1863: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon