FRUIT-SELLERS.]




XII

DOMESTIC ECONOMY

"Manage with bread and butter till God sends the jam."

_Moorish Proverb._


If the ordinary regulations of social life among the Moors differ
materially from those in force among ourselves, how much more so must
the minor details of the housekeeping when, to begin with, the husband
does the marketing and keeps the keys! And the consequential Moor
does, indeed, keep the keys, not only of the stores, but also often of
the house. What would an English lady think of being coolly locked
in a windowless house while her husband went for a journey, the
provisions for the family being meanwhile handed in each morning
through a loophole by a trusty slave left as gaoler? That no surprise
whatever would be elicited in Barbary by such an arrangement speaks
volumes. Woman has no voice under Mohammed's creed.

Early in the morning let us take a stroll into the market, and see how
things are managed there. Round the inside of a high-walled enclosure
is a row of the rudest of booths. Over portions of the pathway,