a thirst for knowledge is combined with opportunities in every way
exceptional. In the country considerably more liberty is permitted
than in the towns, and the condition of the Berber women has already
been noted.

Nevertheless, in certain circumstances, women attain a power quite
abnormal under such conditions, usually the result of natural
astuteness, combined--at the outset, at least--with a reasonable share
of good looks, for when a woman is fairly astute she is a match for a
man anywhere. A Mohammedan woman's place in life depends entirely on
her personal attractions. If she lacks good looks, or is thin--which
in Barbary, as in other Muslim countries, amounts to much the
same thing--her future is practically hopeless. The chances being
less--almost _nil_--of getting her easily off their hands by marriage,
the parents feel they must make the best they can of her by setting
her to work about the house, and she becomes a general drudge. If the
home is a wealthy one, she may be relieved from this lot, and steadily
ply her needle at minutely fine silk embroidery, or deck and paint
herself in style, but, despised by her more fortunate sisters, she is
even then hardly better off.

If, on the other hand, a daughter is the beauty of the family, every
one pays court to her in some degree, for there is no telling to what
she may arrive. Perhaps, in Morocco, she is even thought good enough
for the Sultan--plump, clear-skinned, bright-eyed. Could she but get a
place in the Royal hareem, it would be in the hands of God to make her
the mother of the coming sultan. But good looks alone will not suffice
to take her there. Influence--a word translatable in the Orient by a
shorter one, cash--must be brought to bear. The interest of a wazeer
or two must be secured, and finally an interview must take place with