"Calling" is not the common, every-day event in Barbary which it has
grown to be in European society. The narrowed-in life of the Moorish
woman of the higher classes, and the strict watch which is kept lest
some other man than her husband should see her, makes a regular
interchange of visits practically impossible. No doubt the Moorish
woman would find them quite as great a burden as her western sister,
and in this particular her ignorance may be greater bliss than her
knowledge. In spite of the paucity of the "calls" she receives or
pays, she is by no means ignorant of the life and character of her
neighbours, thanks to certain old women (amongst them the professional
match-makers) who go about as veritable gossip-mongers, and preserve
their more cloistered sisters at least from dying of inanition. Thus
the veriest trifles of house arrangement or management are thoroughly
canvassed.

Nor is it a privilege commonly extended to European women to be
received into the hareems of the high-class and wealthy Moors,
although lady missionaries have abundant opportunities for making
the acquaintance of the women of the poorer classes, especially when
medical knowledge and skill afford a key. But the wives of the rich
are shut away to themselves, and if you are fortunate enough to be
invited to call upon them, do not neglect your opportunity.

You will find that the time named for calling is not limited to the
afternoon. Thus it may be when the morning air is blowing fresh from
the sea, and the sun is mounting in the heavens, that you are ushered,
perhaps by the master of the house, through winding passages to the
quarters of the women. If there is a garden, this is frequently
reserved for their use, and jealously protected from view, and as in