When a Syrian lady is betrothed, her lover sends her a ring and other jewels, according to his rank and wealth. After these are accepted, she is not allowed to see her intended husband, or any gentleman but her nearest relatives, until the wedding ceremonies are completed. There is no period fixed for the bridegroom to send for the bride; but during the fourteen previous days he repeatedly sends presents to her; and five days before she is summoned from her father's house, he sends a confidential woman with jewels for her head, neck, and arms. Under the care of this woman, the bride is bathed, her hands stained red, and her face painted like a doll. Presents from friends are sent to the bath, and the bride walks several times round the fountain, adorned with a succession of new dresses and ornaments, accompanied by lighted candles, and the joyful cries of her attendants. After this, she is required to sit in a corner with closed eyes the whole day, except at the hours of eating. The relatives of the bridegroom escort her to his house, mounted on a horse, with her eyes still closed, accompanied by musicians, women bearing torches, and mules loaded with the dresses, ornaments, or household utensils, which she has received. As the procession passes along, the people invoke blessings on the bride.

The Syrian women ride astride on horseback, veiled; but they are less scrupulous than most Asiatic women about removing their veils, when comfort or convenience requires it.

Miss Abbot, the British consul's daughter, who

made a journey into the mountains of Syria, speaks of the inhabitants as remarkable for their kindness and simplicity. They had never before seen a European lady, and their curiosity was much excited. The men stopped her horse to present bouquets and benedictions; and the women crowded her apartments, bringing baskets full of delicious grapes and figs. The young lady says: "As I passed, blessings were invoked upon me, as upon an Arab bride. I was everywhere received with the affectionate welcome of an old friend, rather than with the courteous greeting of a stranger. The women were extremely neat in their appearance, and though evidently very poor, would accept of no remuneration for their offerings."

The Syrian women wear a very high odd headdress, called the tantoura, not unlike the horn of a unicorn. It is made of wood, pasteboard, and tinsel, or of the precious metals set with gems. The inhabitants of the mountains are less tawny than those who live in the plains. About Lebanon their complexion resembles that of the French. The women of Damascus and Tripoli are celebrated for their fairness, and for their beautiful dark eyes, which are usually visible, though a veil covers the rest of the face.

Among many sacred relics which abound in Syria, they profess to show the kitchen and fireplace of the virgin Mary, and the fountain where she was accustomed to draw water.

In the mountains of the Anti-Libanus are a pecu

liar class of people called Druses. They have scarcely any religion, observe neither fasts nor festivals of any kind, and allow brothers and sisters to intermarry. They live in a very secluded manner, and rarely take several wives. The women are extremely modest and industrious. They grind corn and make bread after the old scripture fashion.

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The Druses divorce their wives on the slightest pretext. If a wife ask her husband's permission to go out, and he says, Go," without adding, "but come back again," she is divorced. Though both should wish it, they cannot live together again, without being re-married according to Turkish forms. These people are very jealous, but rarely punish a criminal wife with death; divorce is the usual penalty.

The Turks in Syria, as well as in other parts of their empire, kill a woman as soon as they suspect her; and the fine incurred by a seducer is enormously heavy.

The Turkomans are a wandering tribe, living in tents like Bedouins. They are peculiar for giving a dowry with their daughters, instead of receiving a price for them. They are exceedingly scrupulous about the honor of their women. If a brother should see his sister receiving a kiss even from her betrothed lover, he would shoot the poor girl on the spot; yet, with the usual inconsistency of mankind, they are themselves extremely fond of intrigues, and pride themselves not a little on success.

The Turkoman women are very industrious and

ingenious. They make the tent-coverings of goat hair, and weave carpets scarcely inferior to those of Persia. They use no shuttle, but pass the thread with their fingers. They have peculiar skill in dying various brilliant colors. Nearly all the labor falls upon them. The men do nothing but feed the horses and camels at sunset.

Syria is a part of the Turkish empire, and of course governed by Mohammedan rulers.

Dr. Clarke gives the following account of a pacha whom he visited at Acre. "The harem of the seraglio is accessible only to himself. Early every evening he regularly retired to this place, through three massive doors, every one of which he closed and barred with his own hand. Even to have knocked at the outer gate after he had retired would have been punished with death. No person in Acre knew the number of his women, but from the circumstance of a certain number of covers being daily placed in a kind of wheel or turning cylinder, so contrived as to convey dishes to the interior, without any possibility of observing the person who took them. He had from time to time received presents of female slaves; but after they entered his harem, none but himself knew whether they were alive or dead. If any of them were ill, he brought a physician to a hole in the wall, through which the sick person was allowed to thrust her arm, the pacha himself holding the hand of the physician while the pulse was examined. He put seven of his wives to death with his own hand, after his return from a

pilgrimage to Mecca, during which the janizaries had obtained admittance to the harem. From all the information we could obtain, he treated the tenants of his harem like the children of his family. When he retired, he carried with him a number of watch-papers he had amused himself by cutting with scissors during the day, as toys to distribute among them."

The same traveller says: "In the evening we took some coffee in the house of the imperial consul, and were introduced to the ladies of his family. We were amused by seeing his wife, a very beautiful woman, sitting cross-legged by us on the divan, and smoking tobacco with a pipe six feet long. Her eyelashes, as well as those of the other women, were tinged with the black powder made of sulphuret of antimony. Although this has by no means a cleanly appearance, it is considered as essential to the decoration of a woman of rank in Syria as her ear-rings, or the golden cinctures of her ankles. Dark streaks were likewise pencilled from the corners of her eyes along the temples. This reminded us of certain passages of Scripture wherein mention is made of putting the eyes in painting.' English translators, unable to reconcile this with their ideas of a lady's toilet, have rendered it 'painting the face.' "

The Arabs, though Mohammedans, seldom have more than one wife. Divorces rarely take place, unless for misconduct, or for not being the mother