Page 231 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

212 COAST OF ARABIA. [on.

claiming himself a Mohammedan, his life was
safe. “ And the woman?” I inquired. “She
has never since been heard of,” my informant
significantly replied. Her exit was merciful,
if she endured no greater cruelty than is im­
plied in “ lost Lelia’s fate.”
It does equal credit to the head and the
heart of the Arabian legislator, that the de­
struction of female innocence is not treated
lightly, as by our more civilized code, but
rigorously punished by fine and imprison­

ment. Marriage with the Mohammedans is,
however, merely a civil contract, entered upon
or annulled, with much greater facility than
with us. Every pilgrim who arrives at Jiddah
provides himself during his stay with a legal
wife, who obtains a divorce, and is at liberty
to re-marry on his departure. The state of
society consequent on such a practice will
easily be imagined. L
During our several visits to this port, the
inhabitants behaved with great civility, in all i

probability regulating their line of conduct
agreeably to the known good-will which the
Pacha entertains towards Europeans. When-
ever the officers of the Palinurus landed, they