[The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain]@TWC D-Link book
The Innocents Abroad

CHAPTER IX
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They are called wives, though I believe the Koran only allows four genuine wives--the rest are concubines.

The Emperor of Morocco don't know how many wives he has, but thinks he has five hundred.

However, that is near enough--a dozen or so, one way or the other, don't matter.
Even the Jews in the interior have a plurality of wives.
I have caught a glimpse of the faces of several Moorish women (for they are only human, and will expose their faces for the admiration of a Christian dog when no male Moor is by), and I am full of veneration for the wisdom that leads them to cover up such atrocious ugliness.
They carry their children at their backs, in a sack, like other savages the world over.
Many of the Negroes are held in slavery by the Moors.

But the moment a female slave becomes her master's concubine her bonds are broken, and as soon as a male slave can read the first chapter of the Koran (which contains the creed) he can no longer be held in bondage.
They have three Sundays a week in Tangier.

The Muhammadans' comes on Friday, the Jews' on Saturday, and that of the Christian Consuls on Sunday.


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