Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/139

Rh Many, finding time hanging heavy on their hands, abandon themselves to low gratifications of the sense—feasting and dancing and carousing—in such "fool's paradise" they wile away time. They have a horror of honest work. Poor fellows! As friends I have always found them faithful and true. Most of them are in abject poverty, and to keep up some show of gentility—dearer to them than life itself—the head of a family at times acquiesces in the sacrifice which a too-loving wife or daughter feels bound to undergo. One might well excuse this mistaking of duty—the practice is very limited—as an act of true martyrdom on the part of the female; but it is impossible to contemplate the husband or father's share in it without loathing. To him, a confirmed polygamist, the matter may not look quite so serious.

Latterly I believe this class has been "looking up." Hoping and dreaming has already given way, in some notable cases, to more sober, practical ideas of life. Altogether, I do believe "a change is coming over the spirit of their dreams."

The lower orders of Mahomedans are—"unspeakable." They are made up of brag and