Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/221

Rh Arabs. I leave it to her to tell, through an excerpt from her journal, of her evening's experience.

"Madame Halmagrand paid us a visit today about four o'clock and conveyed to us the invitation to take tea in the house of their friend, Sidi Abia, an Arab millionaire. We went by carriage to a certain point in the Medina and from there scrambled on foot up through narrow, shaded and very dirty streets. To my great astonishment I had just learned from a cultured Arab that here in Morocco it is the fashion to make access to the richest private 'palaces' as difficult as possible. The more splendid the residence, the more twisted, dark and narrow are the streets through which one must approach it—a real labyrinth and then, in some nook, a splendid gate, the work of centuries ago, with its mosaics, carvings and beautiful marble; within it, another labyrinth, this time of corridors, porticoes and open courts; finally a magnificent park and palace full of unimagined luxury. The probable reason for this search for seclusion is the desire to protect their riches and their harems and to guard the traditions inherent in their religious beliefs.

"Just in this fashion, threading our way over stones, through dirt and all sorts of aromas, we finally arrived before the entrance of our friend's palace, where we were awaited by some chouses, who conducted us to the garden and then up a flight of stairs to the terrace. There we were received with great honor by our host, Sidi Abia, a man of some sixty years with a long gray beard and a large hooked nose surmounted by spectacles. Dressed in a white bournous and shod with light yellow babooshes, he came forward with his two sons, the elder