Covbold, John Murray. London.
Lady Evelyn Cobbold is a Mostem. Though she is a convert to Islam, she 4s probably correct when she claims that she does not know the precise moment when the truth of Islam dawned upon her. As a child she spent her winters in a Moorish villa outside Algiers, learned Arabic, Visited the mosques with her Algerian friends, lett the place, forgot her acquaintances, the prayers in the mosques and even' the language. Yet some years later in-an audience with the Pope, when suddenly asked by him of what her religion was, replied, for no reason that she' can think of, that she was a Moslem. She then determined to read up on the faith, and the more she read, the more she studied, the more she became convinced that Islam was the "most practical religion and one most calculated to solve the world's many perplexing problems and to bring to humanity peace and happiness." Whether her deductions are correct not, the fact is that it induced and enabled her to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, to visit the sacred places under' conditions not otherwise be permitted, and has consequently been able to produce a most interest. ing book, which should be read by all' those who love descriptions of travel, The authoress writes in a most entertaining style and her descrip tive ability is well above the average.
Some of the passages in her book fare delightful. Thus. the description of a visit from some Moslem ladies:
'This morning 1 was engaged writing up my" Diary when I heard that some' Indies were below waiting {10 sea me. "On being told. they. be longed to the family of an old friend im Damascus. was lad to. welcome them: and after Unvelling ud getting of! their cloaks and' hoods. they la tributed themselves on the: divans, 'There were five of them. the wile of my "friend in "Damascus, a very Atiractive personality, with a sweet her sister'with two young and another' lady "of frame of mind, whose augh infected us all" My hostess, the In' whose hotze Ing the prayer in a sonorous voice which 'T repeat after him, occasionally' Stopping at certain. stations to. wave, ihe palms of the hands towards the Kaaba three times exclaiming "Allah Akbar." 'T then kiss. the oval. stone Set in silver which is In the corner Of the "Kaaba. This lack stone is Pot one of the old Arab idols. It Stands for'a symbol "The stone which the builders otused Is become. the headstone of "the comer". (Psalms exvill 12). Tshmait was looked upon Ss" rejected and. the covenant. made with the children of his half-brother Taaae (the Israelites), "Yet it was that rejected stone, the' black stone. that Became the headstone of the Kaaba, the place where Hagar and. Jahmal The black stone is unhewn, "cut four of the mountains without hands Dan. iL 45). Christ made reference: toit when he told the Israelites that the Vineyard "(Kingdom of God) would be taken away {rom them and, fiven to other husbandman and again 'Did ye never Tead in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected the same is become the head of the corner' (Mat xx. from ye and sven to a nation which Dringeth forth the fruit thereat' So this stone is kissed, not as an idol, But as that_-symbol of "the TeJection of a ation which eventually. became the comer-stone in the Divine order Of the Universe And then the domestic scene on the return from devotions:—On my return from the Mosque my hostess Invites me to her apart ments at the top of the house wher she is entertaining several friends, the Toms "are bright with Eastern, rugs! fand divans covered. in sill, a small Opens on to a flat root which is now: aP'garden "of flowers, which, except fora few Zinnlas and oleanders, Unknown to-me." The folded. metres:
The sun will "his garden, "but "in another month the family" leave for their villa at Taifa in the mountains Where they "abend" the "summer Several ladies are squatting "on the the older ones" smoking! harghiichs. "Two young mothers have! Drought their who sleep daughter" and tors ate "evidently My hostess had present inhabiting the house. the rear Katenen "where "she, her ladies and! ter garments of silkor'satin these full trousers
the calf of the leg. and are-very be-tight below ming to slim figures." They are made of "strived. silk oF cotton, anda. tighthtting, bodies with Jong sleeves is worn above, and over the: whole hangs a loote transparent dress of white gauze. A piece coloured silk Is Wound round like 'a turban "on the head, with "one end angina down' to the shoulder. Melt ale hangs in two ong plate. down {hele backs, very "otto cisted with ribbons oF rope of ced peals, Powder "and rouge' is unknown—but they' ait "have their eyes" blackened with Konl—whieh they tell me softens the glare of the sun' as a rule they 'They wore very interested in hear-of my' county and the lives we women live, and asked me innumer able questions about our emancipation ind On right to enter parliament are in the government of our land. Also: they enquire when and why I had become a. Moslem and. on. my Admitting that T could read and write Arable, Twas taken "to. the texts the "unre pretty nieces" are find folding away the household linen: the workroom where they sit. sewing trid "gossiping. "Everything necessary for running the home is done within from Wady Fatima, an oasis in the Lille othe West. They mupply_ the Inilie and utter and are not averse to devouring old papers or anything that!
comer within their reach aby Cobbold met with not particularly thrilling adventures. There was ways the risk attendant upon much an expedition until she was able to convince the suspicious that she really was a Moslem, and really on devotional pilgrimage just as they. Nevertheless the book is written with very obvious sincerity which makes {t highly interesting, while the outlook of @ western women upon her sisters of the East is at all times re-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.