, and polyandrous only when tired of her lover. The man loves
the woman, but the love of the woman is for the love of the man."
He also agreed with the 18th century Rev. Martin Madan, author of
Thelyphthora, a treatise on female ruin, who insisted that polygamy
would go far to remove one of the great reproaches of the streets
of London and other large cities. "Except in books," says Burton,
"seduction in Mohammedan countries is almost unknown, adultery
difficult." That polygamy, however, is no panacea, the following remarks
will show. "Both sexes," he says, speaking of the Somali, "are temperate
from necessity." Drunkenness is unknown. Still, the place is not Arcady.
"After much wandering," he continues, "we are almost tempted to believe
that morality is a matter of geography; [152] that nations and races
have, like individuals, a pet vice; and that by restraining one,
you only exasperate another. As a general rule Somali women prefer
flirtations with strangers, following the well-known Arabian proverb,
'The new comer filleth the eye.'" Burton was thoroughly at home in Zeila
"with the melodious chant of the muezzin" and the loudly intoned "Amin"
and "Allaho Akbar" daily ringing in his ear. He often went into the
Mosque, and with a sword and a rosary before him, read the "cow chapter"
[153] in a loud twanging voice. Indeed, he had played the role of devout
Mohammedan so long, that he had almost become one. The people of Zeila
tried to persuade him to abandon his project. "If," said they, "you
escape the desert hordes it will only be to fall by the hands of
the truculent Amir of Harar." Nothing, however, could dash Burton's
confidence in his star, and like Dante, he applied to Fear no epithets
but "vile" and "base."

One Raghi, a petty Eesa chief, having been procured as protector of the
party, and other arrangements having been made, Burton on November 27th
(1854) set out for his destination by a circuitous route. Raghi rode
in front. Next, leading camels, walked two enormously fat Somali women;
while by the side of the camels rode Burton's three attendants, the
Hammal, Long Gulad, and "The End of Time," "their frizzled wigs radiant
with grease," and their robes splendidly white with borders dazzlingly
red. Burton brought up the rear on a fine white mule with a gold fringed
Arab pad and wrapper-cloth, a double-barrelled gun across his lap, and
in this manner the little caravan pursued its sinuous course over the
desert.