which is afterward fired in the air. In the
neighborhood of Djezan, in Arabia, as reported by M. Fulgence Fresnel in
the _Revue de Deux Mondes_ of 1838, courtship and matrimony are not so
great social events as they are with our society beaux. The occasion is
probably considered social enough by the rest of the invited guests, but
it can hardly be called an agreeable episode in the life of the groom.
Those whose bashfulness prevents them from contracting marriage in
civilized communities can have the consolation of knowing that in
far-off Arabia, among the fierce followers of the conquerors of Spain
and of the Eastern Empire, they have sympathizing fellow-sufferers whom
the conventionalities of the country deter from rushing into matrimony.
In this region, circumcision is performed on the adult at the time of
his candidacy for matrimonial bliss. A more inauspicious occasion could
not possibly have been chosen, unless as in another Mohammedan tribe,
who circumcise the bridegroom on the day after his marriage and sprinkle
the blood that falls from the cut onto the veil of the bride. The bride
is present, and the victim is handed over to what might be called the
executioner of the holy office, who proceeds to circumcise the victim in
what might be called its utmost degree of performance and barbarity.
This attention does not stop at the pendulous and loose prepuce. He
devotes himself to the skin of the whole organ; beginning at the prepuce
he gradually works backward, removing the whole skin of the penis--a
flaying alive, and nothing more. Should the victim betray any sign of
weakness, or allow as much as a sigh or groan to escape him, or even
allow the muscles of the face to betray the fact that he is not
immensely enjoying the occasion, the bride elect at once leaves him for
good, saying that she does not wish a woman for a husband. A large
proportion of the male population annually die from this operation. So
that the Arabs of the Djezin can be likened to those spiders who lose
their life while in the act of copulation,--the female making a dinner
from off the male,--only the spider is said to die a happy death, while
that of the Arab is one of misery.

Margrave and Martyr have recorded a very peculiar practice common among
some South American tribes: A kind of a tube is fastened onto the
prepuce by means of threads of the _tacoynhaa_, the latter being the
bark of a certain kind of a tree. Cabras brought one of the nati