e royal family. Nor was this privilege rescinded, even
though it had more than once entailed upon them the trouble of a
contested succession; foreign kings often having claimed a right to
the throne through marriage with an Egyptian princess. It was not a
mere influence that they possessed, which women often acquire in the
most arbitrary Eastern communities; nor a political importance
accorded to a particular individual, like that of the Sultana Valideh,
the Queen Mother, at Constantinople; it was a right acknowledged by
law, both in private and public life. They knew that unless women were
treated with respect, and made to exercise an influence over society,
the standard of public opinion would soon be lowered, and the manners
and morals of men would suffer; and in acknowledging this, they
pointed out to women the very responsible duties they had to perform
to the community.

From their private life great insight is obtained into their character
and customs: and their household arrangements, the style of their
dwellings, their amusements and their occupations, explain their
habits; as their institutions, mode of government, arts and military
knowledge illustrate their history, and their relative positions among
the nations of antiquity. In their form and arrangement, the houses
were made to suit the climate, modified according to their advancement
in civilization; and we are often enabled to trace in their abodes
some of the primitive habits of a people, long after they have been
settled in towns, and have adopted the manners of wealthy communities;
as the tent may still be traced in the houses of the Turks, and the
small original wooden chamber in the mansions and temples of ancient
Greece.

As in all warm climates, the poorer classes of Egyptians lived much in
the open air; and the houses of the rich were constructed to be cool
throughout the summer; currents of refreshing air being made to
circulate freely through them by the judicious arrangement of the
passages and courts. Corridors, supported on columns, gave access to
the different apartments through a succession of shady avenues and
areas, with one side open to the air, as in cloisters; and even small
detached houses had an open court in the centre, planted as a garden
with palms and other trees. _Mulkufs_, or wooden wind-sails, were also
fixed over the terraces of the upper story, facing the prevalent and
cool N.W. wind, which was conducted down their slopin