gues against the Arabs of Kinaneh,
who said that the angels were the daughters of God. "They
(blasphemously) attribute daughters to God; yet they _wish them not for
themselves_. When a female child is announced to one of them, his face
grows dark, and he is as though he would choke."

The older Arab Proverbs show that the burying alive of female children
was deemed praiseworthy.

"To send women before to the other world, is a benefit."

"The best son-in-law is the grave."

The Koran also says, that certain men when hearing of the birth of a
daughter hide themselves "from the people because of the ill-tidings;
shall he keep it with disgrace, or bury it in the dust." (Sura xvi.)

It is said that the only occasion on which Othman ever shed a tear, was
when his little daughter, whom he was burying alive, wiped the dust of
the grave-earth from his beard!

Before the Seventh Century this practice seems to have been gradually
abandoned, but was retained the longest in the tribe of Temim. Naman,
king of Hira, carried off among his prisoners in a foray, the daughter
of Kais, chief of Temim, who fell in love with one of her captors and
refused to return to her tribe, whereupon her father swore to bury alive
all his future female children, which he did, to the number of ten.

Subsequent to this, rich men would buy the lives of girls devoted to
inhumation, and Sa Saah thus rescued many, in one case giving two milch
camels to buy the life of a new-born girl, and he was styled "the
Reviver of the Maidens buried alive."

The following Arabic Proverbs having reference to women and girls _will
illustrate_ the ancient Arab ideas with regard to their character and
position, better than volumes of historic discourse:

"Obedience to women will have to be repented of."

"A man can bear anything but the mention of his women."

"The heart of woman is given to folly."

"Leave not a girl nor a green pasture unguarded."

"What has a girl to do with the councils of a nation?"

"If you would marry a beauty, pay her dowry."

"Fear not to praise the man whose wives are true to him."

"Woman fattens on what she hears." (flattery)

"Women are the whips of Satan."

"If you would marry a girl, inquire about the traits of her
mother."

"Trust neither a king, a horse, nor a woman. For the king is
fastidious, the horse prone to run away, and the woman is
p