ion of membership of a Musalman family. She tells us nothing of
her friends in Lucknow, but she had free access to the houses of
respectable Sayyids, and thus gained ample facilities for the study of the
manners and customs of Musalman families. Much of her information on
Islam was obtained from her husband and his father, both learned,
travelled gentlemen, and by them she was treated with a degree of
toleration unusual in a Shi'ah household, this sect being rigid and
often fanatical followers of Islam. She was allowed to retain a firm
belief in the Christian religion, and she tells us that Mir Haji
Shah delighted in conversing on religious topics, and that his happiest
time was spent in the quiet of night when his son translated to him the
Bible as she read it.[8]

Her picture of zenana life is obviously coloured by her frank admiration
for the people amongst whom she lived, who treated her with respect and
consideration. It is thus to some extent idyllic. At the same time, it may
be admitted that she was exceptionally fortunate in her friends. Her
sketch may be usefully compared with that of Mrs. Fanny Parks in her
charming book, _The Wanderings of a Pilgrim in Search of the Picturesque_.
Mrs. Parks had the advantage of having acquired a literary knowledge of
Hindustani, while Mrs. Mir Hasan 'Ali, to judge from the way in
which she transliterates native words, can have been able to speak little
more than a broken patois, knew little of grammar, and was probably unable
to read or write the Arabic character. Colonel Gardner, who had wide and
peculiar experience, said to Mrs. Parks: 'Nothing can exceed the quarrels
that go on in the zenana, or the complaints the begams make against each
other. A common complaint is "Such a one has been practising witchcraft
against me". If the husband make a present to one wife, if it be only a
basket of mangoes, he must make the same exactly to all the other wives to
keep the peace. A wife, when in a rage with her husband, if on account of
jealousy, often says, "I wish I were married to a grass-cutter," i.e.
because a grass-cutter is so poor that he can only afford to have one
wife.'[9] Mrs. Parks from her own experience calls the zenana 'a place of
intrigue, and those who live within four walls cannot pursue a straight
path; how can it be otherwise, when so many conflicting passions are
called forth?'[10] She adds that 'Musalmani ladies generally forget
their learning when they grow up,