There is a strong Arab element in Palestine, and in the days before
the railway the sheiks would often levy tribute from travellers as a
protection against robbery — from their own followers —
and the perils of the road in general
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In Palestine the ardours of courtship are often dispensed with. Those
with beautiful daughters put them upon the marriage market — at
a price; while girls of plain visage must be provided with a dowry by
way of compensation, if haply, lacking beauty, they may still appeal
to avarice. Here the bridegroom holds a scimitar symbolical of the
right to wifely obedience
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