While residing in Palestine, I was placed in circumstances which gave me unusual facilities for observing the inner phases of Oriental Domestic Life. I mingled freely with the people, of all creeds and classes, and daily became better acquainted with their habits and modes of thought. The women especially interested me, and I gleaned many facts concerning them, which have never hitherto been published, and probably have never been collected.
The pleasure which my Notes and Journal afforded to members of my home-circle, on my return to England, led me to think that, possibly, my countrymen would like to gain a further insight into the mysteries of Eastern life. Hence it was that I resolved to publish this volume. In compiling it I have avoided, as much as possible, those subjects with which the public are already familiar. Descriptions of well-known places are only given when they are necessary to form an introduction or background to those scenes of real life which I have attempted to portray.
To avoid complication, I speak of the people of
