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ALGERIA FROM WITHIN

and they usually end by selling some of their house- hold goods or their wives' jewels to supply the necessary funds. It is a great time for the Jews and rich Arab merchants, who buy up all they can at low prices to resell to the tourists. If by any chance the fast is not observed according to letter it does not count, and it must be caught up after the Ramadan. For instance, during this period a man may not touch his wife; if he sees a woman and she creates in his mind any sort of emotion, it is sufficient for the day's fast to be considered as unaccomplished. If he touches the palm of a woman's hand, he can not go to the mosque until he has washed all over. All is a matter of conscience, and it would be quite easy for any one to retire to the privacy of his room and eat a piece of bread or drink some water; no one would be any the wiser, but it is a certain fact that it is not done. Those few who do not observe the fastare thoroughly despised. When the next new moon has been observed a final gun is fired and the people rise early in the morning dressed in their new clothes to go to the mosque. The Grande Prière takes place in all its solemnity, and for an hour robed figures bow and prostrate themselves in regular cadence. When it is over every one streams into the strect and hand in hand marches leisurely up and down the main ways. As friends or relations meet the brotherly kiss is exchanged; jokes are passed and gaiety reigns supreme. The girls from the Quarter come out in all the gaudiness of their multi-colored clothes; their jewels glint in the sunlight contrasting with the white burnouses of the men. At eleven the muezzin calls to prayer from the minaret; the more conscientious return to the mosque before the first midday meal since the Ramadan moon.

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