Aicha the Mauresque An Algerian Fantasy

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About Aicha the Mauresque An Algerian Fantasy

Excerpt from Aicha the Mauresque: An Algerian Fantasy The Pilgrim's Rest is a cafe which lies midway between the Ouled Nail country of the south and the port of El Hadj in the north, and from this port, even to-day, the true believers embark for the Mecca. It was in the Pilgrim's Rest that we first spoke, and the time of our speaking was a short period prior to his departure on pilgrimage to the eternal Mecca. I saw him first in the Moorish baths which are built over the hot sulphur springs of the town. At certain times of the day these baths are reserved for women, and the Mauresques, as they call the Arab women, go there with pots of lime cream - with which they remove unsightly hair from their bodies - and of kuhl, and of henna in fine powder, and of perfumes purchased in the Arab market. In the arched rooms they cleanse their bodies according to ritual and apply the primitive cosmetics. They also grasp the opportunity to gossip. Finally, robed in white and modestly veiled, they patter into the sunlight, and they return to their homes so that their husbands may be refreshed by their beauty. At other times of the day the baths are reserved for men. They enter when the heat of the sirocco is ended, and become cleansed of dust and sweat. They also emerge in robes of white. It was while I lay there on the heated stones, my body glistening with droplets of condensed steam and with moisture from the pores of my skin, that he entered and stood for a moment between the arches which gave support to the roof. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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