Note 559 — ALI NUR AL-DIN AND MIRIAM THE GIRDLE-GIRL.[376] (continued 2)

The use of masculine for feminine has frequently been noted. I have rarely changed the gender or the number the plural being often employed for the singular (vol. i. 98). Such change may avoid “mystification and confusion” but this is the very purpose of the substitution which must be preserved if “local colour” is to be respected.