I
have seen a poor girl sit crying, with a bowl at her lips, for more than
an hour; and her mother, with a stick in her hand, watching her all the
while, and using the stick without mercy whenever she observed that her
daughter was not swallowing.
This singular practice, instead of producing
indigestion and disease, soon covers the young lady with that degree of
plumpness, which, in the eye of a Moor, is perfection itself.
As the Moors purchase all their clothing from the Negroes, the women are
forced to be very economical in the article of dress. In general they
content themselves with a broad piece of cotton-cloth, which is wrapped
round the middle, and hangs round like a petticoat almost to the ground:
to the upper part of this are sewed two square pieces, one before, and
the other behind, which are fastened together over the shoulders. The
head-dress is commonly a bandage of cotton-cloth, with some parts of it
broader than others, which serve to conceal the face when they walk in
the sun; frequently, however, when they go abroad they veil themselves
from head to foot.
The employment of the women varies according to their degrees of
opulence. - Queen Fatima, and a few others of high rank, like the great
ladies in some parts of Europe, pass their time chiefly in conversing
with their visitors, performing their devotions, or admiring their charms
in a looking-glass.
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