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 down 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. The women of inferior
class employ themselves in different domestic duties. They are very
vain and talkative; and when anything puts them out of humour they
commonly vent their anger upon their female slaves, over whom they
rule with severe and despotic authority, which leads me to observe
that the condition of these poor captives is deplorably wretched.
At daybreak they are compelled to fetch water from the wells in
large skins, called girbas; and as soon as they have brought water
enough to serve the family for the day, as well as the horses (for
the Moors seldom give their horses the trouble of going to the
wells), they are then employed in pounding the corn and dressing the
victuals.
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