His Scholars
Wrote Their Lessons Upon Thin Boards, Paper Being Too Expensive For
General Use.
The boys were diligent enough, and appeared to possess
a considerable share of emulation - carrying their boards slung over
their shoulders when about their common employments.
When a boy has
committed to memory a few of their prayers, and can read and write
certain parts of the Koran, he is reckoned sufficiently instructed;
and with this slender stock of learning commences his career of
life. Proud of his acquirements, he surveys with contempt the
unlettered negro; and embraces every opportunity of displaying his
superiority over such of his countrymen as are not distinguished by
the same accomplishments.
The education of the girls is neglected altogether: mental
accomplishments are but little attended to by the women; nor is the
want of them considered by the men as a defect in the female
character. They are regarded, I believe, as an inferior species of
animals; and seem to be brought up for no other purpose than that of
administering to the sensual pleasures of their imperious masters.
Voluptuousness is therefore considered as their chief
accomplishment, and slavish submission as their indispensable duty.
The Moors have singular ideas of feminine perfection. The
gracefulness of figure and motion, and a countenance enlivened by
expression, are by no means essential points in their standard.
With them corpulence and beauty appear to be terms nearly
synonymous. A woman of even moderate pretensions must be one who
cannot walk without a slave under each arm to support her; and a
perfect beauty is a load for a camel. In consequence of this
prevalent taste for unwieldiness of bulk, the Moorish ladies take
great pains to acquire it early in life; and for this purpose many
of the young girls are compelled by their mothers to devour a great
quantity of kouskous, and drink a large bowl of camel's milk every
morning. It is of no importance whether the girl has an appetite or
not; the kouskous and milk must be swallowed, and obedience is
frequently enforced by blows. I have seen a poor girl sit crying,
with the 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 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.
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