The Women Of Inferior Class Employ Themselves In
Different Domestic Duties.
They are very vain and talkative; and when any
thing 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. This being always done in the open air, the slaves are exposed
to the combined heat of the sun, the sand, and the fire. In the intervals
it is their business to sweep the tent, churn the milk, and perform other
domestic offices. With all this they are badly fed, and oftentimes
cruelly punished.
The men's dress among the Moors of Ludamar differs but little from that
of the Negroes, (which has been already described,) except that they have
all adopted that characteristic of the Mahomedan sect, the _turban_,
which is here universally made of white cotton-cloth. Such of the Moors
as have long beards display them with a mixture of pride and
satisfaction, as denoting an Arab ancestry. Of this number was Ali
himself; but among the generality of the people the hair is short and
bushy, and universally black.
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