The Ladies Had Now Arranged Themselves In Tiers, One Above The Other,
And Most Gorgeous Was The Sight.
Most of them wore tiaras, all flaming
with gems and jewels.
They were literally covered from head to foot with
gold and precious stones. As each lady has but ten fingers, it was
necessary to tie some scores of rings on their hair. The beauty of the
female form, in these women, was quite destroyed by this excessive
quantity of jewellery. These jewels were chiefly pearls, brilliants,
rubies and emeralds.
They are amassed and descend as heir-looms in families, from mother to
daughter. Some of the jewels being very ancient, they constitute the
riches of many families. In reverses of fortune, they are pledged, or
turned into money to relieve immediate necessity. The upper tiers of
ladies were the youngest, and least adorned, and consequently the
prettiest. The ancient dowagers sat below as so many queens enthroned,
challenging scrutiny and admiration. They were mostly of enormous
corpulency, spreading out their naked feet and trousered legs of an
enormous expanse.
Several dowagers seemed scarcely to be able to breathe from heat, and
the plethora of their own well-fed and pampered flesh. We had now music,
and several attempts were made to get up the indecent Moorish dance,
which, however, was forbidden as too vulgar for such fashionable Jews,
and honoured by the presence of Europeans. Not much pleased with this
spectacle, I looked out of the window into the patio, or court-yard,
where I saw a couple of butchers' boys slaughtering a bullock for the
evening carousal.
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