He Came Mounted On A Beautiful Red Roan, Attended By A Number Of Armed Men On Horseback And On Foot,

And six young female slaves, naked as they were born, except a fillet of narrow white cloth tied round their

Heads, about six inches of the ends flying out behind, each carrying a light spear in the right hand. He was dressed in a red silk damask tobe, and booted. He dismounted and came into the house, attended by the six girls, who laid down their spears, and put a blue cloth round their waists, before they entered the door. After a short conference, in which he promised the travellers all the assistance they solicited, sultan Yarro mounted his horse; the young spear-women resumed their spears, laying aside the encumbrance of their aprons, and away they went, the most extraordinary cavalcade, which the travellers had ever witnessed. Their light form, the vivacity of their eyes, and the ease with which they appeared to fly over the ground, made these female pages appear something more than mortal, as they flew alongside of his horse, when he was galloping, and making his horse curvet and bound. A man with an immense bundle of spears remained behind, at a little distance, apparently to serve as a magazine for the girls to be supplied from, when their master had expended those they carried in their hands.

Here, as in other large towns, there were music and dancing the whole of the night. Men's wives and maidens all join in the song and dance, Mahommedans as well as pagans; female chastity was very little regarded.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 561 of 1124
Words from 153386 to 153656 of 309561