I Remember Sitting With A Dozen Of Them Round A Bason Of Sour
Milk, Which We Dispatched In A Few Minutes Without Any Person, Except
Myself, Having In The Least Soiled His Fingers.
The Turkman women do not hide themselves, even before strangers, but the
girls seldom enter the men’s room, although they are permitted freely to
talk with their father’s guests.
I was much struck with the elegance of
their shapes and the regularity of their features. Their complexion is
as fair as that of European women; as they advance in age the sun browns
them a little. As to their morals, chastity becomes a necessary virtue
where [p.639] even a kiss, is punished with death by the father or
brother of the unhappy offender. I could mention several instances of
the extreme severity of the Turkmans upon this subject; but one may
suffice. Three brothers taking a ride end passing through an insulated
valley, met their sister receiving the innocent caresses of her lover.
By a common impulse they all three discharged their fire-arms upon her,
and left their fallen victim upon the ground, while the lover escaped
unhurt; my host Mohammed Ali, upon being informed of the murder, sent
his servant to bring the body to his tent, in order to prevent the
jackals from devouring it: the women were undressing and washing the
body to commit it to the grave, when a slight breathing convinced them
that the vital spark was not yet extinguished; in short the girl
recovered.
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