In The Open Slave-Market I Saw About Fifty Girls
Exposed For Sale, But All Of Them Black, Or "Invisible" Brown.
A
slave agent took me to some rooms in the upper storey of the
building, and also into several obscure houses in the
neighbourhood, with a view to show me some white women.
The owners
raised various objections to the display of their ware, and well
they might, for I had not the least notion of purchasing; some
refused on account of the illegality of the proceeding, {35} and
others declared that all transactions of this sort were completely
out of the question as long as the plague was raging. I only
succeeded in seeing one white slave who was for sale but on this
one the owner affected to set an immense value, and raised my
expectations to a high pitch by saying that the girl was
Circassian, and was "fair as the full moon." After a good deal of
delay I was at last led into a room, at the farther end of which
was that mass of white linen which indicates an Eastern woman. She
was bid to uncover her face, and I presently saw that, though very
far from being good looking, according to my notion of beauty, she
had not been inaptly described by the man who compared her to the
full moon, for her large face was perfectly round and perfectly
white. Though very young, she was nevertheless extremely fat. She
gave me the idea of having been got up for sale, of having been
fattened and whitened by medicines or by some peculiar diet. I was
firmly determined not to see any more of her than the face. She
was perhaps disgusted at this my virtuous resolve, as well as with
my personal appearance; perhaps she saw my distaste and
disappointment; perhaps she wished to gain favour with her owner by
showing her attachment to his faith: at all events, she holloaed
out very lustily and very decidedly that "she would not be bought
by the infidel."
Whilst I remained at Cairo I thought it worth while to see
something of the magicians, because I considered that these men
were in some sort the descendants of those who contended so stoutly
against the superior power of Aaron. I therefore sent for an old
man who was held to be the chief of the magicians, and desired him
to show me the wonders of his art. The old man looked and dressed
his character exceedingly well; the vast turban, the flowing beard,
and the ample robes were all that one could wish in the way of
appearance. The first experiment (a very stale one) which he
attempted to perform for me was that of showing the forms and faces
of my absent friends, not to me, but to a boy brought in from the
streets for the purpose, and said to be chosen at random. A
mangale (pan of burning charcoal) was brought into my room, and the
magician bending over it, sprinkled upon the fire some substances
which must have consisted partly of spices or sweetly burning
woods, for immediately a fragrant smoke arose that curled around
the bending form of the wizard, the while that he pronounced his
first incantations.
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