Hence It Sometimes Happens, When
They Think To Have Abused The Daughter Of Some Nobleman Or Person Of
Condition, That They Have Fallen In With Their Own Wives, As Actually
Happened While I Was There.
The women of Damascus beautify and adorn
themselves with great attention, wearing silk clothes, which they cover
with an outer garment of cotton as fine as silk.
They wear white
buskins, and red or purple shoes, having their heads decorated with
rich jewels and ear-rings, with rings on their fingers and splendid
bracelets on their arms. They marry as often as they please, as when
weary of, or dissatisfied with their husbands, they apply to the chief
of their religion, called the _cady_, and request of him to divorce
them, which divorcement is called _talacare_ in their language, after
which they are at liberty to contract a new marriage; and the same
liberty is allowed to the husbands. Some say that the Mahometans have
usually five or six wives, but as far as I could learn they have only
two or three. They eat openly in the markets or fairs, and there they
cook all their food, living on the flesh, of horses, camels, buffaloes,
goats, and other beasts, and use great quantities of fresh cheese. Those
who sell milk drive flocks of forty or fifty she-goats through the
streets, which they bring to the doors of those who buy, driving them
even into their chambers, though three stories high, where the animals
are milked, so that every one gets their milk fresh and unadulterated.
These goats have their ears a span long, and are very fruitful. They use
many mushrooms, as there are often seen at one time 20 or 30 camels
loaded with mushrooms coming to market, and yet all are sold in two or
three days. These are brought from the mountains of Armenia, and from
Asia Minor, now called Turkey, Natolia, or Anatolia. The Mahometans use
long loose vestures both of silk and cloth, most having hose or trowsers
of cotton, and white shoes or slippers. When any Mahometan happens to
meet a Mameluke, even though the worthier person, he must give place and
reverence to the Mameluke, who would otherwise beat him with a staff.
Though often ill used by the Mahometans, the Christians have many
warehouses in Damascus, where they sell various kinds of silks and
velvets, and other commodities.
SECT. III.
_Of the Journey from Damascus to Mecca, and of the Manners of the
Arabians_.
On the 8th of April 1503, having hired certain camels to go with the
caravan to Mecca, and being then ignorant of the manners and customs of
those with whom I was to travel, I entered into familiarity and
friendship with a certain Mameluke captain who had forsaken our faith,
with whom I agreed for the expences of my journey, and who supplied me
with apparel like that worn by the Mamelukes, and gave me a good horse,
so that I went in his company along with other Mamelukes.
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