The poor thing was alone here, and had no society but
an old female servant and a young gazelle. Her complexion, probably
not quite natural, was of dazzling whiteness, and a delicate red
tinted her cheeks. The eyebrows only, in my opinion, were very much
deformed by art. They were in the form of a dark-blue streak, an
inch wide, which extended in two connected curves from one temple to
the other, and gave the face a somewhat dark and very uncommon
appearance. The principal hairs were not dyed; her hands and arms,
however, were slightly tattooed. She explained to me that this
shocking operation was performed upon her when she was only a child,
a custom which is also practised by the Mahomedan women in Baghdad.
The dress of this beauty was like that of the women in the pasha's
harem, but instead of the small turban, she wore a white muslin
cloth lightly twisted round the head, which she could also draw over
her face as a veil.
Our conversation was not very lively, as the interpreter was not
allowed to follow me into this sanctum. We were therefore obliged
to content ourselves with making signs and looking at one another.
When I returned to the prince, I expressed to him my wonder at the
rare beauty of his young wife, and asked him what country was the
cradle of this true angel.
