1830.] Love, Law, and Physic in Barbary. 293 



One fair sample of these Moorish beauties, I must be pardoned for 

 describing : the very time at which she first met my sight contributes 

 to fasten her image upon my mind ; it was the hour of the Ascha, or 

 twilight prayer, whilst walking on the terrace of my residence at Algiers 

 and musing on the appearance of that singular city. The sun had 

 just sunk into the ocean, leaving minaret and mountain covered 

 with those beautiful tints of purple and gold, so peculiar to a Mediter- 

 ranean sky. The melancholy but clear strain of the Muezzin's voice 

 proclaimed the -hour of vespers in that well-known cry of " La Illaha 

 Mohammed-arrasoul Allah !" the storks had perched themselves on 

 their nightly station, the ruined turrets, and the Mussulmans were 

 slowly moving down the steep descent of the mountain city to join in 

 the evening prayer. This is the hour when, in Barbary, the females, 

 who are not allowed to walk abroad without being closely muffled up, 

 resort to their terraces to enjoy the refreshing sunset breeze. The 

 sight of a stranger, and an European too, at first seemed embarrassing, 

 and startled the fair Moriscoe, who, like the gazelle of her own 

 land, stood hesitating whether to advance or retire. I was reluc- 

 tantly about to withdraw, but having reached the mirador of my 

 terrace, she took courage and playfully beckoned me to remain. Aware 

 that from my situation I was unobserved by any one but herself, she 

 shewed how far she noticed and sympathised with my curiosity, by 

 throwing aside her shawl, and leaving me to gaze on a face and form 

 I shall never forget. 



She was evidently proud of the impression she had made, but it was 

 a pardonable vanity ; for her beauty would have compensated for a whole 

 race of deformity though it did not possess all those requisites gene- 

 rally esteemed handsome amongst other females. She was above the 

 ordinary height of woman, and yet without sacrificing one iota of her 

 true grace of form, and finely proportioned limbs, so visible when the 

 Moorish costume is disencumbered of the heavy drapery of the al-haicka. 

 Her skin was white, and her cheeks so beautifully blended with a rosy 

 tint, that were it not known that the Barbary women are fair, 

 it would have been difficult to have supposed her an inhabitant of 

 so warm a climate. A deep blue line intersected her face and bosom ; 

 this is effected by a liquid dye being introduced beneath the cuticle 

 when very young ; it has the appearance of a full starting vein, and is 

 meant to set off the complexion. Some ladies cause flowers to be traced 

 on their bodies with this dye, and some completely disfigure their 

 faces by its too general use. The dress of the female in question was 

 of blue silk, trimmed with black braid ; she wore ear-rings, armlets, and 

 anklets of silver, and her totally bared legs and arms formed a curious 

 contrast to the notions of costume entertained by European ladies. 



The mind would willingly attach something of romance to so lovely 

 a creature, but I could learn nothing of her history beyond her 

 having been just married to a rich old Moor, and her being only 

 sixteen years of age. She was a slave ! yet her pensive look indi- 

 cated that she possessed a soul, although the Moors will not believe 

 in the possession ; consequently they deny them the benefits of edu- 

 cation, or the taste of liberty ; and thus their days pass on without the 

 slightest reciprocity of feeling to alleviate the monotony of their exis- 

 tence. The whole life of a Moorish woman from infancy to death may 

 be comprised in a few words. Although every thing is hid from public 



