54 
from every. ciruumftance of his be- 
haviour, appears to be no other 
than his wife’s firft domettic, per- 
petually bound to her fervice, and 
flave to her caprice, -Hence it is 
that a tradition obtains in the 
country, that this ifland was for- 
merly inhabited by Amazons, a 
tradition however founded upon no 
ancient hiftory that I know of. Sap- 
pho indeed, the moit renowned fe- 
male that this ifland has ever pro- 
duced, is faid to have had manly 
inclinations, in. which, as Lucian 
informs us, fhe did. but conform 
with the fingular manners of her 
countrywomen; but I do not find 
that the mode in which fhe chole to 
fhew thefe inclinations is imitated 
by the prefent female inhabitants, 
who feem perfectly content with 
the dear prerogative of abfolute 
fway, without endeavouring in any 
other particular to. change the 
courfe of nature ; yet will this cir- 
cumflance ferve to fhew that the 
women of Lefbos had always fome- 
thing peculiar, and even peculiarly 
mafculine, in their manners and 
propenfities. But be this as it may, 
it is certain that no country what- 
foever can afford a more perfeét idea 
of an Amazonian commonwealth, 
or better ferve to render probable 
thofe ancient relations which our 
manners would induce us to efteem 
incredible, than this ifland of Mete- 
Jin. Thefe lordly ladies are, for 
the moft part, very handfome in fpite 
of their drefs, which is fingular 
‘and difadvantageous. Down to the 
girdle, which, as in the old Grecian 
garb, is raifed far above what we 
ufually call the waift, they wear 
nothing but a fhift of thin and 
tranfparent gauze, red, green, or 
brown, through which every thing 
is vilible, their breafts only except- 
6 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1799. 
ed, which they cover with a fort 
of handkerchief; and this, as we 
were informed, the Turks lave 
obliged them to wear, while they 
look upon it as an incumbrance, 
and as no inconfiderable portion of 
Turkith tyranny. Long figeves of 
the fame thin material, perfefly 
fhew their arms even to the fhoul- 
der. Their principal ornaments are 
chains of pearl, to which they hang 
{mall pieces of gold coin. Their 
eyes are large and fine; and the 
nofe, which we term Grecian, ufu- 
ally prevails among them, as it 
does indeed among the women of 
all thefe iflands. Their complex- 
ions are naturally fine, but they 
fpoil them by paint, of which re 4 
make abundant ule, and they dil- 
figure their pretty faces by fhaving 
the hinder part of the eyebrow, 
and replacing it with a ftrait line 
of hair, neatly applied with fome 
fort of gum, the brow being thus. 
continued in a ftrait and narrow 
line till it joins the hair on each 
fide of their face. They are well 
made, of the middle fize, and, for 
the moft part, plump; but they are 
diftinguifhed by nothing fo much 
and fo. univerfally, as by a haughty, 
difdainful, and fupercilious air, with 
which they feem to look down upon 
all mankind as creatures of an infe- 
rior nature, born for their fervice, 
and doomed ‘to be their flaves ; nei- 
ther does this peculiarity of counte- 
nance in any degree diminifh their 
natural beauty, but rather adds to 
it that fort of bewitching attraction, 
which the French call piguant. 
In the fequel of this paper, lord 
Charlemont has endeavoured with 
great learning and ingenuity to trace 
the origin of this extraordinary 
cuftom up to the firft fettlement of — 
the ifland by the Lycians, accord~ 
ing 
