252 SLAVE-MARKET. 



and of the very ugliest description of African 

 blacks, with thick lips and huge mouths, their 

 coarse woolly hair plaited in a not very becoming 

 manner. Their foreheads all betrayed an utter defi- 

 ciency of intellect, whilst the animal propensities 

 appeared to be strongly developed. 



I watched a bargain that was going on. A 

 purchaser was examining the teeth, tongue, eyes, 

 and limbs, of a sturdy, strong, hard-working 

 kind of woman, who was for sale; after all this, 

 the bargain, it appeared, could not be made, so 

 the slave returned, apparently with great unwil- 

 lingness, to her place amongst her companions. 

 I inquired the price of the woman in question, 

 and was told that sixteen hundred piastres (about 

 £16) was demanded by the slave merchant. I 

 observed another female slave, who had been just 

 purchased by a Mahommedan woman, was walk- 

 ing out of the bazaar, apparently in great delight 

 at having a new owner. 



There are rooms in the bazaar set apart for 

 slaves of a superior description, such as Circassian 

 women, and other females who may be purchased 

 as wives by the Turks. I observed three amongst 

 these who were nearly white ; they were tolerably 



