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THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



other drapery, fastened in front, is 

 made to fall gracefully over the lower 

 part of the person behind, forming 

 a train on the floor, leaving, however, 

 one leg, adorned with a massive silver 

 anklet, uncovered, whilst the points of 

 the feet are tipped with tiny Morocco 

 slippers. Half a dozen bracelets on 

 each arm are the fewest they wear, 

 whilst the rich deck themselves with 

 pearls, diamonds, and precious stones. 

 Such as cannot afford an expensive 

 parure cover, if they do not adorn, 

 their persons with all procurable pieces 

 of old or even modern coins, gold or 

 silver, which fall in long necklaces as 

 low as the waist. Amongst Turkish 

 money we have seen the effigies of 

 Queen Victoria and his Holiness the 

 Pope. The jingle made at every 

 movement by these bits of metal is 

 music to the ear of a Moorish lady. 

 Dyes and perfumes, which are the 

 delight of all women of the East, are 

 in especial favour with the ladies of 

 Algeria. Moorish women in particu- 

 lar, not content with trying to deepen 

 the colour of the darkest of black 



eyebrows, are dissatisfied when they do not extend and meet in an uninterrupted line across 

 the forehead a mistake of nature they correct by the aid of art." 



Moorish architecture is the finest in Africa, and a typical house has been thus described 

 by Colville: "As the house in which I found myself is a fair specimen of a Moorish 

 habitation, I give a somewhat detailed description. The most important feature is the 

 court-yard, which is entered from the street by a narrow passage. It is generally paved with 

 pretty tiles and partly roofed in; the upper rooms overhang it to the extent of about 6 feet, 

 supported by pillars. There is always a stream of running water in some part of the court, 

 often a pretty fountain. Out of the court three or four long narrow rooms open by high 

 Moorish archways. These are closed by large carved wooden gates, having a smaller or postern 

 door in one of them. The floors of the rooms are tiled, and are frequently surrounded by a 

 tiled dado; the walls are whitewashed, the ceilings often beautifully ornamented with arabesques 

 in gold and bright colours. The upper floors are reached by one or more narrow dark 

 staircases, usually much out of repair. They are nearly all at different levels, and are very 

 puzzling to find one's way about. One of the rooms in my house could only be reached from 

 the upper floor. The room which I occupied at the far end of the court was overlooked by 

 a gallery, of which, although I wandered all over the house, I could find no entrance. The 

 room to the right of the main staircase was some 12 feet above the level of the court, yet 

 there was no doorway to indicate that any room was beneath it. On the second floor was a 

 doorway opening on to the stahr, or house-top. Here the women sit and talk, safe from male 

 intrusion, for the stalir is tabooed to the lords of creation." 



The principal Moorish foods are cakes of barley flour and buttermilk, and a kind of 

 porridge made of flour rolled into small granules like Italian paste; this is generally flavoured 

 with rancid butter, which is made in a goat-skin bag, tied at the mouth and rolled and 



A MOORISH LADY. 



