118 NATURAL HISTORY. 



der of an ox, or a cow, inflated as much as possible, 

 by which they disfigure themselves amazingly. In 

 the summer months the inferior classes wear nothing 

 but a shift, which is open down to the middle, and 

 which is generally of a blue, yellow, or red colour. 

 They are tolerably familiar with strangers, but at the 

 same tin-.e faithful to their husbands, who are by no 

 means jealous; of them." 



The Turks, who purchase a vast number of these 

 women as slaves, arc a people composed of many dif- 

 ferent nations. From the Armenians, the Georgians, 

 the Turcomans, intermixing in the time of the crusades 

 with the Arabians, the Egyptians, and even the Eu- 

 ropeans, it is hardly possible to distinguish the native 

 inhabitants of Asia Minor, of Syria, and of the rest 

 of Turkey. The Turkish men are generally robust, 

 and tolerably well-made ; and it is even rare to find 

 among them persons either hump-backed or lame. 

 The women are generally beautiful, well-proportioned 

 and free from blemishes. They are very fair, because 

 they seldom stir from home ; and when they go abroad 

 they are always veiled. 



Before the Czar Peter I. we are told, that the Mus- 

 covites had not emerged from barbarism. Born in 

 slavery, they were ignorant, brutal, cruel, and des- 

 titute of courage. Men and women bathed promiscu- 

 ously in stoves heated to a degree intolerable to all 

 persons but themselves; and on quitting this warm 

 Lath, they plunged, like the Laplanders, into cold water. 

 Their food was homely ; and their favourite dishes 

 were cucumbers, or melons, of Astracan, which, in 

 summer, they preserved in a mixture of water, 

 flour, and salt. From ridiculous scruples they ab- 

 stained iiora several viands, amongst which were 



