450 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



drunk very copioufly. The patients were numerous, and' 

 the floor oF the room received all the evacuations. It was 

 moft prodigiouliy hot, and the horrid, black figures, moan- 

 ing and groaning with fickncfs all around me, gave me, I 

 think, feme flight idea of the punifliment in the world be- 

 low. My mortifications, however, did not flop here. 1 ob- 

 lerved that, in coming into their prelence, d\e queens were 

 all covered with cotton lliirts ; but no fooner did their 

 complaints make part of our con verfation,' than, to my uc- 

 mofl furprife, each of them, in her turn, ftript herfelf entire- 

 ly naked, laying her cotton Ihirt loofcly on her lap as flie 

 fat croi^-legged like a tailor. The cuftom of going na^ 

 ked in thefe warm countries aboliflies all delicacy concern- 

 ing it. I could not but obferve that the breafts of each of 

 them reached the.length of their knees. 



This exceeding confidence on their parr, they thought 

 merited fome conflderation on mine ; and it was not with- 

 out great aftonifliment that I heard the queen defire to fee 

 me in the like difliabille in which flie had fpontaneoufly 

 put herfelf. The whole court of female attendants flocked 

 to the fpedtacle. Refufal, or refiflance, were in vain. I 

 was furrounded with fifty or fixty women, all equal in fla.- 

 ture and ftrength to myfelf. The whole of my cioathing 

 was, like theirs, a long loofe lliirt of blue Surat cotton 

 cloth, reaching from the neck down to the feet. The on-- 

 ly terms I could polTibly, and that with great diflicultVi 

 make for myfelf were, that they fliould be contented to 

 fl:rip me no farther than the fhoulders and breafl. Upon 

 feenig the whitenefs of my fkin, they gave all a loud cry 

 in token of diflike, and fliuddered, feeming to confider it 

 rather the effefts of difeafe than natural. I think in my 



life-- 



