ATTRACTIONS OF THE WOMEN. 141 



are constantly chewing ; this renders their teeth black, 

 and spoils the appearance of their mouths : an 

 exciting effect is attributed to its use. 



In person these people, together with those inhabit- 

 ing the other islands, are below the average stature of 

 European nations : they are, however, finely formed, 

 and well made in their persons, and of a strong, 

 robust constitution, which renders them capable of 

 enduring, when called upon, excessive fatigue ; their 

 women, at least those of the higher classes, are, as in 

 other countries where the profession of Islamism pre- 

 vails, carefully excluded from the gaze of strangers ; 

 some whom I have had opportunities of seeing have 

 astonished me by the fairness of their complexion, and 

 the comparative beauty of their features. They are 

 generally short in stature, but of the most beautifully 

 symmetrical figures, and their long and slender fingers, 

 with the small and pretty hands, wrists, feet, and ankles, 

 are seldom seen amongst the western fair ones in any 

 thing approaching such perfection. Their long black 

 hair, which falls on their backs in the greatest pro- 

 fusion, and in many cases reaches nearly to the ground, 

 has, if we may believe the reports of the vendors of oils 

 and unguents said to be used by them, been long the 

 envy of the ladies of the west. But, notwithstanding 

 these advantages of figure, and of the greatest orna- 

 ment of female beauty, they can never approach the 

 combination of perfection which constitutes loveliness in 

 the west ; their too flat noses, and the want of clear- 

 ness and brilliancy in their complexions, and of anima- 



