292 stranCtE madness. [1698. 



Glass fasten'd to their Hair and Fingers, and large Ivory 

 Rings about their Elbows. 



But what is yet more frightful, is their Necks ; they seem 

 to have two long, half-dry'd, and half-fill'd Hoggs Bladders 

 hanging at them. These nasty Dugs, whose Flesh is black, 

 wrinkled and rough as Shagreen, come down as low as their 

 Navels, and have Filleraot^ Teats as large as those of a Cow. 

 In truth these swinging Udders have this commodious in 

 them, that you may lead a Woman by them to the Eight or 

 Left, forwards or backwards as you please. For the most 

 part they throw them behind their Shoulders to suckle their 

 Child, who is slung upon their Backs. Notwithstanding all 

 this, the vanity of these ugly Witches is incredible. They 

 fancy themselves the finest Women in the World, and look 

 on us from top to bottom with their Hands to their Sides 

 disdainfully. 'Tis said, they are of a strange Temper, and 

 that at certain times have a Madness come upon them, 

 during which they emit as strong a Vapour from their 

 Bodies, as those of a Hind in Season. They wear a sort of 

 Petticoat which covers them from their Wasts to their 

 Knees, which however is not necessary, since certain Skins 

 hanging from their upper parts like Furljelo's are sufficient 

 to do that Ofiice. Some have told me they had the Curiosity 

 to look under these Veils, and an end of Tobacco procur'd 

 them that Liberty. ^ 



1 Id orig. : " uu bout feuille-moi'te." 



2 In orig. : " chose qui ne leur feroit pas uecessaire, pour couvrir, ce 

 que des peaux pendantes en Falbala. de la partie supi'rieure, drroberoient 

 assez a la viie des passans. Plusieurs m'out dit qu'ils ont eu la curiosite 

 de voir ces voiles, & qu'on peut satisfaire ainsi ses yeux pour un boutde 

 tabao." 



M. Leguat gives an engraving representing a Hottentot woman 

 without her petticoat, in which the so-called tahlicr is most conspicuous. 

 In the background is figured a papaye tree, undoubtedly copied from 

 p. 139 of Rochefort's book on the Antilles, from which so many other 

 representations of plants have been borrowed. 



M. de Pages, who visited the Cajie in 1773, remarks : — " Des 



