450 TRAVELS TO. DISCOVER 
drunk very copioufly. The. patients were numerous, and’ 
the floor of the room received: all. the evacuations. It was 
moft prodigioufly hot, and the horrid; black figures, moan- 
ing and groaning with ficknefs all-around me, gave me, F 
think, fome flight idea_of the punifhment in the world be- 
low. My mortifications, however, did not ftop here. 1 ob-- 
ferved that, in coming into their prefence, the queens were: 
all covered with cotton fhirts; but no: fooner did their- 
complaints make part of our converfation, than, to my ut- 
mott furprife, each of them, in her turn, ftript herfelf entire- 
ly naked, laying her. cotton fhirt loofely on her lap as fhe: 
fat crofs-legged like atailor, The cuftom of going na- 
ked in thefe warm. countries abolifhes all delicacy concern-- 
ing it. I could not: but obferve that the breafts of each.of: 
them reached the length of their knees.. 
Tus exceeding confidence on their part, they thought: 
merited fome confideration on:‘mine; and it was not with- 
out great aftonifhment that I heard the queen defire to fee- 
me in the like difhabille in which fhe had f{pontaneoufly 
put herfelf.. The whole court of female attendants flocked . 
to the fpectacle. Refufal,. or refiftance, were in vain. IL 
was furrounded with fifty or fixty women, all-equal in fta. 
ture and ftrength to my(felf; The whole of my. cloathing. 
was, like theirs,.a long loofe-fhirt of blue Surat. cotton 
cloth, reaching from the. neck down to the feet. The on- 
ly terms I could poffibly, and that with great, difficulty,. 
make for myfelf were, that they fhould be contented to: 
frip.me no: farther than the fhoulders and breaft. Upom: 
fecing the whitenefs of my fkin, they gave all a loud ery. 
in token of diflike, and fhuddered, feeming-to confider it: 
rather the effects of difeafe than natural... Ithink in my 
life.: 
