Chap. XXX. HIS DOMESTIC ESTABLISHMENT. 293 
tainly was — first, from the love of possessing, and also 
in order to indulge his luxurious disposition, for he 
was certainly rather " kamuma," that is to say, ex- 
tremely fond of the fair sex, and had a harim of from 
three to four hundred female slaves. 
In assembling this immense number of female 
companions for the entertainment of his leisure hours, 
he adopted a scientific principle ; in fact, a credulous 
person might suppose that he regarded his harim only 
from a scientific point of view; — as a sort of ethno- 
logical museum — doubtless of a peculiarly interesting 
kind — which he had brought together in order to im- 
press upon his memory the distinguishing features of 
each tribe. I have often observed that, in speaking 
with him of the different tribes of Negroland, he was 
at times struck with the novelty of a name, lamenting 
that he had not yet had a specimen of that tribe in his 
harim, and giving orders at once to his servants to 
endeavour to procure a perfect sample of the missing 
kind. I remember, also, that on showing to him one 
day an illustrated ethnological work in which he 
took a lively interest, and coining to a beautiful 
picture of a Circassian female, he told me, with an 
expression of undisguised satisfaction, that he had a 
living specimen of that kind; and when, forgetting 
the laws of Mohammedan etiquette, I was so indis- 
creet as to ask him whether she was as handsome as 
the picture, he answered only with a smile, at once 
punishing and pardoning my indiscreet question. 
I must also say that, notwithstanding the great 
u 3 
