l^S TRAVELS IN THE 
The Moors have singular ideas of feminine perfection. The 
gracefulness of figure and motion, and a countenance enlivened 
by expression, are by no means essential points in their standard : 
with them, corpulence and beauty appear to be terms nearly 
synonymous. A woman, of even moderate pretensions, must be 
one who cannot walk without a slave under each arm, to sup- 
port her ; and a perfect beauty is a load for a camel. In con- 
sequence of this prevalent taste for unwieldiness of bulk, the 
Moorish ladies take great pains to acquire it early in life ; and 
for this purpose, many of the young girls are compelled, by 
their mothers, to devour a great quantity of kouskous, and 
drink a large bowl of camels' milk every morning. It is of no 
importance, whether the girl has an appetite or not ; the kous- 
kous and milk must be swallowed ; and obedience is frequently 
enforced by blows. I have seen a poor girl sit crying, with the 
bowl at her lips, for more than an hour ; and her mother, with 
a stick in her hand, watching her all the while, and using the 
stick without mercy, whenever she observed that her daughter 
was not swallowing. This singular practice, instead of pro- 
ducing indigestion and disease, soon covers the young lady with 
that degree of plumpness, which, in the eye of a Moor, is per- 
fection itself. 
As the Moors purchase all their clothing from the Negroes, 
the women are forced to be very economical in the article of 
dress. In general, they content themselves with a broad piece 
of cotton cloth, which is wrapped round the middle* and hangs 
down like a petticoat, almost to the ground : to the upper part 
of this, are sewed two square pieces, one before, and the other 
