322 
AHEER BEAUTY COSTUME. 
the Sultan's female relations, came, moved no doubt 
by curiosity, into the room. She was evidently a 
line dame, a person of fashion in this Sabaran capi- 
tal. Her countenance, in due obedience to the 
requirements of ton, was not " rouged up to the 
eyes," but " yellowed up to the eyes There cannot 
be a more appalling custom. Imagine a young 
lady, of brown-black complexion, daubed with 
brilliant yellow ochre ! The paint covers the whole 
face, from the roots of the hair to the lower 
jaw, forming two semicircles with the upper lips. 
Between the eyes are three black beauty-spots, de- 
scending perpendicularly on the bridge of the nose. 
The eyebrows are blackened, and joined, so as to 
form one immense arch across the face, under the 
yellow brow. Is it possible to disguise the human 
countenance more completely? 
The dark-blue cotton skirt of this lady was 
turned up behind over her head, so as to form a 
kind of hood; but underneath she wore a coloured 
petticoat. Generally, the women of Tintalous wear 
a frock, or chemise, and a piece of cotton wrapper 
over their head and shoulders.* This wrapper, 
which serves as a shawl, is not unlike, in effect, 
the black veil worn by the Maltese women. The 
lady we saw at En-Noor's wore a profusion of neck- 
laces, armlets, and anklets of metal, wood, and horn. 
She gazed about for some time and then went her 
way. After asking and receiving permission to 
* Answering to the gown and head- veil of the fellahs. — Ed. 
