119 
CHAPTER VIII. 
Women. — Children. — Language.— Dresses. — Arms. — Greediness. — Marriages,, 
Births, and Burials. — Climate. — Physicians. — Balm of Mecca. — Incisions in 
the Face. 
The women enjoy mpre liberty at Mecca than in 
any other Mussulman city. Perhaps the great con- 
course of strangers who arrived, when the city was in 
its greatest opulence, contributed to change their man- 
ners; and their misery and natural dullness have tended 
to plunge them into an almost total indifference in this 
respect. It is an indubitable fact, that opulence and 
poverty are extremes equally opposite to the preserva- 
tion of manners. 
The women cover their faces, as in Egypt, with a 
piece of cloth, in which there are two holes worked 
for the eyes, which are so large that half their face 
may be seen; and a few show nearly the whole. They 
all wear a sort of cloak, made of blue and white striped 
linen, as at Alexandria, which is put on with much 
grace; but when a sight of their faces is obtained, the 
illusion is soon dispelled; for they are in general very 
ugly, with lemon-coloured complexions, like the men* 
Their faces and their hands, which are daubed all over 
with black, blue, and yellow, present a frightful pic- 
ture to strangers; but custom has made them consider 
this painting as a sign of beauty. 
I saw some who had a ring passed through the 
cartilage of the nose, which hung down upon their 
upper lip. 
Their freedom is such, in comparison with Mussul- 
man manners in general s that I may almost call it 
