BAGDAD. 
31 
most valuable slave, or to give an entertainment to sixty people ; 
he is likewise to receive eighty-five strokes on the back with a 
leathern strap called dura. The common people, however, do not 
observe this fast exactly, and workmen are allowed to eat in the 
day-time. The Bukhars say prayers five times a day ; before morn- 
ing, towards noon, afternoon, at sun-set, and in the third hour of 
the night. 
Bagdad. 
The following View of Society in Bagdad is taken from Sir R. Porter'' s 
Travels in Georgia, Persia, Babylotda, ^c. 
The wives of the higher classes in Bagdad are usually selected from 
the most beautiful girls that can be obtained from Georgia and Cir- 
cassia ; and, to their natural charms, in like manner with their cap- 
tive sisters all over the East, they add the fancied embellishments of 
painted complexions, hands and feet dyed with henna, and their hair 
and eye-brows stained with rang, or prepared indigo-leaf. Chains 
of gold, and collars of pearls, with various ornaments of precious 
stones, decorate the upper part of their persons, while solid bracelets 
of gold, in shapes resembling serpents, clasp their wrists and ancles. 
Silver and golden tissued muslins, not only form their turbans, but 
frequently their under-garments. In summer, the ample pelisse is 
made of most costly shawl, and in cold weather lined and bordered 
with the choicest firs. The dress is altogether very becoming ; by its 
easy folds, and glittering transparency, shewing a fine shape to 
advantage, without the immodest exposure of the open vest of the 
Persian ladies. The humbler females generally move abroad with 
faces totally unveiled, having a handkerchief rolled round their heads, 
from beneath which their hair hangs dowm over their shoulders, 
while another piece of linen passes under their chin, in the fashion 
of the Georgians. Their garment is a gown of a shift form, reaching 
to their ankles, open before, and of a gray colour. Their feet are 
completely naked. Many of the very inferior classes stain their 
bosoms with the figures of circles, half-moons, stars, &c. in a bluish 
stamp. In this barbaric embellishment, the poor damsel of Irak 
Arabi has one point ofrarity resembling that of the ladies of Irak 
Ajem. The former frequently adds this frightful cadaverous hue 
to her lips ; and, to complete her savage appearance, thrusts a ring 
through the right nostril, pendent with a flat button-like ornament 
set round with blue or red stones. 
But to return to the ladies of the higher circles, w hom we left in some 
gay saloon of Bagdad. When all are assembled, the evening meal, 
or dinner, is soon served. The party, seated in rows, then prepare 
themselves for the entrance of the show ; which, consisting of music 
and dancing, continues in noisy exhibition through the whole night. 
At twelve o’clock, supper is produced ; when pilaus, kabobs, pre- 
serves, fruits, dried sweatmeats, and sherbets of ever fabric and fla- 
vour, engage the fair convives for some time. Between this second 
banquet and the preceding, the perfumed narquilly is never absent 
from their rosy. lips; excepting when they sip coffee, or indulge a 
general shout of approbation, or a hearty peal of laughter, at the 
