THE MOOES. 
107 
Sweden, who imagine that their sins will be forgiven them, if they 
set a cockchafer on its feet, that has happened to fall on its back. 
The moon, according to Kolben, receives a kind of adoration from the 
Hottentots ; but the fact is, that they merely take the opportunity of 
her beams, and at the same time of the coolness of the night, to amuse 
themselves with dancing ; and consequentlv have no more thoughts 
of worshipping her than the Christian colonists, who are seen at that 
time strolling in great numbers about the streets, and parading on 
the stone steps with which their houses are usually encircled. The 
conjurers themselves are generally freethinkers, who have neither 
religion nor superstition of any kind. 
Dress, Customs &c. of the Moors. 
The Moors of the plains wear nothing but their woollen stuff, they 
have neitheir shirts nor drawers. Linen among these people is a 
luxury, known only to those of the court or the city. The whole 
wardrobe of a country Moor in easy circumstances consists of a haick 
for winter, another for summer, a red cap, a hood, and a pair of slip- 
pers. The common people, both in the country and in towns, wear a 
kind of tnnic of woollen cloth, white, gray, or striped, which reaches 
to the middle of the leg, with great sleeves, and a hood, resembling 
the habit of the Carthusians. The women’s dress in the country 
is likewise confined to a haick, which covers the neck and the 
shoulders, and is fastened with a silver clasp. The ornaments they 
are the fondest of are, ear-rings, which are either in the form of rings 
or crescents, made of silver, and bracelets, with rings for the small of 
the leg. They wear these trinkets at their most ordinary occupations, 
less out of vanity, than because they are unacquainted with the use 
of caskets or cabinets for keeping them. They also wear necklaces 
made of coloured glass beads, or cloves strung on a cord of silk. 
The w'omen, to add to their beauty, imprint on their face, neck, 
breast, and almost every part of their body, representations of flowers 
and other figures. The impressions are made with a piece of wood 
stuck full of needles, with the points of which they gently puncture 
the skin, and then lay it over with a blue-coloured substance, or gun- 
powder pulverized, and the marks never wear out. This custom, which 
is very ancient, and which has been practised by a variety of nations, 
in Turkey, all over Asia, in the southern parts of Europe, and perhaps 
over the whole globe, is, however, not general among the Moorish 
tribes. 
The Moors consider their wives as slaves destined to labour. 
Except in the business of tillage, they are employed in every servile 
operation ; nay, to the disgrace of humanity, in some of the poorer 
quarters a woman is often seen yoked in a plough along with a mule, 
an ass, or some other animal. When the Moors remove their douhars, 
all the men seat themselves in a circle on the ground, and, with their 
elbow resting on their knees, pass the time in conversation, while the 
women strike the tents, fold them up into bundles, and place them on 
the backs of their camels or oxen. The old women are then each 
