234 
CLARKE'S TRAVELS. 
A very extraordinary accident happened the third day after j 
our arrival, which had like to have put an end to ail our pur* j 
suits in this and every other part of the world. We had beeu i 
in the morning to visit Djezzar, and had passed the day in 
viewing the bezesten (a covered place for shops, very inferior 
to that of Constantinople or of Moscow,) the custom houses 
and some other objects of curiosity in the place. Signor Ber- 
tocino, interpreter to the pacha, and the imperial consul, Mr. 
Catafago, came to dine with us on board the Romulus. In the 
evening we accompanied them on shore, and took some coffee 
in the house of the consul, where we were introduced to the 
ladies of his family. We were amused by seeing his wife, a 
very beautiful woman, sitting cross-legged by us upon the 
divan of his apartment, and smoking tobacco with a pipe six j 
feet in length. Her eyelashes, as well as those of all the 
other women, were tinged w ith a black powder made of the 
sulphuret of antimony, and having by no means a cleanly ap¬ 
pearance, although considered as essential an addition to the 
decorations of a woman of rank in Syria, as her ear rings, or 
the golden cinctures of her ankles. Dark streaks were also 
penciled, from the corners of her eyes, along the temples. This 
curious practice instantly brought to our recollection certain 
passages of scripture, wherein mention is made of a custom 
among oriental women of “putting the eyes in painting and 
which our English translators of the bible,* unable to reconcile 
with their notions of a female toilet, have rendered “painting 
ike face” Whether the interesting conversation to which the 
observance of this custom gave rise, or any other cause pre¬ 
vented the consul from informing us of an order of the pacha, 
is now of no moment, but it was after the hour of eight when ^ 
we left his hospitable mansion to return on board the Romulus; 
and Djezzar bad decreed that no boat should pass the bar of 
the inner harbour after that hour. The crew of the long¬ 
boat were pulling stoutly for the ship, when, just as we were 
rowing beneath the tower of the battery that guards the inner 
harbour, a volley of large stones came like cannon shot upon 
us from above, dashed the oars from the hands of our sailors, 
and wounded three of them severely. It is very fortunate 
none of their brains were beat out, for some of the stones 
weighed several pounds. The cries of our wounded men 
gave us the first alarm, and presently another volley drove us 
12 Kings, it. 30. “ And wben Jebu was come to Jeztreel, Jezebel beard of it, and 
ahp painted her face, and tired bgr bead,” &c.' 
