COURDISH MANNERS AND DRESS. 
467 
freshment and flavour: here, as in Judea, it is esteemed a 
pleasant thing to be “ as a lodge, in a garden of cucumbers.” 
The curiosity I excited amongst the inhabitants insured me 
the sight of women of all ranks j who, sharing the liberty of 
their hardy sires and husbands, walk about at will; and, so far 
from being the mere idols of a harem, like the wives and 
daughters of the tribes of Caucasus, they perform not only all 
domestic duties attached to their families, but also take on 
themselves the laborious offices of bringing water and fuel, and 
tending the cattle. These primitive occupations are pursued 
with cheerfulness and activity; such mountain-exercise giving 
elasticity to their step, and an extraordinary freedom to their 
carriage, though without the least taint of immodesty. Their 
persons are in general fine, with handsome frank countenances ; 
and their native habit rather becoming. The materials and orna¬ 
ments may vary according to the wealth of the wearer, but the 
fashion is much the same in all. 
The dress consists of a sort of shift, buttoned at the neck, and 
opening thence pretty low down in front, though not so far as 
that of the Persian ladies. Its sleeves are long and tight to the 
wrists, while the garment itself reaches rather below the knees. 
Trowsers are worn, fastened round the ankles ; slippers, or naked 
feet, finish those extremities. The shift is usually of a dark 
brownish colour, though sometimes the younger females have it 
of lighter tints. Over it they wear an open robe or caftan, with 
short sleeves, of a similar form to that of the Turkish women of 
the higher orders. It also is of a sombre hue, the natural colour, 
I believe, of the hair or wool of which it is manufactured. 
The only gayer tint I observed on any person, after passing the 
Courdistan frontier, was a pale green ; and it seemed general in 
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