As soon as this had subsided, the girl in the
centre, growing tired of sitting still for so long,
heaved a great sigh of boredom, turned suddenly
round, and called out a question to someone outside
the te n t; and so they went on.
All this time I was expecting every moment to
be disturbed in my occupation by the news that
their menkind were approaching the scene. It was
enough to try the patience of a Job.
I succeeded in getting one snapshot of them,
and then, in order to obtain a full-face view and to
arrest for a few moments their attention, I told
them to look at the shutter and watch it jump when
I pressed the lever. This plan succeeded; for a
moment they were motionless, and before they had
time to turn away again I was able to get a second
photograph of the group.
A very noticeable peculiarity in these women
was the extreme smallness and neatness of their
hands. They had the prettiest arms and hands
imaginable. Their wrists were beautifully rounded,
and their hands, with their long tapering fingers,
would have formed most perfect models for a
sculptor or a painter. Some bracelets which I
bought from them, and which they slipped over their
hands with but little difficulty, look almost ridiculously
small. They could hardly be made to pass
over the hands of an ordinary English girl of ten
years old, and yet these women, though they were
short in height in comparison with the men, were
rather above the average stature of an ordinary
English woman.