people of Tripoli ; the lower orders wear a large shirt of white or blue cotton with long loose sleeves, trowsers of the same, and sandals of camels’ hide: the shirts being long, many wear no other covering. When leaving their houses, and walking to the market or gardens, a Jereed or Aba is thrown round them, and a red cap, or a neatly quilted white cotton one, completes the dress : on I ridays they perhaps add a turban, and appear in yellow slippers. In the gardens, .men and women wear large broad-brimmed straw hats to defend their eyes from the sun, and sandals made from the leaves and fibres of the palm-tree. Very young children go entirely naked ; those who are older have a shirt : many are quite bare-headed, and in that state exposed all day to the sun and flies. The men have but little beard, which they keep closely clipped. The dress o f the women here differs materially from that of the Moorish females, and their appearance and smell are far from being agreeable : they plait their hair in thick bobbins, which hang over their foreheads, nearly as low down as the eyebrows, and are there joined at the bottom, as far round to each side as the temples. The hair is so profusely oiled, that it drops down over thè face and clothes; this is dried up by sprinkling it with plenty of a preparation made o f a plant resembling wild lavender, cloves, and one or two more species, pounded into powder and called.Atria: it forms a brown, dirty looking paste, and, combined with perspiration and the flying sand, becomes in a few days far from savoury in appearance or odour. The back hair is less disgusting, as it is plaited into a long tress on each side, and : is brought to hang over the shoulders ; from these tresses, ornaments, of silver or coral are suspended. Black wool is frequently worked in with these back locks, to make them appear longer. In the centre of the forehead, an ornament of coral or beads is placed, hanging down to the depth of an inch or two. A woollen handkerchief is fastened on the back of the head; it fells over behind, and is tied by à leather strap under the chin. Each ear is perforated for as many rings as the woman possesses, some wear even six on one side ; the largest, which is... about five inches in diameter, hanging lowest, supported by a string from the head. Bound the nëck, a tight flat collar of beads, arranged in fancy patterns, is worn with coral necklaces, and sometimes a broad gold plate immediately in front. A large blue shirt is generally worn, the collar and breast orna- mented with needle-work : the women also wear white shirts, and striped silk ones called Shami, which are brought from Egypt ;—a Jereed and red slippers complete their dress. They generally have those wrappers of a darker colour than those of the men. Some of the better class of women wear trowsers, not fuller in the leg than those worn in Europe ; they are very prettily embroidered with silk at the bottom of the leg, and form a handsome contrast to the black skin of the wearer. Cornelians or Agates, roughly shaped in the form of hearts, are much worn as necklaces, and they have a variety o f rings for the thumbs and fingers. A band of silk cord hanging round the body from one shoulder is generally filled with pendent leather or cloth bags containing charms. Bound the wrists and above the elbows, Armlets of silver, gold, glass, horn, or ivory, are worn according to the ability of the wearer to purchase them ; and on the ankles they have silver, brass, copper, or iron shackles. I have seen a pair of silver ones, which weighed 128 ounces ; but these ponderous ornaments produce a callous lump on the leg, and entirely deform the ankle The poorest people have only the Jereed aiid sandals. Both men and women have a singular custom o f stufling their nostrils with a twisted leaf of onions or clover, which has a very disgusting appearance. The men, not using oil, are much cleaner than the women ; but the whole race o f them, high and low, apparently clean or z 2
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