w ith blue Surat cloth, fat three perfons cloathed from the
n eck to the feet with blue cotton Hurts.
O n e o f thefe, who I found was the favourite, was a-
bout fix feet high, and corpulent beyond all proportion.
She feemed to me, next to the elephant and rhinoceros, to
be the largeft livin g creature I had met with. Her features
were perfectly like thofe pf a N e g ro ; a ring o f gold
palled through her under lip, and weighed it down, till,
lik e a flap, it covered he r chin, and left her teeth bare,
which were very fmall and fine. The infide o f her lip flie
had made black with antimony. Her ears reached dowri'
to her flioulders, and had the appearance o f wings.; flie
had in each o f them a large ring o f gold, fomewhat fmaller
than a man’s little finger, and about five inches diameter.
The weight o f thefe had drawn down the hole where her
e a r was pierced fo much that three fingers might eafily
pafs, above the ring. She had a gold necklace, like what
w e ufed to ca ll Efclavage, o f feveral rows, one below an-
■ other, to which were hung rows o f fequins' pierced. She
had on her ancles two manacles o f gold, larger than any
I haflTiver feen upon the feet o f felons, with which I could
not conceive it was poflible for her to walk, but afterwards I
foundthey werehollow. The otherswere drefled pretty much
in the. fame manner; only_there was one that had chains
which came from her ears to the outfide o f each noftril*
where they were fattened. There was alfo a ring put thro’
the g r iftle o f her nofe, and which hung down to the openin
g o f p e t mouth. I think Ihe mutt have breathed with
great difficulty. It had altogether fomething o f the appearance
o f a horfe’s bridle. Upon my coming near them,
the eldeft put her hand to her mouth and killed it,
4 faying,
faying, at the fame time, in very, vulgar Arab ic,“ Kifhalek
howaja ?” (how do you doj merchant). I never in my life
was more pleafed with diftant falutations than at this time.
I anfwered, “ Peace be among you ! I am a phyfician, and
not a merchant.”
I s h a l l not entertain the reader with the multitude o f
their complaints; being a lady’s phyfician, difcretion and
filence are my firft duties. It is fuflicient to fay, that there
was not one part o f their whole bodies, infide and outfide,
in which fome o f them had not ailments. The three
queens infilled upon being blooded, which defire I complied
with, as it was an operation that required ftiort attendance;
but, upon producing the lancets, their hearts failed them.
They then all cried out fo r the Tabange, which, in Arabic*
means a p iftol; but what they meant by this word was, the
cupping inftrument, which goes off with a fpring like the
fnap o f a piftol. I had two o f thefe with me, but not at
that time in my pocket. I ftnt my fervant home, however,
to bring one, and, that fame evening, performed the operation
upon the three queens with great fuceefs. The
room was overflowed with an effufion o f royal blood, and
the whole ended with their infilling upon my giv ing them
the inftrument itfelf, which I was obliged to do, after cupp
ing two o f their Haves before them, who had no complaints,
merely to ihew them how the operation was to be
performed.
A n o t h e r night I was obliged to attend them, and gave
the queens, and two or three o f the great ladies, vomits. I
w ill fpare my reader the recital o f lo naufeous a fcene.
The ipecacuanha had great effect, and warm water was
V o l . IV. .3 L drunk