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Show PAINTED ARAB GITiLS. TI107 Arc its IIlilcoiM iih tlio r.Iost JculOGS IIiihIjuikI Could U tin ire. Arab pirls, before they enter the hn'-em uud t-'kc the veil, are a curious siht to behold. Their bodies and faces arc dyed a bright yellow with turmeric; on this prouml they paint black lines, wittj antimony, over their eyes; the fashionable color for the nose-is nose-is red; jjreen spots adorn the cheek, and the general aspect is grotesque beyond be-yond description. My wife tells me, says a writer in Nineteenth Century, that the belles in the sultan's ha rem are also painted in this fashion and they also paint irloves on their hands and shoes on their feet, and, thus, bedizened, hope, to secure the affections of their lords. At Khiez the men would not allow my wife 1o approach or hold any intercourse with the Arab women, using1 opprobrious epithets when she tried to make friendly friend-ly overtures, with the quaint result that whenever Mrs. Bent advanced toward a group of frax.ing' females they lied precipitately, pre-cipitately, like a iluek of sheep before a collie day. These women wear their dresses hiyb in front, showiny their yellow leys above the knee, anil lony behind; they are of deep-blue cotton, decorated with fine embroidery and patches of yellow and red sewn 011 in pa Lteru. It is the uni versa 1 female d ress in Iladramut. and looks as if the fashion had not changed since the days when Ilazarmaveth, the patriarch, settled in this valley and yave it his name (tlen. x., 2M). The tall, tapering- straw hat worn by these women when in the fields contributes with the mask to make the Iladrami females as externally exter-nally repulsive as the most jealous of husbands could desire. |