The population of the Barbary States is made up of a number of distinct races. A particular survey of each will therefore be necessary, in order to afford any complete view of the subject.
The first and most numerous class are the Moors. This is an European term, derived from the ancient Mauri, of whom probably no traces are now to be found. It is applied to the inhabitants of the cities of Barbary, and the country in their immediate vici nity. Their manners and habits of life have been de scribed in considerable detail in the body of the work, under the head of MOROCCO. Generally speaking, a Mahometan city presents an uniform as _ pect. Everywhere the same silence and seclusion, the same absence of all gaiety, bustle, and anima tion; narrow and dirty streets, bordered on each side by lines of dead wall,—each individual burying him self in the interior of his and shrouding his existence, as it were, from every other eye; while the female sex, who, in Europe, form the ornament of society, are immured in the apartments of the Karam, bought and sold almost as slaves. With all this is combined an outward deportment of great gravity, solemnity, and decorum, with which neither the sen timents nor actions are found to correspond. All this is more particularly true of the cities of Morocco; for in Algiers and Tunis, an unsettled government, and the habits of a seafaring life, have produced, especially in the lower orders, a greater appearance of activity and turbulence, though without any de parture from the general tenor of oriental habits.
The Letters lately published, written by a. female relation of Mr Tully, formerly consul at Tripoli, give a very lively picture of the manners of a Bar-. bary court, and particularly of female society. This she had very peculiar access to observe, through the intimate footing on which she lived with the ladies of the palace. The wives of the bashaw, and the other grandees, are generally Geor gian or Circassian captives, who are purchased at Constantinople at an early age, and trained in all those accomplishments which fit them for the harems of the great. By the Mahometan law, each indivi dual may have four wives, and an equal number of concubines ; but there is one principal wife, who alone shares the sovereign power. She has usually the same origin with the others, and enters the ha rem as a slave, but succeeds, by address and superior powers of captivation, in raising herself to this envied dignity. It is unlawful for the daughters of the sove
reign to marry a subject ; and as they do not 'usually form alliances with foreign states, they have ho re source but to marry Turks and renegadoes, the re fuse of the society. They thus often choose as com panions for life, persons unworthy even to appear in their company. Accordingly, the husband is ruled with the most absolute sway, and treated usually worse than their slaves; to all which he quietly sub mits, in consideration of the lucrative offices to which this connection secures his advancement.
The toilet of a Moorish lady is said to be form ed entirely after the ancient model. No dressing table is used ; but a number of slaves attend, to each of whom a. different office is assigned. One plaits and perfumes the hair, another arranges the eye brows, a third paints them, and so on. A profusion of the richest Arabian perfumes and scented waters is used, and powdered cloves, in vast quantity, are stuffed into the hair. The eyelashes are, by a very tedious process, painted black, and, by pulling out a number of the hairs, are formed into a particular shape. This operation, though attended with very acute 'pain, is cheerfully submitted to. In short, a Moorish lady cannot be fully dressed under several hours ; and her appearance is then so completely al tered, that her nearest relations could scarcely be able to recognise her.
. These ladies are repreiented, in the letters alluded to, as by no means spending their time, as usually posed, in listless indolence. It is their task to overlook the numerous slaves who grind, spin, and perform all _ the necessary domestic offices. They are particularly expected to superintend the culinary operations; in order to guard against poison, the administering of which at meals is not unusual in these countries. These cares, with those of their family, fill up the time of the more amiable and domestic members of the harem ; while those of a lighter turn find full occupa tion in the difficult and dangerous intrigues to which their disposition prompts them. With a few excep tions, however, they seem tolerably cheerful ; and the view which these letters give of their character is, on the whole, favourable.