MR. STANLEY.  “Ay! but we must keep at a distance if we wish the ladies of our party to learn; for the Moors would altogether object to teach them, as women are there regarded merely as tools —­creatures without souls.  They would not admire our ladies either, for their idea of female loveliness is most singular.  Beauty and corpulence are synonymous.  A perfect Moorish beauty is a load for a camel; and a woman of moderate pretensions to beauty requires a slave on each side to support her.  In consequence of this depraved taste for unwieldy bulk, the Moorish ladies take great pains to acquire it early in life; and for this purpose, the young girls are compelled by their mothers to devour a great quantity of kous-kous and to drink a large portion of camel’s milk every morning.  It is no matter whether the girl has an appetite or not, the kous-kous and milk must be swallowed, and obedience is frequently enforced by blows.”

DORA.  “How very disagreeable!  I scarcely know which is the worst stage of the affair, the cause or the effect.”

EMMA.  “I should say the cause; for the fat comes by degrees, and cannot inconvenience them so much as swallowing quantities of food and drink when they require it not.”

MR. WILTON.  “They have other quaint notions.  Among the points of etiquette which prevail at the court of Morocco, the following is mentioned:—­The word death is never uttered in presence of the Sultan.  When it is unavoidable to mention the death of any person, it is expressed by such words as, ‘He has fulfilled his destiny;’ on which the monarch gravely remarks, ‘God be merciful to him!’ Another point of whimsical superstition is, that the numbers five and fifteen must not be mentioned in presence of the sovereign.”

GEORGE.  “I should be continually saying forbidden words if I were there; so we will go on, if you please, pilot.”

EMMA.  “I have the bays.  They are Boujanyah, and Storah, on the coast of Algiers.  This state is inferior to Morocco, both in extent and fertility; but the city has a grand harbor, is itself very populous, and contains some splendid ruins.”

DORA.  “I have the gulfs.  They are Tunis, Hammamet, and Khabs, on the coast of Tunis, which was once the seat of Carthaginian power, but like the other states, is now reduced to a tithe of its former greatness, although it is still one of the finest cities in Africa.  It has a good harbor and fortifications.  The manufactures are silks, velvets, cloth, and red bonnets, which are worn by the people.”

MR. WILTON.  “There is yet another Barbary state to pass:  who has a word for Tripoli?”

CHARLES.  “I have, madam.  Tripoli is the most easterly, and the most wretched of the Barbary states.  It extends straggling along a great extent of coast, where may be seen the enormous Gulf of Sidra or Sert, called by the natives ‘Djou al Kabit,’ or Gulf of Sulphur, and the Gulf of Bombah.  Tripoli received its name from once containing three cities of considerable importance, which are now little else than ruins.”