Nothing very worthy of notice took place at this visit. The house
and garden were plain, and the women had wrapped themselves in large
mantles, as the doctor was present, some, indeed, covered a part of
their faces while speaking with him. Several of them were young,
although they all appeared older than they really were. One, who
was twenty-two, I should have taken to be at least thirty. A rather
plump dark beauty of sixteen was also introduced to me as the latest
addition to the harem. She had been bought at Constantinople only a
short time since. The women appeared to treat her with great good-
nature; they told me that they took considerable pains to teach her
Persian.
Among the children there was a remarkably beautiful girl of six,
whose pure and delicate countenance was fortunately not yet
disfigured by paint. This child, as well as the others, was dressed
in the same way as the women; and I remarked that the Persian dress
was really, as I had been told, rather indecorous. The corset fell
back at every quick movement; the silk or gauze chemise, which
scarcely reached over the breast, dragged up so high that the whole
body might be seen as far as the loins.
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