This I immediately did, and Mini handed over to
Jemma, with reluctance, three dollars for the poor-box of
Gallabat, or the private pocket of the sheik, as the case may be.
On my return to camp I visited the establishments of the various
slave merchants: these were arranged under large tents formed of
matting, and contained many young girls of extreme beauty,
ranging from nine to seventeen years of age. These lovely
captives, of a rich brown tint, with delicately-formed features,
and eyes like those of the gazelle, were natives of the Galla, on
the borders of Abyssinia, from which country they were brought by
the Abyssinian traders to be sold for the Turkish harems.
Although beautiful, these girls are useless for hard labour; they
quickly fade away and die unless kindly treated. They are the
Venuses of that country, and not only are their faces and figures
perfection, but they become extremely attached to those who show
them kindness, and they make good and faithful wives. There is
something peculiarly captivating in the natural grace and
softness of these young beauties, whose hearts quickly respond to
those warmer feelings of love that are seldom known among the
sterner and coarser tribes.
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