and length. The ends of the braid were finished off with little pendants of pearls and gold.
Her head-dress consisted simply of a small piece of lilac crape tastefully arranged, and secured with sprays of diamonds and emeralds, and one rosebud. Round her waist she wore a fine white-muslin shawl, embroidered with gold. She showed me her trousseau and her needlework. She was very skillful in all kinds of embroidery, and designed and drew her patterns herself with taste and precision. She used a tambour-frame, or stretcher, fixed to a stand, and very prettily made of dark wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and ivory. On ordinary days she wore French musilns or Manchester prints, but she invariably looked nice, and generally had a flower in her head-dress, either a rose, a pink, or a bunch of everlastings.
I almost always found her in her private room, seated on cushions on the floor, with her embroidery-frame before her, and her youngest step-daughter, Carmella, a beautiful child of about three years of age, rolling on the divan by her side. The child was always attended by a laughing, merry-looking African slave-girl, gayly dressed in yellow or crimson, with gold coins round her neck, large rings—each one a potent protector from magic—on her fingers, bracelets of glass on her black, bony arms, and tinkling ornaments round her ankles. She wore at the back of her head a shallow, red-cloth tarbûsh, with a long blue-silk tassel, secured by a gilt crescent.
On the side of her broad nose a fine turquoise appeared. It was set in silver, and, formed the head of a short, thick, blunt, silver nail, which was fixed in a hole made for the purpose in the wing of her nose.[1] This girl always greeted me with some droll speech, and invented stories and tales unceasingly, to amuse the chil-
- ↑ This is a common custom, and I have frequently seen poor girls insert cloves, instead of jewels, into these holes. An artificial clove made of gold, clasping a pearl, which forms the round part at the top, is a very favorite nose -jewel. These nose-nails are worn by the younger girls, and are very fashionable; the elder women wear rings instead.
