one of these abahs[1] to show to your family. You must tell them," continued she, "that once I had all my servants clothed in such abahs as that: but they played me such tricks, I have given it up. Some sold them; and, on one occasion, four of them marched off within twenty-four hours after I had dressed them from head to foot, and I never saw them again: isn’t it abominable? At the time that I dressed them so well, and rode out myself with my borndéos, crimson and gold, the gold lace being everywhere where silk tape is generally put, I did not owe a shilling in the world.
"Once," she continued, "when riding my beautiful Arabian mare Asfoor, near a place called Gezýn, in that crimson bornôos, with a richly-embroidered dress under it, and on my crimson velvet saddle, I happened to approach an encampment of the Pasha’s troops. Several benát el hawa" (street ladies), "who were living with the soldiers, ran across a field to come up with me, thinking I was some young bey or binbashi. Every time, just as they got near, I quickened my horse’s pace, that they might not see I was a
- ↑ An abah is either along cloak, or else a woollen frock-coat, sometimes brocaded in a triangle of gold thread (the base going from shoulder to shoulder, and the apex pointing at the waist), on a marone-coloured ground, as this was, and presenting a very brilliant appearance.
