“I saw to-day (August 10th) an Arab woman white, like the White Indians in the South Sea Islands, Isthmus of Darien, &c. These kind of people all look alike.
“Among the Greek women here, I find the identical Archangel head-dress.
“Their music is instrumental, consisting of a drum and pipe, both which resemble those two instruments in the South Seas: the drum is exactly like the Otaheite drum; the pipe is made of cane, and consists of a long and short tube joined: the music resembles very much the bagpipe, and is pleasant.—All their music is concluded, if not accompanied, by the clapping of hands. I think it singular, that the women here make a noise with their mouths like frogs, and that this frog-music is always made at weddings; and I believe on all other occasions of merriment where there are women.
“It is remarkable, that the dogs here are of just the same species found among the Otaheiteans.
“It is also remarkable, that in one village I saw exactly the same machines used for diversion as in Russia.—I forget the Russian name for it. It is a large kind of wheel, on the extremities of which there are suspended seats, in which people are whirled round over and under each other.
“The women dress their hair behind exactly in the same manner in which the women of the Calmuc Tartars dress theirs.
“In the History of the Kingdom of Benin in Guinea, the Chiefs are called Aree Roee, or Street Kings. Among the Islands in the South Sea, Otaheite, &c. they call the Chiefs Arees, and the great Chiefs Aree le Hoi. I think this curious; and so I do that it is a custom of the Arabs to spread a blanket when they would invite any one to eat or rest with them.—American Indians spread the beaver skins on such occasions.
“The Arabs of the Deserts, like the Tartars, have an invincible attachment to Liberty: no arts will reconcile them to any other life, or form of government, however modified. This is a character given me here of the Arabs.
“It is singular that the Arab Language has no word for Liberty, although it has for Slaves.
“The Arabs, like the New Zealanders, engage with a long strong spear.