Red morocco leather boots, worn inside a shoe, are used by riders, also spurs.
The purse is a long, narrow, knitted or woven bag.
The Berber often wears a shirt, and, in such cases, only a haik over it, and no burnous.
The usual costume of the Arab is that worn in Algeria—the burnous and the haik, the latter bound on with a camel’s-hair cord; shoes (or boots). Of the Berber, shirt, haik, burnous, bare legs, and uncovered head.
Such variations of these costumes as may exist in Tunisia have been brought about by an altered mode of life and the admixture of races.
Dr. Bertholon declares that most of the costumes are of very ancient origin. That of the Jews, for instance, he dates back to the days of the Carthaginians; the burnous, he says, resembles the hooded Roman cloak.
The Moorish woman’s dress is very pretty, but extremely coquettish. It is overladen with ornaments.
“In the morning she wears a very scanty costume. If one has the luck to catch a glimpse of her at an early hour as she moves hither and thither in the harem, she is not easily forgotten. She is clad in a simple shirt, with short sleeves, which leave her plump arms exposed. Under this she wears trousers, so short that they scarcely reach the knees; a little shawl, of which the ends are knotted in front at the waist, replaces a skirt, and enfolds her pretty form. Her bosoms are supported by a narrow bodice, and about her hair is bound a silk kerchief, but her locks fall down over her neck” (Des Godins de Souhesnes).
When she leaves the house she wears a “gandura,” a kind of cloak of transparent material, fastened on the shoulders by gold or silver pins. Besides this she has put on wrinkled white linen trousers reaching to her ankles; over her head she throws a white kerchief; and, lastly, she conceals her face with a long embroidered veil.
The Moorish woman blackens her eyebrows, enhances the beauty of her eyes with antimony (khol), and stains with orange-red henna the nails of her fingers and toes and the palms of her hands.