Tibboo Woman in full dress.
London. Published by J. Murray Albemarle St. Feb.1.1821.
C. Hullmandel’s Lithography.
The costume for the head is almost universally the same, the hair being plaited on each side, in such a manner as to hang down on the cheeks, like a fan, or rather in the form of a large dog’s ear. A piece of leather is fastened from the front to the back of the head, in the centre, and through this are passed twenty or thirty silver rings, each linked within the other, ending behind in a flat silver plate, which is suspended from a few tresses of hair; and in front, by a silver ornament composed of several rings, in this form:
On each side of the head, they wear an ornament of gold and rough cut agate, and round it, above the ears, a bandeau of coral, cowrie shells, or agates; several light chains of silver, having round bells at the end of them, are attached to the hair, and when dancing, produce a pleasing sound. Their necks are loaded with gaudy necklaces, and one-half of their well-formed bosoms is shown by the arrangement of their drapery: their arms are bare to the shoulders, having above the elbow neat silver rings of the thickness of a goosequill, and on the wrists one or two broader and flatter. In the ear they wear three or four silver rings of various sizes, the largest in circumference hanging the lowest. Their most singular ornament is a piece of red coral, through a hole in the right nostril, which really does not look unbecoming. The dress is a large shawl of blue, or blue and white cotton, of which they have a variety of patterns, fastened over the shoulders and across the bosom, and hanging in graceful folds, so as to show the back, right breast, and right arm bare. These dresses are very short, and exhibit the leg to the calf; but with all this display, their general appearance offered nothing offensive or immodest.
They tripped about all the evening to exhibit their finery, and were proudly pointed out by their mothers, who were visiting in our neighbourhood. As our hostess had a very pretty daughter, all the young people came to call on her, which afforded them a pretence for looking at the two new Mamlukes, who had just arrived. I sat on the sand, at the door, and was much gazed at, not in the Arab way, but by stealth, from behind their little shawls, and peeping through the palm bushes.
As it was the custom on this night, for the girls to dance through the town, in every direction, I heard drums, bagpipes, and the usual accompaniment of tin-pots. At midnight I was called up to see them perform at our door. They were directed by an old woman, with a torch in one hand and a long palm branch in the other, and sung, in chorus, verses which she recited to them. Three men sung and played on drums with their hands; and by their motions regulated the dancers, who were to advance, or to retreat accordingly. The tallest girls were placed in the centre, while the younger ones formed the wings, and they then danced in a circle, round their governess. The lookers-on had torches of palm leaves, and sung occasionally, in chorus.
The chief object in the dance seemed to be the waving, gracefully, from right to left, and in time with the music, a light shawl, which was passed over the shoulders, the ends being in the hands. They employed their feet, only to advance or retreat occasionally; but accompanied the change of time by movements of the head from side to side. At a given signal they all knelt, still going through the same motions of the head, and chanting their verses. They danced so exactly in time, and were dressed so much in uniform, that it appeared like witchcraft; when, on a sudden, every torch was extinguished, and the fairies vanished, to exhibit in some other part of the town.
The Tibboo women do not, like the Arabs, cover their faces; they retain their youthful appearance longer than the latter, are much more cleanly, better housewives, and particularly careful of their children, of whom they have a multitude. Their chief occupation seems to be basket-making; and they also form drinking bowls out of palm leaves, which they ornament with stripes of coloured leather, and execute with much taste and neatness. All the Fezzanners who come here to trade return loaded with these baskets, as presents for their families.
Having said so much of the agreeable qualities of the Tibboo, I feel it but candid to acknowledge their immoderate fondness for tobacco, with a great portion of which almost every mouth is crammed. Their teeth are, nevertheless, quite white, owing to the custom which is peculiar to the Mohammedans of cleaning them after eating, with a piece of stick.