A
slave agent took me to some rooms in the upper storey of the
building, and also into several obscure houses in the
neighbourhood, with a view to show me some white women. The owners
raised various objections to the display of their ware, and well
they might, for I had not the least notion of purchasing; some
refused on account of the illegality of the proceeding, {35} and
others declared that all transactions of this sort were completely
out of the question as long as the plague was raging. I only
succeeded in seeing one white slave who was for sale but on this
one the owner affected to set an immense value, and raised my
expectations to a high pitch by saying that the girl was
Circassian, and was "fair as the full moon." After a good deal of
delay I was at last led into a room, at the farther end of which
was that mass of white linen which indicates an Eastern woman. She
was bid to uncover her face, and I presently saw that, though very
far from being good looking, according to my notion of beauty, she
had not been inaptly described by the man who compared her to the
full moon, for her large face was perfectly round and perfectly
white. Though very young, she was nevertheless extremely fat.
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