groom is dissatisfied, he shuts the palanquin,
and sends the woman back to her relations; but when this happens, he
must pay another sum of money equal to the price he first gave for her.
A woman who unites beauty with accomplishments brings from four to seven
hundred louis d'ors; some sell for less than one hundred. The apartments
of the women are separated from those of the men by a wall at which a
guard is stationed. The wife is never allowed to eat with her husband;
she cannot quit her apartments without permission; and he does not enter
hers without first asking leave. Brothers are entirely separated from
their sisters at the age of nine or ten years.

AFRICAN WOMEN.

The Africans were formerly renowned for their industry in cultivating
the ground, for their trade, navigation, caravans and useful arts.--At
present they are remarkable for their idleness, ignorance, superstition,
treachery, and, above all, for their lawless methods of robbing and
murdering all the other inhabitants of the globe.

Though they still retain some sense of their infamous character, yet
they do not choose to reform. Their priests, therefore, endeavor to
justify them, by the following story: "Noah," say they, "was no sooner
dead, than his three sons, the first of whom was _white_, the second
_tawny_, and the third _black_, having agreed upon dividing among them
his goods and possessions, spent the greatest part of the day in sorting
them; so that they were obliged to adjourn the division till the next
morning. Having supped and smoked a friendly pipe together, they all
went to rest, each in his own tent. After a few hours sleep, the white
brother got up, seized on the gold, silver, precious stones, and other
things of the greatest value, loaded the best horses with them, and rode
away to that country where his white posterity have been settled ever
since. The tawny, awaking soon after, and with the same criminal
intention, was surprised when he came to the store house to find that
his brother had been beforehand with him. Upon which he hastily secured
the rest of the horses and camels, and loading them with the best
carpets, clothes, and other remaining goods, directed his route to
another part of the world, leaving behind him, only a few of the
coarsest goods, and some provisions of little value.

When the third, or black brother, came next morning in the simplicity of
his heart to make the proposed division, and could neither find hi