90 black hair. They are well-built men, have similar features to ours, and their women are very well-dressed. The men wear cloths from the waist down, which they wrap tightly around themselves several times, and short white cotton; silk, or brocade shirts, which come half way down their thighs and are open at the front, with small caps on their heads, and some of them wear silk or brocade bonnets, and sandals on their feet. Others wear large cloths draped over their shoulders like capes, and are followed by pages who carry their swords in their hands. The perfumes they always anoint themselves with are white sandal; aloes; camphor; musk and saffron, all ground down and diluted in rose-water. They anoint themselves after having taken a bath, and thus they are always heavily perfumed; they wear many rings with precious stones and fine pearl earrings. In addition to bringing a page with a sword, they have another one with a parasol to provide them with shade or protect them from the rain. Some of them are made from beautifully embroidered silk with many gold pendants of precious stones and seedpearls. They are made in such a way as to open and close; many of them sell for some three or four hundred ducats. The women wear very fine white or coloured cotton or silk cloths, that are five yards long.They wrap part of it around them below the waist and they wrap the other part over their shoulders and around their bust like a scarf, so that an arm and a shoulder are left uncovered. They wear leather sandals with fine silk embroidery on their feet. They do not cover their heads, but tie their hair up in a pretty bun on top of their heads, which they put many scented flowers in. One of their nostrils is pierced and they thread a small gold wire with a pearl; sapphire or ruby through it. They also pierce their ears and wear gold rings in them, and many precious stones around their necks, with gold necklaces and precious stones. They wear tightlyfitting bracelets of gold and precious stones and manyfine coral beads, since the majority of people here are
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