The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1882-08-12
THE MOORISH SLAVE MARKET.

A Morocco correspondent writes: "By
the Mohanmedan law no man is per-
mitted to have more than four wives;
but there is no limit but that Of the purse
to the number of female slaves who may
be added to his establishment The Sui.
tan's ladies are numbered by hundreds,
if they do not indeed reach the four
figures; and in proportion to his position
and wealth the well-to-do Moor in like
manner has a large or small harem estab-
lishment. The Sultan has the privilege
Of comforting the honor of entering his
harem upon whom he will, and any girls
in the provinces who are more than
ordinarily pretty are sent up to the court
for his inspection or sent to him as a
complimentary present. Men in high
positions, as the Vizier, are also often
presented with ladies, and, being fire.
quently very wealthy, complete their es-
tablishment by private contract, paying,
perhaps, 81, 900 for a girl that they may
admire. The ordinary well-to-do Moor,
Of whom there are large number of the
merchant class, have to content them.
selves by buying in the open market,
and, consequently, the slave market is a
highly patronizsd institution. The court
in which this is usually held, on three
days in every week, opens out of laby-
rinth OF small, narrow streets, which
form the bazaar or general market of the
city, place in which the higher class of
Moors would not on other occasions
deiga to be seen. As the afternoon wears
on, however, they may be seen ambling
down on their gayly eaparisoned mules,
with slave walking behind them, to the
entrance of the court, where they dis.
mount and reclins in picturesque groups
around the inclosure. About the same
time arrive by twos and threes those who
are to be sold, being placed by the sales
man in some small recesses or stalls OPEN
ing on the court"
The same correspondent already quoted
thus describes recent visit to the
market "There were about fifty or
sixty persons for sale of both sexes and
all ages, most Of them black as jet, and
from their features evidently natives of
the Soudan, some of whom were to be
sold only in lots, with two or three chill
drsn. These were the drudges for house
and field work, the price of whom is al
ways moderate, and strictly commen-
surate to the amount of werk they are
likely to perform. But besides these
were two female figures who evidently
excited no small amount of interest in
the gray bearded old Moors, who formed
no small proportion of the purchasers.
One Of them was closely-vailed Moorish
girl, whose features were revealed only
to inquiring customers, but who from Q
passing glance did not appear to be re
markable for her beauty; the other wai
areally pretty girl from the province O
Sus, whose rose. .colored caftan and greer
silk head-dress contrasted pleasantly
with her olive complexion and long
black lashes. They were all neatly ant
tidily dressed, bearing no sign of ill-treat
ment or scant nourishment, and wer
treated with all consideration both b,
salssmen and purchasers, though the ex
animation made by the latter of tn
teeth, arms, etc., Of those they bid fo
was very repulsive to those unaccustome
to see such sights"