Sentence:  They presented the most extraordinary and comic aspect imaginable, with their shaven heads and long beard; (the heads of all Mussulmen are shaved quite bare, with the exception of a tuft on the very top, which is left for the angel of the tomb on the day of judgment, say they, to grasp and carry them up to heaven by;) besides these, other objects are seen wrapped up in towels, with black grisled beards tickling their breasts, and tottering along on a high pair of <WSD>pattens</WSD> or rather stilts, at the imminent danger, as it appears, of breaking their necks. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  One of various wooden attachments used to lift a shoe above wet or muddy ground. (form 16th c.)