The poor babes presented
a most pitiable appearance, meagre, dirty to the utmost degree, ragged
and flea-bitten, so that round the throat there was not the least
portion of "carnation" appearing to be free from the insect plague.
Their hair, too, is seldom cut; and I have seen girls of eight or ten
years of age, bearing a growing crop which had evidently remained
unshorn, and I may add, uncombed, from the time of their birth. It is
impossible not to dread coming into contact with these imps, who, when
old, are among the ugliest conceivable specimens of the human race. The
women, even those who inhabit the towns, live much in the open air:
besides being employed in many slavish offices, they sit at their doors
or windows pursuing their business, or lounge about, watching passengers
to obtain charity. Thus their faces and necks are always of a copper
color, and, at an advanced age, more dusky still; so that, for the
anatomy and coloring of witches, a painter needs look no further. Their
wretchedness is strongly contrasted by the gaiety of the higher classes.
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