DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11636#0309
and lower. egypt. 279
The idea of a very fat woman is almost always
associated in Europe with that of softness of flesh,
of the flattening of forms, of defect of the elasti-
city of the contours. It would he a mistake to
think this is a representation of the women of Tur-
key, in general, where they all endeavour to get
into flesh. It is, in the first place, indubitably
certain that the women of the East, more favoured
of nature, preserve longer than others their firm-
ness of flesh ; and that attractive property, added
to the softness, to the fairness of their skin, to
the freshness of their carnation, renders them very
agreeable, very desirable masses, when their em-
bonpoint is not carried to excess.
Moreover, there is no country in the world
where the women carry farther an attention to
cleanliness, than in those countries of the East.
The frequent bathings, the perfumes, the employ-
ment of every art that can soften and embellish
the skin, to preserve all their charms, nothing is
neglected, and the most minute details succeed
each other with a scrupulous exactness. Such
pains are not thrown away. Women are no
where more constantly beautiful ; no where is the
talent of seconding nature better understood ; no
where, in a word, are women more skilled, nor
more practised in the art of retarding and of re-
pairing the ravages of time ; an art which has its
t 4 principles
The idea of a very fat woman is almost always
associated in Europe with that of softness of flesh,
of the flattening of forms, of defect of the elasti-
city of the contours. It would he a mistake to
think this is a representation of the women of Tur-
key, in general, where they all endeavour to get
into flesh. It is, in the first place, indubitably
certain that the women of the East, more favoured
of nature, preserve longer than others their firm-
ness of flesh ; and that attractive property, added
to the softness, to the fairness of their skin, to
the freshness of their carnation, renders them very
agreeable, very desirable masses, when their em-
bonpoint is not carried to excess.
Moreover, there is no country in the world
where the women carry farther an attention to
cleanliness, than in those countries of the East.
The frequent bathings, the perfumes, the employ-
ment of every art that can soften and embellish
the skin, to preserve all their charms, nothing is
neglected, and the most minute details succeed
each other with a scrupulous exactness. Such
pains are not thrown away. Women are no
where more constantly beautiful ; no where is the
talent of seconding nature better understood ; no
where, in a word, are women more skilled, nor
more practised in the art of retarding and of re-
pairing the ravages of time ; an art which has its
t 4 principles