deous woollen nightcaps,
and, side by side with a short blouse, a black coat broken at the elbow;
many wore women's headgear, others had baskets on their heads; hairy
breasts were visible, and through the rent in their garments tattooed
designs could be descried; temples of Love, flaming hearts, Cupids;
eruptions and unhealthy red blotches could also be seen. Two or three
had a straw rope attached to the cross-bar of the dray, and suspended
under them like a stirrup, which supported their feet. One of them held
in his hand and raised to his mouth something which had the appearance
of a black stone and which he seemed to be gnawing; it was bread which
he was eating. There were no eyes there which were not either dry,
dulled, or flaming with an evil light. The escort troop cursed, the men
in chains did not utter a syllable; from time to time the sound of
a blow became audible as the cudgels descended on shoulder-blades or
skulls; some of these men were yawning; their rags were terrible;
their feet hung down, their shoulders oscillated, their heads clashed
together, their fetters clanked, their eyes glared ferociously, their
fists clenched or fell open inertly like the hands of corpses; in the
rear of the convoy ran a band of children screaming with laughter.

This file of vehicles, whatever its nature was, was mournful. It
was evident that to-morrow, that an hour hence, a pouring rain might
descend, that it might be followed by another and another, and that
their dilapidated garments would be drenched, that once soaked, these
men would not get dry again, that once chilled, they would not again
get warm, that their linen trousers would be glued to their bones by the
downpour, that the water would fill their shoes, that no lashes from
the whips would be able to prevent their jaws from chattering, that the
chain would continue to bind them by the neck, that their legs would
continue to dangle, and it was impossible not to shudder at the sight
of these human beings thus bound and passive beneath the cold clouds of
autumn, and delivered over to the rain, to the blast, to all the furies
of the air, like trees and stones.

Blows from the cudgel were not omitted even in the case of the sick men,
who lay there knotted with ropes and motionless on the seventh wagon,
and who appeared to have been tossed there like sacks filled with
misery.

Suddenly, the sun made its appearance; the immense light of the Orient
burst forth, and on