_Of the Fashion of their Hair, and the Ornaments of their Women._
The men have a square tonsure on their crowns, from the two front corners
of which they shave two seams down to their temples. The temples also, and
hinder part of the head, to the nape of the neck, are shaved, and the
forehead, except one small lock which falls down to the eyes. On each angle
of the hind head, they leave a long lock of hair, which they braid and knot
together under each ear. The dress of unmarried women differs little from
that of the men, except in being somewhat longer. But on the day after
marriage, the head is shaved, from the middle down to the forehead, and the
woman puts on a wide gown, like that of a monk, but wider and longer. This
opens before, and is tied under the right side. In this the Tartars and
Turks differ, as the Turks tie their garments always on the left side. They
have an ornament for their heads which they call Botta, which is made of
the bark of a tree or any other very light substance, made in a round form,
so thick as may be grasped with both hands, becoming square at the upper
extremity, and in all about two feet long, somewhat resembling the capital
of a pillar. This cap is hollow within, and is covered over with rich silk.
On the top of this they erect a bunch of quills, or slender rods, about a
cubit long, or even more, which they ornament with peacocks feathers on the
top, and all around with the feathers of a wild drake, and even with
precious stones. The rich ladies wear this ornament on the top of their
heads, binding it on strongly with a kind of hat or coif, which has a hole
in its crown adapted for this purpose, and under this they collect their
hair from the back of the head, lapped up in a kind of knot or bundle
within the botta; and the whole is fixed on by means of a ligature under
their throat. Hence, when a number of these ladies are seen together on
horseback, they appear at a distance like soldiers armed with helmets and
lances. The women all sit astride on horseback like men, binding their
mantles round their waists with silken scarfs of a sky-blue colour, and
they bind another scarf round their breasts. They likewise have a white
veil tied on just below their eyes, which reaches down to their breasts.
The women are amazingly fat, and the smaller their noses, they are esteemed
the more beautiful. They daub over their faces most nastily with grease;
and they never keep their beds on account of child-bearing.