 Fears and Disquietudes. An Account of the Women.
 
At my alighting I was surrounded by a Crowd of People, but those who stood
nearest seemed to be of better Quality. They beheld me with all the Marks and
Circumstances of Wonder; neither indeed was I much in their Debt; having never
till then seen a Race of Mortals so singular in their Shapes, Habits, and
Countenances. Their Heads were all reclined either to the Right, or the Left;
one of their Eyes turned inward, and the other directly up to the Zenith. Their
outward Garments were adorned with the Figures of Suns, Moons, and Stars,
interwoven with those of Fiddles, Flutes, Harps, Trumpets, Guittars,
Harpsicords, and many more Instruments of Musick, unknown to us in Europe. I
observed here and there many in the Habit of Servants, with a blown Bladder
fastned like a Flail to the End of a short Stick, which they carried in their
Hands. In each Bladder was a small Quantity of dried Pease, or little Pebbles,
(as I was afterwards informed.) With these Bladders they now and then flapped
the Mouths and Ears of those who stood near them, of which Practice I could not
then conceive the Meaning. It seems, the Minds of these People are so taken up
with intense Speculations, that they neither can speak, nor attend to the
Discourses of others, without being rouzed by some external Taction upon the
Organs of Speech and Hearing; for which Reason, those Persons who are able to
afford it, always keep a Flapper, (the Original is Climenole) in their Family,
as one of their Domesticks; nor ever walk abroad or make Visits without him. And
the Business of this Officer is, when two or more Persons are in Company, gently
to strike with his Bladder the Mouth of him who is to speak, and the Right Ear
of him or them to whom the Speaker addresseth himself. This Flapper is likewise
employed diligently to attend his Master in his Walks, and upon Occasion to give
him a soft Flap on his Eyes; because he is always so wrapped up in Cogitation,
that he is in manifest Danger of falling down every Precipice, and bouncing his
Head against every Post; and in the Streets, of jostling others, or being
jostled himself into the Kennel.
    It was necessary to give the Reader this Information, without which he would
be at the same Loss with me, to understand the Proceedings of these People, as
they conducted me up the Stairs, to the Top of the Island, and from thence to
the Royal Palace
