23
seamanlike manner—some naked, some with
scarfs twisted around their hips—as they
went about their duties singing strange
songs. So sails were speedily set and we got
under way, for where I did not know.
Some of the boys have hammocks and sleep
on deck, but we are often two to a bunk in
the forecastle. Since we now have a double
crew, there is much time with nothing to do,
and I have been able to acquaint myself to
some extent with the strange history of these
transvestite boys.
Some of them are dancing boys from Mo-
rocco, others from Tripoli, Madagascar, and
Central Africa. There are a few from India
and the East Indies who have served on pir-
ate vessels in the Red Sea, where they preyed
on merchant vessels and other pirates alike,
the method of operation being this: some
would join the crew of a ship, selling their fa-
vors and insinuating themselves into key po-
sitions. Then the crew sights an apparently
1450/1780