Note 95 — Chapter V · (continued 2)

Note 95.—On the Handkerchief, and Signet, of Indemnity. Sometimes, the handkerchief, and sometimes, the signet, or seal-ring, is given as a pledge of indemnity.—It was a frequent custom of many a chief of the Memlooks of Egypt (there commonly called "the Ghuzz"), to bastinade men in the court of his mansion (when he desired to make a show of strict justice), in order that one of the women of the family, hearing the cries, might drop a handkerchief from a window, and so the punishment might soon cease, in respect for the ḥareem, whose protection is often appealed to by offenders.