If I did not continue, my dear Aza, to rob my sleep of the time I give to you, I should no more enjoy those delightful moments, in which I live for you alone. They have made me resume my virgin habits, and oblige me to remain all day in a room full of strangers, who are changed for others every instant, without seeming to lessen their number.

This unwilling dissipation, in spite of myself, often separates me from my sad thoughts; but if, for some moments, I lose that lively remembrance which unites us to each other, I soon find you again in the advantageous comparisons I make betwixt you and whatever surrounds me.

In the various countries which I have passed through, I have seen no savages so proudly familiar as these: Particularly, the women seem to have a kind of scornful civility, which disgusts me, and would perhaps give me as much contempt for them, as they shew for others, if I knew them better.

One of them was the cause of an affront that I received yesterday, which still vexes me. At a time when the assembly was most numerous, this woman, who had been speaking to several people without perceiving me; whether it was by chance, or that somebody pointed me out to her, I know not; but casting her eyes on me, she burst into a loud laugh, quitted her place, came to me, made me rise, and after having turned me backwards and forwards as oft en as she chose, and examined every part of my dress with the most exact attention, she beckoned a young man to draw near, and pointed out to him every part of my figure. Tho’ I seemed displeased with the liberty which both of them took, yet, as the richness of the woman's dress made me take her for a Pallas, and the magnificence of the young man, who was covered with gold, made me look on him as an Anqui, I did not dare to shew my displeasure: But this rash savage, encouraged by the familiarity of the Pallas, and perhaps by my submission, had the audacity to put his hand upon my neck; I pushed it away with a surprise and indignation, that shewed I understood propriety of behaviour better than he did.