The coast's a jungle of Moors, Turks, Jews, renegades from all over Europe, sitting in palaces built from the sale of Christian slaves. There are twenty thousand men, women and children in the bagnios of Algiers alone. I am not going to make it twenty thousand and one because your mother didn't allow you to keep rabbits, or whatever is at the root of your unshakable fixation.""I had weasels instead," said Philippa shortly."Good God," said Lymond, looking at her. "That explains a lot.
The coast described is a chaotic melting pot of diverse groups such as Moors, Turks, Jews, and renegades from across Europe, living in opulent palaces made from the proceeds of selling Christian slaves. The scene highlights the brutal reality of the slave trade industry, exemplified by the existence of twenty thousand people imprisoned in Algiers' palaces.
One character dismisses an attempt at discussing numbers by mentioning that they won't count beyond twenty thousand, implying a lack of concern for the suffering. The conversation shifts to a personal anecdote about animals, where Philippa responds with a quirky remark about having weasels instead of rabbits, prompting the other's surprised comment about this unusual choice and hinting at underlying themes of eccentricity and the social landscape of the time.
