A motley crowd saunters along the streets — Lascars off a P. and O., blond Northmen from a Swedish barque, Japanese from a man-of-war, English sailors, Spaniards, pleasant-looking fellows from a French cruiser, negroes off an American tramp.
Source: wiktionary
...and what foreigner is it, exactly, that Pirate has in mind if it isn't that stateless lascar across his own mirror-glass, that poorest of exiles...
Source: wiktionary
As for the voyage itself, his account of Mauritius, where the ship stopped, saw the appearance of Muslim lascars.
Source: wiktionary