THE SERAGLIO.
The Chain of Palaces along the Bosphorus—_Eski Serai_, the
oldest of the Seraglios—Its Site and Appearance—Beauty
of its Gardens—Contrasts—Its Destruction—_Dolma-Bagché_
and _Begler-Bey_—Enormous Expenditure of Abdul-Medjid and
Abdul-Aziz on Seraglios—_Yahlis_, or Villas—_Begler-Bey_
furnished for Illustrious Guests—Delicate Attentions of the
Sultan—Furniture of Seraglios—Mania of Abdul-Aziz—Everything
Inflammable thrown into the Bosphorus—Pleasure
Grounds—Interior Divisions of the Seraglio—The _Mabeyn_—The
Padishah _en négligé_—Imperial Expenditure—Servants,
etc.—Food—Wages—Stables—Fine Art—Origin of the Inmates of
the Seraglio—Their Training—Adjemis—A Training-School for
the Seraglio—Ranks in the Seraglio—The _Bash Kadin Effendi_
and other Wives—_Hanoums_, or Odalisks—Favorites—Equal
Chances of Good Fortune—Ceremonies attending the Sultan’s
Selection of an Odalisk—A Slave seldom sees the Sultan
more than once—Consequent Loss of Dignity and Misery for
the rest of her Life—Precarious Position of Imperial
Favorites—Intrigues and Cabals in the Seraglio—Good
Fortune of the Odalisk who bears a Child—Fashions in
Beauty—Golden Hair—The _Validé Sultana_—The _Hasnadar
Ousta_—Ignorance and Vice of the Seraglio Women—The Better
Class—The Consumptive Class—The “Wild Serailis”—Amusements
of the Seraglio—Theatre—Ballet—Shopping—Garden Parties in
Abdul-Medjid’s Time—Imperial Children—Foster-Brothers—Bad
Training and Deficient Education of Turkish Princes and
Princesses.
There are more than twenty Imperial Palaces, variously named, according
to their size and character, seraglios, yahlis, and kiosks, scattered
about Constantinople, some on the Bosphorus, others inland, but all
equally to be admired as striking spectacles of Eastern magnificence.
Dolma-Bagché and Beshiktash, linked with other mansions and kiosks,
mingling European architecture with Oriental decoration, form a chain of
splendid palaces such as can be seen nowhere but on the historic shores
of the Bosphorus.
The most renowned of the Ottoman palaces was Eski Serai, on the point of
land where the Bosphorus enters the Sea of Marmora. Built on the site of
old Byzantium by Mehemet II., this celebrated palace was enlarged and
beautified according to the wants and caprices of each successive sultan.
It presented to the eye a crowded pile of vast irregular buildings,
crowned by gilded cupolas and girt with shaded gardens. Beautiful
mosques, varied with hospitals and other charitable foundations, were
scattered about in detached groups, amid clusters of stately cypresses
and the burial-grounds of kings. Here might be seen a gorgeous pavilion,
there a cool jet, here again a mysterious building with high impenetrable
walls and latticed windows, the monotonous dwelling-place of bright
young creatures who, once engaged, were rarely permitted to regain their
freedom. And there, dwarfing all else, rose the tall white minarets,
accenting their clear outlines against the tender sky of the East. In
this irregular confusion the artist saw one of the choicest sights of
the capital; and a closer view offered to the curious a clear and minute
conception of the palace of an Eastern despot.
All was there: the gorgeous and the squalid, the refined and the
loathsome, the splendid state rooms of the Vicar of God, beside the
gloomy cages of those unhappy princes, who, cursed by their royal blood,
were left to pine in solitude until death came to settle accounts
between them and the tyrants who had doomed them to their chains. There
were the charitable establishments whence the poor never turned away
unrefreshed,—and there the dungeon where the powerful were left to starve
and die. There was the gilded kiosk where the Padishah smoked his chibouk
and issued his decrees,—whose terrible ordinances were carried out in
the adjoining chamber-of-blood. Beyond were the mausoleums of his race,
lifting up their rich adornment in the chill beauty of the city of the
dead—severed by a little space from the scarcely more splendid dwellings
of the living. There lay those doomed princes to whom a life without
liberty and ofttimes a cruel death were ill balanced by the useless
splendor of their tombs. “What is the use of thy getting children,” once
with a mother’s bitterness said a Circassian slave who had borne a son to
one of the sultans, “when they are only destined to people the tombs?”
In later times Eski Serai was abandoned to the use of the harems of
deceased sultans, who were sometimes shut up there for life. Its last
occupants, the multitudes of wives, slaves, and odalisks belonging once
to Sultan Abdul-Medjid, unable any longer to endure its dismal solitude,
are reported to have set it on fire in the hope of obtaining a dwelling
more congenial to the habits of comparative liberty they had acquired. At
all events the palace was destroyed, and a vast number of valuable and
rare objects perished with it. The site is now occupied by gardens, and
a railroad runs across it; the gem of the Golden Horn has vanished.
Dolma-Bagché, built by Sultan Mahmoud II., was a large wooden edifice.
This and Begler-Bey became the usual winter and summer residences
of the imperial family. Sultan Abdul-Medjid, on coming to power,
rebuilt Dolma-Bagché and several other kiosks and seraglios. Gentle,
sensitive, refined, and loth to shed blood, he is said to have evinced
a superstitious aversion to the old imperial palaces whose splendor was
tainted by the memory of the crimes of his ancestors. He, and still more
his brother Adbul-Aziz, spent incalculable sums in the erection and
decoration of seraglios. The latter’s yearly expenses on this alone were
reckoned to have exceeded £580,000—one of the items which ran away with
the money which trusting or speculative capitalists of Europe had been
foolish enough to supply for the future benefit and improvement of Turkey
(not, of course, forgetting a slice in the pie for themselves), but which
has fallen somewhat short of the end for which it was designed: Turkish
bondholders do not seem to consider themselves of all men the most
fortunate, and Turkey itself has not gained by loading its exchequer with
a mountain of debt for the sake of the reckless extravagance of imperial
luxury.
Holding a middle place between the great palaces and the kiosks, the
sultans of Turkey possess _yahlis_, or villas, not less beautiful than
the mansions of greater pretensions. These villas often rise on the
shores of the Bosphorus from a bed of verdure. Generally they are closed
and silent, with a solitary guard standing sentinel at the gate; but
every now and then one of them may be seen lighted up, as by magic, and
teeming with life, with the rumbling of carriages to and fro, and the
clashing of arms. At the sound of the trumpet a strain of sweet music
strikes up, and the approach of a water-procession of caïques swiftly
gliding towards the gates announces the arrival of the august master.
Sometimes the sultan goes alone to spend a few hours of _dolce far
niente_; at others he makes an appointment with some special favorite
to meet him there. Abdul-Medjid’s known partiality for Bessimé Sultana,
the most worthless but most beloved of his wives, induced him on one
occasion, while on a visit to his Yahli at the sweet waters of Asia,
to send his own yacht for her in the dead of night, alarming the whole
seraglio by its unexpected appearance at so unusual an hour.
One of the three palaces most renowned for beauty of architecture
and magnificence of furniture is Begler-Bey. It is worthy of the use
for which it has been selected, of being the palace offered for the
occupation of illustrious foreign visitors. The arrangements made in it
for one imperial guest were presided over by Sultan Abdul-Aziz in person,
and the private apartments of the illustrious lady were perfect copies of
those in her own palace. The fastidiousness of the host on this occasion
was so great, that on discovering that the tints on the walls and
furniture slightly differed from those he had seen when on his European
tour, he ordered that everything should be removed and new ones brought
from Paris. The fair visitor is said to have been equally surprised
and flattered by the delicate attention that had not omitted even the
smallest object of her toilette table. The Sultan, in truly Oriental
fashion, caused a new pair of magnificent slippers, embroidered with
pearls and precious stones, to be placed before her bed every morning.
Since the time of Sultan Abdul-Medjid, the furniture of the imperial
palaces and kiosks has been made to order in Europe. It is of so costly
a description as to be equal in value to the edifices themselves. On
entering Tcheragan, and some of the other serails, the eye is dazzled
by the gilt decorations, gold and silver brocades, splendid mirrors
and chandeliers, and carved and inlaid furniture they contain. In
Abdul-Medjid’s time, clocks and china vases were the only ornaments
of the apartments. The absence of pictures, books, and the thousand
different objects with which Europeans fill their houses gave the rooms,
even when inhabited, a comfortless and unused appearance.
Some years ago, when visiting the private apartments of this Sultan, I
noticed a splendid antique vase. Lately, on speaking of this priceless
object to a seraglio lady, I was informed that it had been thrown into
the Bosphorus by order of its owner. This act of imperial extravagance
was caused by the supposition that the vase had been handled by some
person afflicted with consumption.
Sultan Abdul-Aziz, a year or two before his dethronement, possessed
with a nervous terror of fire, caused all inflammable articles to be
taken out of the palaces, and replace them by articles manufactured of
iron. The stores of fuel were cast into the Bosphorus, and the lights
of the Sultan’s apartments were placed in basins of water. The houses
in the neighborhood of the Seraglio were purchased by the Sultan, their
occupants forced to quit at a very short notice, their furniture turned
out, and the buildings pulled down at once. These tyrannical precautions
served to heighten the general discontent of the capital against the
Padishah especially among the poor, who justly complained that they might
have benefited by what had been wasted; while some of the wealthy, though
not more contented, profited by the freak, and carried off many of the
rich objects taken out of the palace.
The vast pleasure-grounds attached to the seraglios are laid out with
a tasteful care, which, added to the beauty of the position and the
fertility of the soil, goes far to justify the renown of the gardens of
the Bosphorus. The hills, valleys, and gorges that surround them are
covered with woods; here orchards and vineyards, weighed down with their
rich burdens, lend color to the scene; there the slopes are laid out
in terraces, whose perpendicular sides are clothed with the contrasted
shades of the sombre ivy-leaf and the bright foliage of the Virginian
creeper. Banks of flowers carry the thoughts back to the hanging gardens
of Babylon. Nature and art have ornamented these delightful spots with
lakes, fountains, cascades, aviaries, menageries, and pavilions. “Here
in cool grot” every opportunity is offered for love-making, and if this
one is already engaged, there are highly romantic nooks, concealed by
overhanging boughs, that will answer the purpose as well. Trees and
plants seem to rejoice in the bright sunshine; the birds’ songs mingle
strangely with the roar of the wild beasts from which the Sultan is
perhaps trying to learn a lesson of humanity; and gorgeous butterflies
hover round, kissing the sweet blossoms that fill the air with their
fragrance. Here the ladies of the harem, when permitted to escape for
a time from their cages, roam at liberty like a troop of school-girls
during recreation hours, some making for the orchards, others dispersing
in the vineyards, with screams of laughter and wild frolic that would
astonish considerably any European garden party. The conservatories and
flower beds suffer terribly during these incursions, and great is the
despair of the head-gardener.[15]
A Seraglio, like all Moslem dwellings, is divided into Haremlik and
Selamlik. The former is reserved for the family life of the Sultan and
his women; the latter is accessible to officials who come to transact
state business with his Highness. The Mabeyn consists of a number of
rooms between the two great divisions, and may be considered the private
home of the Sultan. It is here that the Padishah resorts between nine
and ten in the morning, attired in his _gedjlik_, or morning négligé;
consisting of a _tekké_, or white skull-cap; a bright-colored _intari_
(dressing-gown) and _eichdon_ (trousers) of similar material; a pair
of roomy _terliks_ (slippers), a _kirka_ (quilted jacket), or a _kirk_
(pelisse lined with fur), according to the season.
Thus attired, he resorts to his study and gives his attention to
state affairs, or to any other occupations that suit his tastes and
inclinations. Close by are the apartments where the gentlemen of the
household, the private secretaries, and other functionaries, await their
Imperial Master from sunrise.
An account I recently saw of the Imperial expenditure estimated
the annual outlay of Sultan Abdul-Aziz at £2,000,000. The Palace
contained 5500 servants of both sexes. The kitchens alone required 300
functionaries, and the stables 400. There were also about 400 caïkjis,
or boatmen, 400 musicians, and 200 attendants who had the charge of the
menageries and aviaries. Three hundred guards were employed for the
various palaces and kiosks, and about 100 porters. The harem, besides
this, contained 1200 female slaves.
In the Selamik might be counted from 1000 to 1500 servants of different
kinds. The Sultan had twenty-five “aides-de-camp,” seven chamberlains,
six secretaries, and at least 150 other functionaries, divided into
classes, each having its special employment.
One is intrusted with the care of the Imperial wardrobe, another with the
pantry, a third with the making and serving of the coffee, and a fourth
with the pipes and cigarettes.
There were also numberless attendants who carried either a torch, or a
jug of perfumed water for ablutions after a repast. There is a chief
barber, a superior attendant who has special charge of the games of
backgammon and draughts, another superintends the braziers, and there
are at least fifty kavasses, and one hundred eunuchs; and the harem has
also at its service a hundred servants for going on errands and doing
commissions in Stamboul and Pera.
Altogether, the total number of the employés of the Palace is about 5500.
But this is not all; these servants employ also other persons beneath
them, so that every day 7000 persons are fed at the expense of the
Palace. So great is the disorder in the organization that the contractors
claim five francs per diem for the food of each of these 7000 persons,
which amounts to £511,000 per annum for the employés only.
The various items comprise £1120 for wood, £1040 for rice, and £16,000
for sugar.
The wages of employés included in the civil list amounted to a total of
£200,000, exclusive of the salaries of aides-de-camp, doctors, musicians,
etc., which were paid by the minister of war.
The stables of the Palace contained 600 horses, whose provender,
according to the estimates of the most reasonable contractors, cost three
Turkish liras per month, making a total of about £20,000.
More than 200 carriages of every description were kept in the palace.
These were for the most part presents from the Viceroy of Egypt, but the
expenses of the 150 coachmen and footmen with their rich liveries are
paid by a civil list, also the harness-maker’s accounts, and other items
of this department.
The annual expenditure for pictures, porcelain, etc., was never less than
£140,000, and in one year Sultan Abdul-Aziz spent £120,000 for pictures
only. As for jewels, the purchases attained the annual sum of £100,000,
and the expenses of the harem for presents, dresses, etc., absorbed
£160,000 per annum.
Besides these items, the allowances to the mother and sisters of the
Sultan, to his nephews and nieces, and to the heir-apparent, amounted to
£181,760. This gives a total of at least £1,300,000 annually. To this
must be added £80,000 for keeping in repair the existing Imperial kiosks
and palaces, and £580,000 for the construction of new ones. The Imperial
revenue in the civil list was £1,280,000. The expenditure was really over
£2,000,000.
I am unable to give an estimate of the expenses of the seraglio of
the present Sultan, but I have been informed on good authority that
his Majesty personally superintends the management of the palace, and
regulates its expenditure with great wisdom and economy; it will take
some time, however, to put an end to the disorder, corruption, and
irregularity that have become so rooted in the whole system, and caused
the extravagance and waste that prevailed in the households of former
sultans. A Turkish proverb says, “Baluk bashtan kokar,” “The fish begins
to decompose at the head;” accordingly, if the head be sound there is
every hope that the body will also keep fresh.
The haremlik of the Seraglio contains from 1000 to 1500 women, divided
among the Sultan’s household; that of his mother, the Validé Sultana; and
those of the princes.
This vast host of women of all ranks, ages, and conditions are, without
exception, of slave extraction, originating from the cargoes of slaves
that yearly find their way to Turkey from Circassia, Georgia, Abyssinia,
and Arabia, in spite of the prohibition of the slave-trade. These
slaves are sold in their native land by unnatural relations, or torn
from their homes by hostile tribes, to be subsequently handed over to
the slave-dealers, and brought by them into the capital and other large
towns. All these women are the offspring of semi-barbarous parents, who
seldom scruple to sell their own flesh and blood. Born in the hovel of
the peasant or the hut of the fierce chieftain, their first condition
is one of extreme ignorance and barbarism. Possessed with the knowledge
of no written language, with a confused idea of religion mixed up with
the superstitious practices that ignorance engenders; poorly clad,
portionless, and unprotected, they are drawn into the seraglio by chains
of bondage, and go under the denomination of _Adjemis_ (rustics). No
matter how low had been their starting-point, their future career
depends solely upon their own good fortune. Their training in the
seraglio is regulated by the vocations for which they are destined; those
chosen to fulfil domestic positions, such as negresses and others not
highly favored by nature, are put under the direction of _kalfas_, or
head-servants, and taught their respective duties.
The training they receive depends upon the career to which their age,
personal attractions, and color entitle them. The young and beautiful,
whose lot has a great chance of being connected with that of his Imperial
Majesty, or some high dignitary to whom she may be presented by the
Validé or the Sultan as odalisk or wife, receives a veneer composed of
the formalities of Turkish etiquette, elegance of deportment, the art
of beautifying the person, dancing, singing, or playing on some musical
instrument. To the young and willing, instruction in the rudiments of the
Turkish language is given; they are also initiated in the simpler forms
of Mohammedanism taught to women, such as the _Namaz_ and other prayers
and the observance of the fasts and feasts. Most of them are, however,
left to pick up the language as best they can, and for this they display
great aptitude, and often succeed in speaking Turkish with a certain
amount of eloquence, although their native accent is never lost, and
the extraction of a seraili can always be discovered by her particular
accent. Many of these women possess great natural talent, and if favored
with some education, and endowed with a natural elegance, become very
tolerable specimens of the fair sex.
All the seraglio inmates, on their entrance to the imperial abode, do
not belong to this class of _Adjemis_; many of them have been previously
purchased by Turkish hanoums of high station, who, from speculative or
other motives, give them the training described, and when sufficiently
polished sell them at high prices, or present them to the seraglio with
the view to some object.
An ex-seraili of my acquaintance had herself undertaken this task and had
offered as many as fourteen young girls to the seraglio of Abdul-Aziz,
after having reared each for the duties that would probably devolve
upon her. This lady said to me, “What other gift from a humble creature
like myself could be acceptable to so great a personage as his Imperial
Majesty?” At the time this conversation took place she had a fresh batch
of young slaves in hand. They were all smart-looking girls, designated
by fancy names such as Amore, Fidèle, Rossignole, Beauté, etc. Their
dress was rich, but ludicrous in the extreme, being composed of cast-off
seraglio finery of all the colors of the rainbow; some children were
even dressed in the Turkish military uniform, which contrasted strangely
with the plaits of their long thick hair tied up with cotton rags. Their
politeness, half saucy, half obsequious, was very amusing; on entering
the room they all stood in a row at the lower end, and when some jocose
observations were made to them by their mistress, a ready and half
impudent reply was never wanting. The youngest, about eight years of age,
was dressed in a miniature colonel’s full uniform; on being addressed by
her owner by the name of “_Pich_,”[16] and asked, “Will you have this
lady’s little son for your husband? I mean to marry him to you when you
grow up!” the little miss laughed, and seemed perfectly well acquainted
with the meaning of the proposal, and by no means abashed at it.
The treatment these girls received seemed to be very kind, but sadly
wanting in decency, morality, and good principle.
On the accession of a new Sultan to the throne, it was customary to make
a clearance of most of the inmates of the seraglio, and replenish it
with fresh ones, such as those that already belonged to the household
of the new sovereign, and others further to augment the number. Ottoman
sultans, with two exceptions, have never been known to marry; the mates
of the Sultan, chosen from among the ranks of slaves already mentioned,
or from among those that are presented to him, can only be admitted to
the honorable title of wife when they have borne children. The first wife
is called Bash Kadin Effendi, the second Ikinji Kadin Effendi, and so on
in numerical order up to the seventh wife (should there be so many), who
would be called Yedinji Kadin Effendi.[17]
The slaves that have borne children beyond this number bear the title of
Hanoums, and rank after the Kadin Effendis; their children are considered
legitimate, and rank with the other princes and princesses. To these two
classes must be added a third, that of favorites, who having no right
to the title of Kadin Effendi or Hanoum, are dependent solely upon the
caprice of their master or the influence they may have acquired over him
for the position they hold in the imperial household.
Under this system every slave in the seraglio, from the scullery-maid
to the fair and delicate beauty purchased for her personal charms, may
aspire to attaining the rank of wife, _odalisk_, or favorite. The mother
of the late Sultan Abdul-Aziz is said to have performed the most menial
offices in the establishment. When thus engaged one day she happened to
attract the attention of her imperial master, Sultan Mahmoud II., who
distinguished her with every mark of attention, and raised her to the
rank of Bash Kadin. Generally speaking, however, the wives of sultans are
select beauties who are offered to him yearly by the nation on the feast
of Kandil Ghedjessi, others are gifts of the Validé and other persons
wishing to make an offering to the Sultan.
When one of these odalisks has succeeded in gaining the good graces of
the Sultan, and attracted his attention, he calls up the Ikinji Hasnadar
Ousta,[18] and notifies to her his desire of receiving the favored
beauty into his apartment. The slave, being informed of this, is bathed,
dressed with great care and elegance, and introduced in the evening to
the imperial presence. Should she be so fortunate as to find favor in the
eyes of her lord and master, she is on the next morning admitted into a
separate room reserved for slaves of this category, which she occupies
during the time needful for ascertaining what rank she is in future to
take in the seraglio. Should the arrival of a child raise her to that of
Kadin Effendi or hanoum, a _Dairé_, or special apartment, is set apart
for her. Those who are admitted to the Sultan’s presence, and have no
claims to the rights of maternity, do not present themselves a second
time unless requested to do so, nor can they lay claim to any further
attention, although their persons, like those of the Kadin Effendi and
hanoums, become sacred, and the contraction of marriage with another
person is unlawful. The distinction between the favored and the discarded
favorite is made known by her abstaining from going to the _hammam_.
The lot of these discarded favorites is naturally not an enviable one.
Accidentally noticed by the Sultan, or entertained by him as the object
of a mere passing caprice, they seldom have the good fortune to occupy a
sufficient ascendency over the mind or heart of the sovereign to enable
them to prolong or consolidate their influence.
A seraglio inmate, who had herself enjoyed Imperial favor of this
description, told me that it was very seldom that a slave enjoyed more
than once the passing notice of the Sultan, a disappointment naturally
very deeply felt by those who after being suddenly raised to the height
of favor find themselves quickly consigned again to oblivion, in which
their future is passed. There are many among the rejected favorites who
have sensitive natures and are capable of a serious attachment, and in
consequence of the sarcasms the more favored fail not to heap upon them,
the disappointment they have experienced, or the devouring jealousy that
unrequited love occasions, are said to become broken-hearted or die of
consumption. “Nor,” continued my informant, “was the condition of those
more closely connected with the Sultan such as insured to them perfect
happiness, mental unconcern, or security.”
They are obliged to have recourse to every art to preserve their beauty,
fight hard against the attacks and intrigues of rivals, and carefully to
watch over themselves and their offspring.
Bessimé Sultana, one of the few who obtained a right to that title by
marriage, was an emancipated slave, adopted by the lady who had brought
her up, and consequently could not be possessed by Sultan Abdul-Medjid
unless through _Nekyah_, or legal marriage.
In relating her strange and adventurous life, as one of the Kadin
Effendis, to a personal friend of mine, she said, Nothing can give a
clear idea of the intrigues and cabals perpetually carried on within
the walls of the seraglio. The power and happiness of some contrast
strangely with the trials and sufferings of those who are in the power
of the influential and malicious. Every crime that has a chance of being
silently passed over can be committed by these.
The slave who, by her interesting position, becomes entitled to the use
of separate apartments, receives a pension, has her own slaves, her
eunuchs, her doctors, banker, carriages, and caïques, and is supplied
with apparel, jewels, and all other requisites suited to her rank. She
dines in her own rooms, receives her friends, and goes out when allowed
to do so. On attaining this rank a new world, dazzling with gold, luxury,
and every refinement belonging to the favored and elevated is opened to
her, raising her far above her former companions in toil and frolic, who
in future, setting aside all familiarity, stand before her with folded
arms, kiss the hem of her garment, and obey her orders with profound
respect.
The favored beauty fulfils the duties of her new position with the
elegance, dignity, and _savoir faire_ of an enchanted being, who,
accustomed to the distant perspective of the fairy-land which has been
the one object of her dreams, suddenly attains it, and feels at home. Her
single aim in life is now to preserve those charms which have caused her
elevation.
In Sultan Abdul-Medjid’s time, blue-eyed, delicate beauties with golden
hair were the most admired by the Sultan; fair beauties consequently
became extremely _recherchées_, and the grand ladies of the capital
vied with each other in their assiduity in finding out and educating
them, in order to present them to the seraglio. By degrees the taste for
_Laypisca_, or golden locks, became so general in Turkish society as to
make the fortune of many a Pera perruquier, who sold for a guinea the
tiny bottle of fluid that changed the dusky hair into golden tresses,
whilst the ladies paid the penalty of its abuse in the injury done to
their eyes and the nervous maladies contracted by its use. Besides this,
all the seraglio ladies indulged to a great extent in paint, rouge, and
_rastuk_ (antimony) for the eyes and eyebrows.
A French proverb says, “La femme est un animal qui s’habille, babille
et se barbouille.” If this can be applied to any particular class of
womankind, it is surely to the inhabitants of the fairy-land I have
attempted to describe.
The Validé Sultana, or mother of the Sultan, ranks first in the seraglio;
one of the wings of the palace nearest to that occupied by her son is set
apart for her use. She possesses state apartments, has an innumerable
train of slaves, and every mark of attention is paid her not only by
the Sultan, but also by all the high functionaries of the Porte, who at
times have more to dread from her influence and interference than from
the Sultan himself. The other members of the Imperial family rank next
by courtesy, but these are all under the direct control of the Hasnadar
Ousta, or superintendent, who, with her assistant, the second Hasnadar
Ousta, attends to all the wants of each department, regulates their
internal administration, and acts as go-between of the Sultan and his
wives when they have any request to make to him, or when he has orders to
give respecting them; she also regulates the receptions and ceremonies
as well as the expenses. Some of her duties are of the most delicate,
difficult, and responsible nature, and require a great amount of judgment
and experience. The person appointed to this important post is generally
the favorite slave of the Validé.
Very few of the seraglio inmates, except young princesses and other
children that are brought up from their infancy in it, possess any
knowledge of writing, or have had the advantage of regular training.
All started in life from the same condition: chance alone settles the
difference between the wife, odalisk, favorite, and Imperial mother, and
draws a line between them and their luckless sisters left to the exercise
of menial functions.
Education, much neglected as yet among Turkish women, has made very
little progress in the seraglio, where it would prove an invaluable aid
to those destined to hold the responsible positions of wives and mothers
of Sultans. If the former, instead of being chosen as they are from a
host of human beings chained to the service of a single individual,
with the sole object of amusing his leisure hours, attending to his
wants, and giving him the progeny that is to succeed him on the throne,
were selected, as in other countries, from among educated ladies, and
their number fixed (or reduced to one) by the laws of religion and
civilization, how different would seraglio life be! Dignity and esteem
would replace humiliation; woman, elevated to her true sphere, would
exercise her influence for high and noble objects, instead of the
unworthy purposes which she effects through the only channel left open to
her.
Under such a system it will not be surprising to hear of vice and
corruption prevailing in a centre where virtue is crushed, and the
benefits of sound education are neither acquired nor appreciated. The
correctness of this statement, which may appear severe, can only be
understood and appreciated by those who have come in contact with inmates
of the seraglio, and are well acquainted with the language, manners, and
customs of the Turks. Such persons would have no hesitation in admitting
that exceptions are to be found in the seraglio, as well as in the
rest of Turkish society. The class which is in the minority consists
of those naturally gifted natures, to be met with in this country as
elsewhere, who possess virtues that yield not to the influences of
temptation and vice, and become ladies in the true sense of the word.
The real Turkish Hanoum, or lady, is a dignified, quiet person, elegant,
sensible, and often naturally eloquent, condescending and kind to those
who gain her good-will, proud and reserved to those who do not merit
her esteem. Her conversational resources are certainly limited, but the
sweetness and poetry of the language she uses, the pretty manner in
which her expressions are worded, and the spirited repartee that she
can command have a charm that atones for her limited knowledge. Her
manners, principles, and choice of language offer a pleasant contrast to
those prevalent among the generality, and render her society extremely
agreeable.
There is another class of serailis who present a not less interesting
study. Sensitive and refined, fragile and dreamy in appearance, gifted
perhaps with virtues they have no occasion to exercise, or with strong
and passionate feelings that in a seraglio can never find vent in
a solid and healthy affection, they become languid and spiritless,
verging towards decline, to which they fall victims, unless released (as
occasionally happens) by being set free and married.
Another class of serailis is the independent set, who are denominated
Deli Serailis, or wild serailis, famous for their extravagant ideas,
disorderly conduct, and unruly disposition; endowed with the bump of
cunning and mischief, joined to a fair amount of energy and vivacity,
they carry out, in spite of high walls and the watchful surveillance of
more than a hundred eunuchs, all the wicked plans and mad freaks their
disorderly minds and impulsive natures suggest to them; their language,
manners, and actions are such as no pen can describe. In the reign of
Sultan Abdul-Medjid, the misconduct and extravagance of this set had
reached its climax, and attracted the attention even of that indulgent
sovereign, who was induced to order the expulsion of the most notorious.
A few of them were exiled, others given in marriage, by Imperial order,
to some dependants of the palace, who received official appointments
or were sent into the interior. These unfortunate men, burdened with
their uncongenial helpmates, were but inadequately compensated by the
rich gifts they received at the same time. During a long residence in
the interior of Turkey, I became personally acquainted with a number
of these ladies. One of them, a stout, coarse-looking woman, would not
even deign to show that outward appearance of respect required from every
Turkish woman towards her husband. She was the wife of a sub-governor,
in whose house I passed a day and night; she was gay and of a sociable
disposition, but evidently not much attached to her husband, whom she
designated as _Bezim Kambour_ (my hen-pecked one), and to whom she
addressed invectives of a very violent nature, accompanied, as I was
subsequently informed, by corporal chastisement.
A second seraili, worthy of mention, was a thin Circassian brunette,
married to a governor-general of high rank. She had a propensity, rather
unusual amongst Turkish women, to an abuse of strong drinks, and she and
her boon companions indulged in this excess to such a degree as to shock
and scandalize the Mohammedan portion of the inhabitants wherever she
went.
The other serailis of this class were so strange and extravagant in their
manners, and their actions had made them so notorious, that details of
their freaks would be as unedifying to the public as painful to me to
describe.
Generally speaking, I frequented this class of serailis as little as the
_convenances_ of society permitted, but, on the other hand, experienced
great pleasure in associating with the serailis that belonged to the
respectable class, in whose society, conversing upon seraglio life, I
have spent many a pleasant hour.
The amusements in the Imperial palace depend very much upon the tastes
and disposition of the reigning sovereign, whose pleasure in such
matters is naturally first consulted. In the days of Sultan Abdul-Medjid
these amusements daily received some increase in the shape of European
innovations. A theatre of great beauty was built in one of the palaces,
by order of the Sultan, and a European company of actors played
pieces, which the ladies were allowed to witness from behind lattices.
Ballet-dancing, for which the Sultan evinced great partiality; conjurors
of European celebrity; the Turkish Kara Guez, or Marionettes; _al fresco_
entertainments, etc., were among the entertainments. Shopping in the
streets of Pera was not the least appreciated of their amusements. The
French shopkeeper himself played as prominent a part in the matter as the
perfumes and finery he displayed and sold. There were also delightful
garden-parties, when the seraglio grounds would be lighted up with
variegated lanterns and fireworks, and all that the Palace contained of
youth and beauty turned out; some, dressed as young pages, would act
the part of Lovelace, and make love to their equally fair companions,
dressed in light fancy costumes; others, grouped together, would perform
on musical instruments or execute different dances; others, again, seated
in light caïques, with costumes so transparent and airy as to show every
muscle of their bodies, and with flowing hair to preserve their white
necks from the evening dew, would race on the still waters of the lakes.
The Sultanas and hanoums, seated on carpets, beguiling the time by
drinking sherbets, eating fruits and ices, and smoking cigarettes, would
gaze on the scene, while strains of music and the notes of the Shaiki
(songs) would be heard in all directions. All, however, both slaves and
ladies, were similarly occupied with one sole object—that of rendering
the scene pleasant and beauteous to the lord and master for whom it was
designed. All would redouble their life and animation as the Sultan
listlessly approached each group, acknowledging its presence with a
sweet smile, a gentle word, or a passing caress, which he never withheld
even when all the faculties of enjoyment were destroyed, and his earthly
paradise of houris had become an object of indifference.
During the reign of his successor the tone of the seraglio became more
serious and the life of its inmates more constrained; there was less
European amusement and more Turkish; such as a Turkish theatre, whose
actors and actresses, Turkish and Armenian, performed Turkish pieces,
with a certain amount of success, such as the _Meydan Oyoun_, a coarse
kind of comedy, and other representations of a similar character.
A child born in the seraglio is allowed to remain under the care of its
mother, who, with the assistance of a wet-nurse and several under-nurses,
has charge of its infantile wants up to the age of seven. The wet-nurse
is generally sent for from Circassia. On entering upon her duties as
foster-mother, she is entitled to special attention, and exercises great
influence over her charge. Her own child is received as _Sut Kardash_, or
foster-brother, of the Imperial offspring, and enjoys the privilege of
becoming his playmate and companion. The two children, as they grow up
together, never lose sight of one another, the fortune of the one being
assured in right of the privilege of having drawn its nourishment from
the same source as the other.
I obtained these details from a Pasha of high rank, who had himself the
honor of being foster-brother to one of the Sultans: he said, “Before I
saw the light, my mother was sent for from Circassia, and my birth, which
took place in the seraglio, preceded that of his Imperial Majesty by a
few weeks. As I grew up, the prosperity of my family, due to Imperial
bounty, was not limited to my mother and myself, but extended to my
father and the rest of my relatives, who were brought to Constantinople,
and enriched with grants of wealth, rank, and position.” The results,
however, of these ties are not always so favorable to the Imperial prince
as to those who owe their all to his generosity. These persons, being
of humble origin, on finding themselves suddenly raised to a higher
sphere, do not possess the necessary qualification for making a good and
judicious use of the influence they thus acquire. The foster-mother of
Sultan Abdul-Aziz was notorious for her rapacity and spirit of intrigue;
she had, by degrees, acquired such ascendency in the seraglio as to have
it in her power to appoint or dismiss, at her will, governors-general
and other important personages. One of her special protégés, on
being informed that he was about to be transferred from his post as
Governor-General of a vilayet of R⸺, smiled calmly, and said to me, “So
long as the Sultan’s foster-mother is there to protect my interests, I am
in no danger of that! The attempt made to remove me will cost a little
money, that is all!”
The training of the Imperial child is not free from the many drawbacks
that attend other Turkish children. From its earliest infancy, left
in the hands of fond but weak and uneducated women, the child becomes
wayward, capricious, and difficult to please.
This lenient treatment of the infant is continued in the more advanced
stages of its life, and seriously retards its education. At this period
Imperial princes and princesses command absolute attention, obedience,
and respect from the legion of menials that surround them, who, anxious
to lay the foundations of future favoritism, refuse nothing in their
power, and pamper their vanity and precocious ideas to such an extent as
to destroy in great part the effects of the teaching they receive, often
rendering profitless the instruction given them in morality and good
principle.
The knowledge generally acquired by Turkish princes was formerly limited
to the study of Arabic, and the Persian, Turkish, and French languages,
with other branches of the general Turkish education, but the harem
indolence, and the maternal and paternal indulgence, sadly interrupt
the course of their lessons, which are gone through in a most negligent
manner, and fail to have their due effect upon the young mind that
pursues them with little assiduity.
The education of the young princesses is still more deficient, both in
the substance of the teaching and in the manner and time in which it is
undertaken. An elementary knowledge of their native language, of music,
and needlework, given at leisure and received at pleasure, is considered
quite sufficient. These girls, on attaining the age of fifteen or
sixteen, are richly portioned, receive the gift of a splendid trousseau,
jewelry, and a palace, and are married to some court favorite. In
consequence of their high birth, and the precedence they have over their
husbands, these princesses are very independent, and absolute mistresses
in their households.
Few of the married princesses in the reigns of the more recent Sultans
enjoyed good reputations, or acquired public esteem, or even the
affection of their husbands. Wayward and extravagant in their habits,
tyrannical, and often cruel, their treatment of their little-to-be-envied
spouses furnished cause for endless gossip to the society of
Stamboul. The few princesses who formed exceptions to this rule are
still remembered with affection by the numerous dependants of their
establishments.