the mountains of Syria, speaks of the inhabitants as remarkable for
their kindness and simplicity. They had never before seen a European
lady, and their curiosity was much excited. The men stopped her horse
to present bouquets and benedictions; and the women crowded her
apartments, bringing baskets full of delicious grapes and figs. The
young lady says: “As I passed, blessings were invoked upon me, as
upon an Arab bride. I was everywhere received with the affectionate
welcome of an old friend, rather than with the courteous greeting of
a stranger. The women were extremely neat in their appearance, and
though evidently very poor, would accept of no remuneration for their
offerings.”
The Syrian women wear a very high odd head-dress, called the
_tantoura_, not unlike the horn of a unicorn. It is made of wood,
pasteboard, and tinsel, or of the precious metals set with gems. The
inhabitants of the mountains are less tawny than those who live in the
plains. About Lebanon their complexion resembles that of the French.
The women of Damascus and Tripoli are celebrated for their fairness,
and for their beautiful dark eyes, which are usually visible, though a
veil covers the rest of the face.
Among many sacred relics which abound in Syria, they profess to show
the kitchen and fireplace of the virgin Mary, and the fountain where
she was accustomed to draw water.
In the mountains of the Anti-Libanus are a peculiar class of people
called Druses. They have scarcely any religion, observe neither
fasts nor festivals of any kind, and allow brothers and sisters to
intermarry. They live in a very secluded manner, and rarely take
several wives. The women are extremely modest and industrious. They
grind corn and make bread after the old scripture fashion.
The Druses divorce their wives on the slightest pretext. If a wife ask
her husband’s permission to go out, and he says, “Go,” without adding,
“but come back again,” she is divorced. Though both should wish it,
they cannot live together again, without being re-married according
to Turkish forms. These people are very jealous, but rarely punish a
criminal wife with death; divorce is the usual penalty.
The Turks in Syria, as well as in other parts of their empire, kill a
woman as soon as they suspect her; and the fine incurred by a seducer
is enormously heavy.
The Turkomans are a wandering tribe, living in tents like Bedouins.
They are peculiar for giving a dowry with their daughters, instead of
receiving a price for them. They are exceedingly scrupulous about the
honor of their women. If a brother should see his sister receiving a
kiss even from her betrothed lover, he would shoot the poor girl on the
spot; yet, with the usual inconsistency of mankind, they are themselves
extremely fond of intrigues, and pride themselves not a little on
success.
The Turkoman women are very industrious and ingenious. They make the
tent-coverings of goat hair, and weave carpets scarcely inferior to
those of Persia. They use no shuttle, but pass the thread with their
fingers. They have peculiar skill in dying various brilliant colors.
Nearly all the labor falls upon them. The men do nothing but feed the
horses and camels at sunset.
Syria is a part of the Turkish empire, and of course governed by
Mohammedan rulers.
Dr. Clarke gives the following account of a pacha whom he visited at
Acre. “The harem of the seraglio is accessible only to himself. Early
every evening he regularly retired to this place, through three massive
doors, every one of which he closed and barred with his own hand. Even
to have knocked at the outer gate after he had retired would have been
punished with death. No person in Acre knew the number of his women,
but from the circumstance of a certain number of covers being daily
placed in a kind of wheel or turning cylinder, so contrived as to
convey dishes to the interior, without any possibility of observing the
person who took them. He had from time to time received presents of
female slaves; but after they entered his harem, none but himself knew
whether they were alive or dead. If any of them were ill, he brought
a physician to a hole in the wall, through which the sick person was
allowed to thrust her arm, the pacha himself holding the hand of the
physician while the pulse was examined. He put seven of his wives to
death with his own hand, after his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca,
during which the janizaries had obtained admittance to the harem. From
all the information we could obtain, he treated the tenants of his
harem like the children of his family. When he retired, he carried with
him a number of watch-papers he had amused himself by cutting with
scissors during the day, as toys to distribute among them.”
The same traveller says: “In the evening we took some coffee in the
house of the imperial consul, and were introduced to the ladies of his
family. We were amused by seeing his wife, a very beautiful woman,
sitting cross-legged by us on the divan, and smoking tobacco with
a pipe six feet long. Her eyelashes, as well as those of the other
women, were tinged with the black powder made of sulphuret of antimony.
Although this has by no means a cleanly appearance, it is considered
as essential to the decoration of a woman of rank in Syria as her
ear-rings, or the golden cinctures of her ankles. Dark streaks were
likewise pencilled from the corners of her eyes along the temples. This
reminded us of certain passages of Scripture wherein mention is made
of ‘_putting the eyes in painting_.’ English translators, unable to
reconcile this with their ideas of a lady’s toilet, have rendered it
‘_painting the face_.’”
* * * * *
The Arabs, though Mohammedans, seldom have more than one wife. Divorces
rarely take place, unless for misconduct, or for not being the mother
of children. If the Arabian women are fortunate enough to have several
sons, they are almost idolized by their husbands. The little girls are
fair, but they are almost universally exposed to hardships, which soon
spoil the complexion. When young they are very lively and agreeable,
and sing almost perpetually. In cities the marriage ceremonies are
similar to the Turkish. The processions are gay according to the wealth
of the parties, and blessings are invoked on the bride as she passes.
The Bedouins live in tents, divided into three apartments, one for the
men, one for the women, and one for the cattle. Though often ragged and
half clothed, the Bedouin women generally manage to have jewels of some
kind or other, for the neck, ears, nose, and arms. Those who cannot
afford gold or silver, wear a nose ring of iron, sometimes two or
three inches in diameter. The wives of sheiks, and other men of rank,
generally wear rows of sequins across their foreheads, and fastened
in bunches to the ends of their long braided hair. Rings in the nose,
and very large clumsy glass bracelets about the wrist, are common.
Their manner of churning butter is curious. They put the milk into a
goat-skin with the hair all on. This is suspended by strong cords to
the branch of a tree, and a woman shakes it with all her might, until
butter is produced. These skins are seldom washed, and the butter, of
course, is none of the sweetest.
The Bedouins consider their wives as slaves, and exercise arbitrary
power in punishing them for any fault. One of them is said to have
beat his wife to death merely because she had lent his knife without
permission, though she begged pardon and offered in the humblest manner
to go and bring it for him. Being called before a council of the chief
men of the tribe, he acknowledged the offence; saying he had told the
deceased never to meddle with any thing of his, and he was determined
to have a wife who would obey him better. The chief reproved him for
not first making a complaint to him; adding that if his wife should,
after such a step, be guilty of disobedience, he had a right to kill
her if he pleased. The murderer was ordered to pay four sheep, as a
penalty for not making application to the sheik or chief; and soon
after he married another woman.
They are married by a priest, who joins their hands, and reads certain
verses from the Koran. The bride is blindfolded by the priest, and
the bridegroom leads her into his tent, on the top of which a white
flag is displayed; he seats her on a mat, saying, “You are at home.”
He then returns to the assembled company and joins with them in
feasting, singing, shouting, firing guns, and performing rival feats
on horseback, until after midnight. The bride remains blindfolded
during an entire week, her husband merely removing the bandage from
her eyes for a moment, the first time he enters the tent, that she may
be assured of his identity. Some female friend cooks the food, and
performs other domestic duties for her, until she is allowed to see the
light of day. The Arabs have many superstitious observances respecting
marriage. On such occasions they apply to old women skilful in sorcery,
who are supposed to have the art of tying and untying the knots of
fate. In cities, the Arabian women cover their faces with a cloth,
with two holes worked for the eyes, which are almost always bright and
beautiful. Their complexion is lemon-colored. They stain their fingers
and toes a yellowish red, and blacken the joints of the latter. The
eyebrows are stained black, and the lips blue; and a small flower or
spot is often painted or stained on each cheek, the forehead, and the
chin.
The following is a picture of an Arab beauty:--“Her eyes are black,
large, and soft, like the antelope; her look is melancholy and
impassioned; her eyebrows are curved like two arches of ebony; her
figure is straight and supple as a lance; her step is like a young
colt; her eyelids are blackened with kahol, her lips painted blue, her
nails stained a gold color with henneh, and her words are sweet as
honey.”
The Arab women are said to be generally graceful in their motions, and
in the adjustment of their drapery. On entering an apartment, they
carelessly fling off their slippers, and show a naked foot peeping from
beneath the loose ample drawers, which fall below the ankle. Mr. Madox,
who visited the grand sheik, says: “His daughters sat on a sofa with
him; not after the Turkish fashion, but with feet to the ground. They
were rather pretty, gaily dressed, with coins suspended on gold chains
by the sides of their faces. One of them, seeing I had some difficulty
in detaching a piece of meat from the bone, offered me another piece
with her stained and jewelled fingers. After dinner, when they washed
their hands, they made a great lather with the soap offered by the
attendants, which they put in their mouths, and cleansed their teeth
with their fingers. After this they smoked.”
When the wives of Arab chiefs accompany their husbands in devout
pilgrimages to Mecca, they are carried in a litter borne by two
camels. Fifteen miles from Mecca is a small hill, much resorted to
by the devout, called Djebel Arafat, or the Mountain of Gratitude.
On this spot, according to Mohammedan belief, Adam and Eve met, were
reconciled, built a house, and lived together, after a separation
of forty, or, as some say, five hundred, years. The women of Mecca
are said to be free in their manners, even to boldness. This may be
partly owing to the constant sight of strangers, who visit the city
as pilgrims, and partly to the dullness and indifference of the men,
induced by their abject poverty and ignorance.
But the Arabs are in general extremely jealous of the honor of their
women. They would immediately stab a wife or daughter, who was
supposed to have disgraced herself. A single life is considered so
disrespectable, that a woman, in order to avoid it, will marry a man
very much her inferior, or even consent to be the second wife of one
already married.
The poor Arabs live in small thatched huts, and sleep on straw mats.
Those who are richer have low houses of stone with terrace roofs; and
here and there may be found an extraordinary individual, who has sofas,
carpets, mirrors, and fountains. Those whose circumstances do not
admit of their having separate apartments for women, are careful, when
they invite any one to the house, to enter before him, and cry aloud,
_Tarick! Tarick!_ (Retire! Retire!) At this warning all the females
immediately hide themselves.
If the wife of a Bedouin is seduced, the laws allow him to kill any of
the offender’s family whom he may happen to meet. Sometimes the affair
is settled by the seducer’s father giving the injured husband three or
four of his daughters to sell, for as high a price as he can obtain.
The Kereks are not so kind to their wives as the Bedouins, with whom
they often intermarry. A woman cannot inherit the merest trifle of
her husband’s property. Even during his lifetime he does not supply
her with necessary clothing; she is obliged to beg of her father, or
steal her husband’s wheat, and sell it clandestinely. No greater insult
can be offered to a Kerek than to tell him he sleeps under the same
blanket with his wife; for they do not allow the women to share their
apartments. When a wife is ill, they send her back to her parents,
saying they paid for a healthy woman, and cannot have the expense of an
invalid. Butter is used very freely by this tribe, and they consider
it the height of meanness to _sell_ it. A butter-seller is a most
contemptuous epithet; and the daughters of such a parsimonious person
would have no chance to get husbands.
* * * * *
The Courds, who dwell in the mountains between Turkey and Persia,
live in tents, and subsist by plunder, like the Bedouin Arabs. Their
women are of a pale mahogany hue, with very fine features. The nose is
generally aquiline, the eyes bright and mild, and the whole countenance
expressive of kindness and frankness. The Courds have the utmost
confidence in their wives and daughters. They may be seen at the
tent-doors and in the fields, without veils, and always ready to answer
a civil question, or pay a stranger the simple duties of hospitality.
Both as maidens and matrons they are very virtuous and modest. These
women are active, vigorous, and fearless, and they educate their
children in the same way. “Our boys will be soldiers,” say they; “and
they must learn to bear and dare every thing. We show them the way.”
The Courds, like most people of similar habits, receive a certain price
for the daughters they dispose of in marriage.
* * * * *
The inhabitants of Afghanistan are Mohammedans; of course women are
considered as property; and the higher classes are kept scrupulously
concealed. But they are an active, romantic people, and have more
gallantry than usually characterizes the Moslem religion. The women are
industrious in household avocations, and the labors of the distaff
and the loom; but they are not required to perform out-of-door work.
Owing to the nature of Mohammedan customs and institutions, love and
courtship are little known in Moslem nations; but among the Afghans
a man often plights his faith to a young woman, goes off to remote
provinces, and makes the most laborious exertions to earn money
sufficient to purchase her of her friends.
* * * * *
People of all tribes and languages may be found about the beautiful
regions of Caucasus. They are generally handsome, vigorous, active,
hospitable, cunning, and dishonest.
The Circassians and Georgians have been most celebrated. Among the
Circassians, pride of birth is carried to such an extent, that it is
said an unequal match was never heard of in that country.
They are very fond of hunting and military exploits; and women, of
course, participate in this character. They polish and take care of the
armor, are very proud of their husband’s courage, and reproach them
severely when defeated. The young men show great activity and skill in
military exercises, and the most alert has the privilege of choosing
the most beautiful girl as his partner at the next ball. Their dances
are in the elaborate Asiatic style, less gay, graceful, and expressive
than those of Europe.
When a Circassian prince wishes to marry, he pays the father of the
princess the value of two thousand rubles, in arms, horses, and cattle;
and his father-in-law gives him a number of slaves in return. The
prince of Circassia demanded from the neighboring prince of Mingrelia
an hundred slaves loaded with tapestry, an hundred cows, an hundred
oxen, and an hundred horses, as the price of his sister. The birth of a
child, especially a boy, is celebrated with great festivities. A female
infant has a wide leathern belt sewed around the waist, which continues
till it bursts, and is then replaced by another. The bridegroom cuts
this belt with his dagger, and on account of its extreme tightness
fatal accidents sometimes occur.
The children of princes are not brought up at home, but sent soon after
their birth to the house of some nobleman, who is charged with their
guardianship. The expenses of their education and marriage are paid by
the noblemen, who receive no remuneration from the parents.
A Circassian dwelling is divided into two parts, separated from each
other by an inclosed court; one allotted to the husband and such
guests as he chooses to invite, the other to the wife and family. If a
European were to ask a Circassian concerning the health of his wife, he
would angrily turn his back without condescending to reply. The lower
classes, as usual, have more freedom than the higher; they often go
abroad without veils.
Girls marry between their twelfth and sixteenth year, and are
considered quite old at eighteen. Their mothers teach them to
embroider, and make dresses for themselves and their male relations.
On the wedding day the father of the bride makes her a present, but
he reserves the greater portion of what he intends to give her, until
the birth of her first child. On this occasion she visits him, receives
the remainder of her portion, and is clothed for the first time in the
matron’s dress and veil.
If there be rival lovers, they often decide the question by single
combat, or engage friends in the quarrel, and the victorious party
seizes the prize. If the bridegroom can prove any thing against the
former character of his bride, he sends her back to her parents, who
generally sell her as a slave. An unfaithful wife has her hair shaved,
her ears clipped, and the sleeves of her robe cut off, and in this
situation is sent home to her father on horseback, to be sold as a
slave.
The Circassians have two kinds of divorce; one total, and the other
provisional. In the first case both parties are immediately at liberty
to marry again; in the other, the couple agree to separate for a year,
and if at the end of that time the husband does not send for his wife,
her relatives compel him to a solemn divorce, that she may be able
to marry again. After the death of the husband, the wife governs the
family, without dividing the property among the children. When she
dies, the wife of the eldest son usually takes her place; the children
can then demand a division of the fortune, the oldest receiving the
largest share. At funerals, women utter loud cries of grief, and
disfigure themselves with scars. They wear black for mourning.
The Circassians, like the Arabs, are remarkable for hospitality. They
will incur any dangers to protect a person that has eaten of their
food. Should the enemies of a stranger attempt to seize him in the
house of a Circassian, the wife of his host would give him milk from
her own breast, in token of adoption; and from that moment all the
tribe would feel bound to avenge his wrongs, as if he were a brother.
The Circassian women have been celebrated throughout the world for
their beauty. Some modern travellers have denied their claims to
such great celebrity. Dr. Kimmel says, “I have met with none of
extraordinary beauty; and officers who have long commanded in the
Caucasus have informed me that Circassian beauties are extremely rare.”
But it must be remembered that women of the higher classes are
rigorously excluded from the sight of a traveller; and in a country
where the feudal system prevails to its utmost extent, the handsome
daughter of a serf would be immediately claimed by her noble master,
who could sell her for the royal harems, or reserve her for himself, as
he saw fit.
Women of rank embroider, weave elegant baskets, and other ornamental
things. The lower class tend the flocks, weave garments for the men,
and do a variety of household and out-door work. The serfs are the only
class who continue to live with a wife after she grows old. It is an
uncommon thing for any man or woman, even among the princes, to know
how to read or write.
The condition of the Georgians is very similar to that of their
neighbors the Circassians.
The Georgian women are very remarkable for beauty; but are said to be
wanton, treacherous, and uncleanly. A great trade in female slaves
has been carried on in Georgia. Fathers sell their children, brothers
their sisters, and nobles their vassals. Jewish agents are continually
traversing the provinces about Caucasus, seeking the fairest flowers
for the harems of Turkey and Persia. A handsome, red-haired girl will
sell in Constantinople for six or seven thousand piastres.
The Georgian women are tasteful and elegant in their dress, and great
pains are taken to perfect them in those voluptuous arts of pleasing,
which the Orientals call female accomplishments.
The men being almost always engaged in war, or hunting, there is very
little companionship between the sexes.
The Armenians are Christians; but their customs with regard to women
are very similar to the Turks, excepting that their laws do not permit
a plurality of wives. They keep their wives and daughters as rigorously
excluded as the Turks do theirs. A man never sees the face of the woman
he is to marry, and courtship is a thing unknown.
The mother of a young man generally selects a bride for him, and makes
all necessary arrangements concerning the dowry, bridal presents, &c.
The nature of these presents are regulated by old laws and usages, and
each article is blessed by a priest.
When the bridegroom goes to bring his bride from her father’s house
to his own, his father-in-law gives him a new watch, and the nearest
female relations hang pieces of gold tinsel on his hat. He is
introduced to the bride, who sits on a low sofa, so completely buried
in dresses, that not so much as the tip of her shoe is visible. A
thick white linen veil, called the _perkem_, used only for bridals, is
thrown over her head; over this is another veil composed of tinsel,
or sheets of gilt paper. Her hair flows down, and, joined to a mass
of false hair, rests upon the sofa. The priest leads her blindfolded
to the centre of the room, places her hand in that of the bridegroom,
and pronounces a blessing. All the company then form in procession;
a priest goes first with a lighted torch, and is followed by the
bridegroom; the march is closed by the bride, who, being unable to
see for herself, is led by female relations. When they arrive at the
bridegroom’s house, the bride is smoked with incense, and sprinkled
with rose-water. She is then led to her apartments, and left with the
women. The bridegroom proceeds to his apartment, where he is shaved
and dressed in his wedding suit, every article of which is blessed by
the priest, as he presents it. The couple are then led forth to the
centre of another apartment, where the priest again joins their hands,
and knocks their foreheads gently together. One of the family waves a
crucifix over them, they again touch foreheads, and continue to lean
against each other, while the priest chants some passages from the
gospel. When he has done singing, the priest produces two strings
exactly alike, made of white and rose-colored silk interwoven together.
He ties one round the brow of the bridegroom, over whom the crucifix is
held, and asks, with a solemn pause between each question, “If she is
blind, thou acceptest her?” “If she is lame, thou acceptest her?” “If
she is hump-backed, thou acceptest her?”
To each question the bridegroom answers, “I accept.” The other silken
string is then tied round the brow of the bride, over whom the crucifix
is held. The priest says, “Thou acceptest.” She answers, “I accept.”