PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND COSTUME.
The first years of the life of every girl are spent both in the
Harem and Selamluk (or men's apartment), indiscriminately. The female
children being then allowed free access to the society of the men,
they imbibe certain notions in their youth, which are not always
consistent with refinement.
As there is not in the Selamluk, the restraint which the presence
of ladies always imposes, the manners and conversation of the men
are often but ill calculated to nurture a sense of delicacy in the
minds of the children, who mingle so freely with them. Nevertheless,
they seem to possess an innate sense of propriety, and are never
deficient in politeness of deportment.
Every girl is permitted to attend either the public schools, or to
receive private instruction at home, until she is eight or ten years of
age, when she is no longer allowed the freedom of her childhood. Very
little learning is acquired by them, the language being difficult,
and the mode of instruction altogether unsystematical; so that for
all future years they retain their simplicity, and are but overgrown
children.
Their minds having had no culture, the senses assume entire dominion
over them, and their time is spent either in adorning their persons,
or in etiquetical observances, by which they hope to render themselves
more bewitching to the lords of creation.
As in all other countries, fashion is regulated by the court, so at
Constantinople it is controlled by the ladies of the palace. Their
costume, according to the Oriental taste, always consisting of long
flowing robes, may be supposed to admit of no change; but on the
contrary, the ladies having little other occupation, delight in varying
the shape and style of their dress. Sometimes the hair is worn long,
again cropped short. A fess with flossy tassel is one day the mode,
and a fantastic turban is adopted the next morning. The sleeves are
long and wide, and again their drapery is dispensed with, and they
are confined at the wrist.
The entary, or dress, is invariably cut high, either closed around
the neck, or left open in front; it is made long, trailing about a
yard below the person; sometimes left open at the sides to the hips,
and at others, made wide, and sewed up as low as the ankles.
The shalvar, or full trowsers, are made to match the dress, and again
of varied and contrasting hues.
There in a great variety in the fashion for trimming the dresses
and handkerchiefs, which generally are adorned with most exquisite
embroideries in silk or gold, as may suit the mode, or taste of the
wearer. Sometimes an immense cashmere shawl is wound round the waist;
at others, a light gauze scarf, or belt of gold, with a clasp adorned
with brilliants, serves for a girdle. No Turkish lady can dispense
with jewelry, and even women of the lowest rank adorn themselves
with diamonds.
Abundant occupation is afforded to the jewellers by the constant
transformation of their bijouterie; for one day the capricious beauties
fancy a star or a crescent, and the next, nothing will suit their
toilet but a large spray of brilliants.
The number of the ladies in the royal palace and in other wealthy
harems, all of whom are bedecked in elegant and costly costumes,
causes a demand for the services of many merchants, through whom the
last new fashion is immediately promulgated.
Their beauty is such, however, that it might well afford to be
unadorned, for their complexions are generally exceedingly fair, and
of the most delicate softness; owing to the constant use of the bath,
as well as the protection of the yashmack, or veil, without which
they never go abroad.
Their features are very regular, and their almond shaped eyes, so
much sung by their poets, are dark and lustrous, and so valued for
their size, that the enjoyment of the great-eyed ladies is promised
by Mohammed as one of the sublimest joys of Paradise. The power of
these electric and darkly beautiful orbs is so terrible, that woe to
those upon whom they are turned, for, as Pertev Pasha, one of their
celebrated poets, has described:
"On the point of each ray that is darted from those bright meteors,
there is a bloody slaughter house," or as the French would expressively
say, "un regard assassin."
Exquisitely arched eyebrows are also so essential to their ideas of
beauty, that they are never contented, till by the repeated application
of artificial means, they raise their brows to a lofty semicircle.
Beauty spots, or moles, are considered of great value; and if nature
has proved niggard in this respect, art is brought into requisition to
produce the same contrasting effect between the tiny circle of jetty
hue and the surrounding fairness. The poet Hafiz has sung their value
in flowing numbers, offering the wealth of Semerkand and Bokhara for
the possession of the Indian mole on the cheek of the fair beauty
of Shiraz.
The tips of their fingers and toes are frequently stained with henna,
producing the roseate hue so much à la mode.
Their forms and movements are graceful, being under no artificial
restraints; and there is an exquisite charm about them as they
languidly lounge on their silken couches, or glide about from room
to room in long flowing robes, and slip-shod shup-shups.
Well has the illustrious bard portrayed the varied charms of the
Eastern houris:
"Many and beautiful lay those around,
Like flowers of different hue and clime, and root,
In some exotic garden sometimes found,
With cost, and care, and warmth, induced to shoot."
Considering their limited education, it is delightful to listen to
the melodious tone of their voices, as they speak with remarkable
purity the harmonious Turkish language. Notwithstanding their lack
of learning, there have been some among the ladies renowned for
their poetical productions, such as Leyla and Fitnett Hanums, justly
celebrated for their exquisite poetry.