WATERING PLACES.
There is a prevalent impression that the Turkish ladies are always
imprisoned at home; but nothing is more erroneous. For, since the
destruction of the janissaries, who molested every one in public,
they are to be seen everywhere, and on all occasions.
The only requisite for their appearance is to be veiled, and to wear
the Feradjé, or cloak.
Thus accoutred, they wander through the bazaars, frequent all rural
places of resort, visit the baths, and scarcely a day passes when they
stay at home. Nor is it to be supposed that they are closely muffled,
as they were formerly. The ancient out-door costume was most hideous;
they were enveloped in an immense white sheet, a little piece of
horse-hair gauze being suspended over the eyes. But the yashmak or
veil, is, at the present day, composed of the lightest India mull,
and has little power of concealing their charms, but on the contrary,
serves to heighten their beauty by its gossamer transparency.
The arched eyebrows, through this deceptive veil, seem more delicately
curved; the large and lustrous eyes shine more darkly from its snowy
folds; and the delicate and peach-like hue of the complexion is
rendered tenfold more lovely.
The texture of the yashmak is now so exquisitely fine, that the two
square yards of muslin which compose it do not weigh more than a
single drachm!
The feradjé or cloak is an ample outer garment, made of fine colored
bombazine or Thibet, lined with silk, and the edges are trimmed
with embroidery.
Their feet are clothed with yellow chedik, or morocco buskins, over
which paboudj, or slippers of the same color, are worn in the street.
So great is the force of habit and education, that not even the oldest
woman ever appears in public unveiled, although the Koran pronounces
furrows and wrinkles to be all-sufficient disguises for faded charms;
yet, in Turkey, as well as all over the world, the maxim doubtless
is popular, that beauty never dies.
Even the dames of ebony hue, dreading the display of darkness visible,
are most punctilious in covering their charms, thus affording more
distinguished specimens of the wonderful effects of light and shade.
During visits of ceremony, when the feradjé and yashmak are taken off,
a long strip of white muslin is left hanging from the top of the head
down the back, for the purpose of covering the face in case of sudden
emergency. But such accidents seldom occur, as the gentlemen of the
family are informed, as soon as they enter the vestibule of the harem,
that there are strangers within.
Thus equipped, the Osmanli ladies are the most independent creatures
in the world.
As no one dares to look them in the face, from a sense of respect,
it has been customary for them slightly to encourage their timid
admirers by a few furtive glances, if not positive attacks; so that,
on all public occasions, an attentive observer may detect them in
some of the wiles of coquetry, or unmeaning flirtation.
Ladies of distinction are attended by black eunuchs, who protect
them from the too familiar approach of any witless knight, who may
ignorantly trespass the limits of Oriental decorum.
These ebony gentry, from the nature of their position, had become
insolent and overbearing, under the plea of protecting the ladies,
and a native always avoided a collision with them, since they were
sustained by public opinion. But their own extravagant conduct has
put an end to their pretensions and power.
Kizlar Aghassy, or the head black eunuch of the palace, was formerly
so influential a personage as to rank among the ministers of state;
but at the present time, the eunuchs have lost all their pristine
greatness, and are mere domestics of the household.
The carriage generally used by the ladies is called an araba, which
is often very richly ornamented and gilded, and well cushioned in the
inside. The top is covered with a crimson or green ehram or shaggy
cloth, manufactured in Albania, and fringed with gold. This spacious
conveyance, capable of accommodating six or eight persons, has no
springs, and is drawn by a couple of oxen, whose heads are gaily
tricked out, and furnished with a charm against the Evil-Eye. The
ends of the tails are tied to a cluster of red tassels, which are
fastened to a hoop set in the yoke, and gracefully arched over their
backs. This arrangement is to prevent the animals from spattering
the mud with their tails.
The araba is entered by means of a small temporary ladder at the
back. There is a conductor, or arabagee, who leads the oxen by a chain
attached to their heads, and a yanashma, or boy, who walks by the side,
and goads them on.
But many of the families are now to be seen in public, in European
carriages, and they delight in excursions on the water in their
beautiful cayiks.
Nature has been so lavish in her gifts to the land of the Osmanlis,
that they have every temptation to linger for hours in some one of
the many lovely spots which are to be found all along the Bosphorus.
Boghas-itchy or the Bosphorus, is the most magnificent stream in
the world. Its winding way, its shores besprinkled with palaces,
mosques and minaré's, in the peculiar picturesque style of the East;
the gradually sloping hills, here and there studded with airy and
pretty dwellings, and decked out in green array--all combine to
enchant the eye and delight the mind.
There is nothing so exquisite as the cayiks of the Bosphorus. Their
forms are as slender as the canoe's, and certainly more graceful than
the gondola's, defying any other aquatic conveyance rowed by men. They
are always propelled by long sculls of one, two, or three pair,
fastened on the gunnels at about midships, to pins, by leather bands.
The hold is allotted to the accommodation of passengers; there you
recline amid downy cushions, and noiselessly glide along, with the
measured oars of the boatmen, who look like very sea-nymphs, in their
snow-white robes.
By moonlight, the shores, with their latticed and irregular buildings,
seem to be some fantastic realms in the distance; and the blue waters
reflecting back the silvery stars, almost tempt one to plunge beneath
their glassy surface. No wonder, then, that the Osmanlis should
spend most of their time, when the summer sun cheers and invigorates,
in loitering among such scenes as these.
The sultan has numerous kiosks of his own; on the most lofty summits
of the hills, in the most sweetly embosomed valleys, by the margin
of the briny sea, where wave after wave has "noiselessly rolled up
the beach" ever since the waters which were above the firmament were
divided from those below--in the midst of plains, by the roadside,
and in the noisy populous streets of the metropolis, are these tasteful
pleasure bowers ever to be met with, but carefully guarded from profane
footsteps. Generally, however, in the spots thus consecrated by royal
pleasure, are to be found coffee shops, and mats or low stools, for
the accommodation of other classes of this nature-loving multitude,
where at all times the most lovely groups of men, women, and children
are collected.
There are some places of resort more frequented than others. The
Kehat-hané, or as it is commonly known to Europeans the "Sweet-waters
of Europe," at the head of the Golden Horn, Fener-Bahchessy, or, the
garden of the Light House, and Moda Bournou, or the Fashionable Point,
on the Marmora, the Geök-Souyou or the Heavenly Waters of Asia, on
the Bosphorus, Hunkear-Iskellesy or the Sultan's Valley--and Kalender
on the opposite shore.
To all of these places, the people flock in cayiks and carriages,
and spreading their carpets upon the green sward, recline with true
Oriental nonchalance and comfort. The chibouk adds its curling fumes
to the scene, the narghillé bubbles in unison, the favorite kahvé is
handed round in tiny cups, the wild notes of the Lahouta and Kementché
are re-echoed by the verdant hills, while an entire lamb on a spit
sheds its fragrant odors, predicting a pic-nic champêtre. The itinerant
seller of bon-bons plants his tray before you, and you cannot refuse
to partake of its luscious contents--wandering gipsies present you
wild flowers, and proffer their services in unfolding the pages of
destiny. Group after group glides along in the fanciful costumes of
Stamboul, and all are joyous and contented.
Thus the Osmanlis enjoy that sensation of delight, their indescribable
Kief, when for the moment all care and trouble are forgotten, amid
the scenes of beauty which nature so freely lavishes upon all, rich
and poor.
Especially on a Friday, or the Mohammedan Sunday, there are
congregated thousands of persons, people from every clime, and of
every rank--Persians in their peaked papakhs; Albanians with their
fustanels; Circassians in their woolly caps; Zeybeks, or Turkish
mountaineers, in gay costumes and lofty head-gear, and armed from head
to foot; strange men on horse-back, who seem to be made up of gold
embroidery and cashmere shawls; Turkish soldiers, and ebony negroes
on milk-white steeds; the representatives of the different western
powers in their elegant carriages, with their own ladies and families;
European travellers and book-making authors, mingle in the crowd. The
imported beauties of Circassia, sit on their embroidered cushions,
sable guards patroling around, while their lords and masters keep at
a respectful distance.
The Osmanli ladies seem all to be beautiful, especially in their white
and delicate veils, and costumes of such varied hues, with brilliant
diamonds glittering upon their heads, necks, arms, and fingers--in
a word, a Turkish watering-place would eclipse even Broadway itself
in recherchées toilettes and unparalleled beauty; while the charm of
such an endless variety furnishes a study for the artist, and leaves
nothing to be desired to complete a picture exquisitely perfect.
Amid such scenes as these, the blue heavens for a canopy, with nature's
emerald carpeting, the tall and majestic trees bearing the impress of
unnumbered seasons, more beautiful in their leafy verdure than the most
exquisitely carved and marble columns of the palaces of kings; while
the tuneful songsters of the grove trill their plaintive notes--are
displayed the simple tastes and habits of this people, so inaccessible
when they are once within the precincts of their own domiciles.
Here may the stranger, who for the first time treads the shores of
the Eastern world, perceive the real spirit of Oriental society and
manners, as exhibited in the exchange of mutual intercourse and the
etiquettes of life.
The group just before you may be the harem of an Armenian
banker. Though composed of many ladies, yet the Armenians being
Christians, by virtue of their religion, they are not allowed to
number more than one wife in their harems.
Again, under the shadow of yonder tree, are two lovely Mussulman girls,
surrounded by a train of halayiks, or female slaves, and attended
by black eunuchs. Stay your footsteps, for it is the harem of ----
Efendy--a Redjal or grandee of the realm.
This distinguished man had the misfortune to lose his interesting
and beloved wife; and so strong was her memory upon his heart, that
he never sought to replace her loss; consoling himself with these
two beautiful pledges of her love, and lavishing upon them all his
affection and indulgence.
These young ladies alone now constitute the harem of a man who has
perfect freedom to number as many as four lawful wives!
Thus it may be perceived, how far from being synonymous are the two
words Harem and Polygamy.