THE HAPPY VALLEY.
Amongst the many lovely valleys that surround Constantinople, the
two most perfectly charming are the Valley of the Sultan and that
called by the Franks the Sweet Waters of Asia. Both are carpeted by
the freshest and greenest sward; both are shaded by magnificent trees;
and numerous little streams, descending from the neighbouring heights,
not only charm by the pleasant music of their waters, but enable
pleasure-seekers to boil their coffee al fresco.
These delicious spots, so green and fresh, nestled, as it were,
amidst comparatively barren hills, seem to invite all the happy ones
of earth to come and repose under the tender shade of their great
trees. The air, though soft, is so fresh and invigorating, that the
fact of existence seems a joy. Nature rejoices on all sides--the
brilliant sky above, the bright rays glancing through the trees,
the merry little wavelets that show their white heads upon the
intense blue of the Bosphorus, the birds singing blithely from every
coppice and tangled brake--all nature smiles in sunshine, hope, and
joy. Little troubles and unworthy anxieties fade and fall away, and
life seems for a few short hours to be the delight that Our Heavenly
Father probably once meant it to be.
There are few things more charming in the Turkish character than the
honest, hearty love for the beauties of nature that prevails in all
classes. From the Sultan to the meanest and poorest of his subjects,
whenever a holiday occurs, all hasten to enjoy the luxury of fresh air
and the soft green sward, there to while away the few hours (perhaps
in both cases) hardly wrung from many days of weary and exhausting
toil. In the winter the men of course frequent the coffee-shops,
there to enjoy their pipes and the long histories of the professional
story-tellers, but in the summer every valley is thronged with people,
all evidently enjoying themselves with a completeness and an absence
of Western ennui that is most refreshing to behold.
Many a delightful hour did we pass in these valleys. The merry
melodious voices of the women, the ringing laughter of the children,
made a music very pleasant to the ear; and the eye was charmed with
the brilliant beauty of the colouring, and the picturesque grace of
the groups that surrounded one on every side.
On a Friday, or other holiday, many hundreds of people congregate
at the Sweet Waters both of Europe and Asia. The women, arrayed in
gorgeous dresses, recline on carpets beneath the trees, little spirals
of smoke ascend from the numerous pipes, the narghilé bubbles in its
rose-water, the tiny cups of coffee send forth a delicious fragrance,
the perfume of fresh oranges and lemons fills the air. The still
more exquisite sweetness of orange blossoms is wafted towards us,
as a gipsy flower-girl passes through the groups, carrying many a
mysterious bouquet, of which the flowers tell a perhaps too sweet
and too dangerous love-tale to the fair receiver.
Then a bon-bon seller comes, laden with his box of pretty sweets. Many
are really good, especially the sweetmeat called Rahat-la-Koum, when
quite fresh, and another, made only of cream and sugar flavoured with
orange-flower water.
Every now and then the wild notes of some Turkish music may be heard
from the neighbouring hills--the band of a passing Turkish regiment;
or perhaps the monotonous but musical chant of some Greek sailors falls
on the ear, as they struggle to force their boat up the tremendous
stream of the Bosphorus.
Seen from a little distance, and shaded by the flattering folds of
the "yashmak," Oriental women almost always look pretty; but when,
as they often do, the fair dames let the veil fall a little, and the
features become distinctly visible, the illusion is lost at once.
The eyes are magnificent, almond-shaped, tender and melting, but, with
very few exceptions, the nose and mouth are so large and ill-formed,
that the face ceases to be beautiful; the superb eyes not compensating
for the want of finish in the other features.
As a class, the Armenians were the best-looking, but the women's
head-dress was remarkably becoming. They wear a thin coloured
handkerchief, with a broad fringe of gauze flowers, tied coquettishly
on one side of the head, long plaits of hair being arranged round it
like a coronet.
As in Western countries, the middle and lower classes seemed to
enjoy themselves the most. They sat on the grass, and talked to their
friends. They could eat their fruit and drink their coffee al fresco,
while some of the Sultan's odalisks, and other great ladies, shut up
in their arabas and carriages, performed a slow and dreary promenade
up and down the middle of the valley.
Very weary did some of these poor things look, but the guard of
black slaves on each side the carriage forbade any hope of an hour's
liberty. Happily, excepting in the Sultan's harem, it is now becoming
the fashion for the ladies to descend from their carriages and to
pass the afternoon beneath the trees.
Many other Eastern fashions are also becoming modified. The huge yellow
boots are disappearing, French ones taking their place; parasols and
fans are also used, and all the fashionable ladies now wear gloves.
Besides the charming valleys already mentioned, the shores of the
Bosphorus abound in pretty villages, where the great Turkish families,
the foreign ministers, and principal European merchants have palaces,
and where they generally pass the summer.
The most important of these villages are Therapia and Beyuk'dere. The
English and French ambassadors have each a palace at the former,
and as we had the good fortune to pay a long and most happy visit to
our kind friends at the English Embassy, we came to love Therapia as
a very dear and happy home.
There is no place in the world, perhaps, where the air has so
exhilarating an effect as on the shores of the Bosphorus. The soft,
sweet breeze from the hill side seems to temper the fresh, salt wind
that is borne in from the Black Sea; and how great was the delight
when we sometimes turned to the sea-shore, after a long ride in the
forest of Belgrade!
Can anything be more beautiful on a sunny evening than to watch the
sea steal quietly up the glittering beach?--to see wave after wave
gracefully bend its snow-capped head, and then, falling over, leave
a line of shining water all along the shore? And riding down upon
the cool, wet sand, how grateful to the tired horses is the tender
lapping of the soft, soothing water, as the little waves curl round
their heated feet! Ah! why will happy hours pass so soon away?--why
does a pang ever mingle with the thought of a joy that is past?
Beyuk'dere is so pretty, so graceful, and so unreal-looking, especially
as we saw it for the first time, on a bright moonlight night, that
it seemed like a dream or a scene in a play. And yet the houses are
very real, and some of them very handsome; for example, the Russian
Embassy, where a clever and charming host, excellent dinners, and
most agreeable evenings were very delightful realities.
Still, most of the smaller houses look as if they were cut out
of cardboard. They have also an unusual number of windows, which,
when lighted up at night (and the shutters are seldom closed, on
account of the heat), give many of the streets the appearance of
the side-scenes at the opera. So strong is the illusion, that it is
difficult to cease expecting that the beautiful heroine in muslin
apron, with little pockets, will presently look out of the latticed
window, or that the irascible father, in brown coat and large buttons,
will issue forth from that most fragile and operatic-looking door.
When we had been a few weeks at Constantinople, and had visited
some half-dozen harems, we began to think we knew something about
Turkish life, and it was not until we had been there some months, and
become acquainted with the families of most of the principal pashas,
ministers, &c., that we discovered how little we really knew about it.
But although we might change our opinions respecting many domestic
customs and manners, time and more intimate knowledge of their
character only increased our liking and admiration for the Turks,
both men and women.
Benevolence and kindness are the principal characteristics of both
sexes. During the whole period of our stay in Turkey we never saw
even a child ill-treat a hapless animal.
Travellers, especially women, are seldom sufficiently conversant with
the laws of a country to be able to expatiate with much accuracy on
such matters. Turkish laws are said to be bad; perhaps they are so,
but certainly there are few cities in Europe where the streets can be
so safely traversed, both by night and day, as those of Constantinople.
Turkish manners, also, are peculiarly agreeable. Turks are not ashamed
to show that they wish to please--that they wish to be courteous;
happily they have not yet adopted that brusquerie of manner that is
becoming so prevalent in the West.
The fault is perhaps an overabundance of ceremony and etiquette. Even
in their own houses, in the seclusion of home, the master of a
family is treated with a respectful deference which would astonish
many Christian sons, who unhappily often now only look upon their
father as the purse-holder, out of whom they must wring as much money
as possible.
In the Selamluk [1] no person seats himself without the permission of
the master of the house; in the harem the same etiquette is observed,
the hanoum, or first wife, reigning there supreme.
We had often heard that Eastern women enjoyed in reality far more
liberty than their Western sisters, and in some respects this is
certainly true; but in point of fact the liberty they possess in being
able to go in and out unquestioned, to receive and pay visits where
they choose, does not at all compensate for the slavery of the mind
which they have to endure, from being cut off from the education and
mental improvement they would gain by association with the other sex.
Mental imprisonment is worse even than bodily imprisonment, and by
depriving a woman of legitimate ambition, by taking from her the wish
for mental culture, she is reduced to the condition of a child--a
very charming one, probably, when young, but a painful position for
her when, youth having departed, the power of fascination decays with
the loss of beauty; and though in some instances it is well known
that the natural talent of the woman has had the power of retaining
her husband's heart, still it too often happens that, after very few
years of love and admiration, he turns to one still younger and fairer
to charm his hours of leisure.
Not only did we constantly see Madame R---- and her charming daughter
Nadèje, and the wives and relatives of the ministers, &c., whose
acquaintance we made, but we had the honour of being invited to pay
visits to most of the members of the imperial family; and the more we
saw of the Turkish ladies the more we liked the kindly, gentle-hearted
women who received us with such friendly hospitality.
In the royal palaces there was of course more splendour, more gold,
more diamonds, more slaves--especially the hideous black spectres, who
are often so revoltingly frightful that they look like nightmares. But
in all essentials a description of a visit to one harem serves to
describe the receptions at all.
During our visits to their wives the pashas often requested permission
to enter the harem, and we were delighted to make the acquaintance
of F---- Pasha, a statesman distinguished throughout Europe by his
enlightened views, his generous nature, and by the improvements his
wise legislation has effected for his country. Successive visits,
both to his lovely palace on the Bosphorus and to us on board the
yacht, turned this acquaintance into a friendship which we valued as
it indeed deserved.
It was sometimes amusing to see the astonishment of the women when
they found we did not object to converse with the pasha. They could
hardly understand that we would allow him to enter the harem during
our stay there.
In deference to their feelings we, however, always drew down our
veils before the master of the house entered, a proceeding which we
were aware materially increased their respect for us, and for our
sentiments of reserve and propriety.
More intimate acquaintance with our Turkish friends enabled us
to see how often they were annoyed and disturbed, probably quite
unintentionally, by the proceedings of their European guests.
Madame F---- is a charming person, clever and intelligent to an unusual
degree. She is said to possess great and legitimate influence with
her husband. She invited us one day to a large party, consisting of
most of the "lionnes" of the Constantinopolitan world.
Some of these ladies were very pretty, and perhaps rather fast. Many
of them had adopted several French fashions, wearing zouaves and
Paris-cut bodies instead of their own pretty jackets and chemises,
a change we thought much for the worse. The great mixture of colours,
also, which looks so well in the Turkish full dress of ceremony,
seemed much out of place in a semi-French costume.
Our Paris bonnets produced quite a furore. So much were they admired
that we lent them to be tried on by the whole assembly. Each fair Turk
thought she looked lovely in the ludicrous little fabric of lace and
flowers, though we would not be so untruthful as to say they were half
as becoming as their own fez, with the grand aigrettes of diamonds,
which they place so coquettishly on the side of their pretty heads.
These ladies were wonderfully "well up" in all the gossip of
Constantinople. They were perfectly cognisant of all the little details
of every embassy and legation, knowing every member of them by sight.
They have a game which is played for sugarplums. Various diplomats
or well-known persons are imitated by some peculiarity they have,
such as a mode of walking, talking, bowing, &c. The spectators have to
guess who is meant, every failure being paid for by a certain number
of bon-bons.
Of course the descriptions are unflattering; the more they are so
the greater being the laughter excited. Many of the described would
have been astonished could they have seen how cleverly they were
caricatured. There was a luckless secretary of one of the smaller
legations who seemed a favourite victim, as he certainly had many
"odd" ways.
Amongst the many distinguished men whose acquaintance we made was
C---- Pasha, a man who in talent may perhaps rival, but who in
moral qualities is far below, F---- Pasha. In fact, C---- Pasha,
from the stormy impetuosity of his character, and from an unfortunate
tendency he has of occasionally taking the law into his own hands,
rather resembles the old Turk as he was, than the modern Turk as he is.
C---- Pasha is a handsome man, about fifty years of age, with
a very intellectual, acute face. A singularly square chin, and a
closely-compressed mouth, give an expression of fierce determination,
almost amounting to cruelty, to the countenance when in repose. As
soon as he speaks, however, the whole face lights up with a kind
of merry good-humour, which is inexpressibly winning; and though,
if all tales may be believed, he is somewhat of a Bluebeard, and has
committed crimes which, in other countries, would have brought him
to the scaffold, it is impossible not to be pleased, almost in spite
of oneself, by a manner unusually frank and earnest.
There is a story (let us hope it is only a story, and not a truth)
that he put to death, with his own hand, one of his odalisks, and a
young secretary to whom he had seemed much attached. It is said that
the pasha, walking one day in his garden, saw a rose thrown from
a window in the harem. The flower was picked up by the secretary,
who put it to his lips, and kissed it passionately as he looked up
at the lattice. Burning with indignation and jealousy, the pasha
hastily repaired to the harem, and saw a young slave looking out of
the window from which the rose had been thrown. Drawing his knife,
he crept softly behind the unfortunate girl, and in an instant had
plunged it into her throat. The death-cry of the unhappy victim
startled the household, and the secretary, finding the intrigue had
been discovered, at first fled to the hills, but subsequently took
refuge with one of the foreign ministers. He remained in the latter's
household for a considerable time--so long, indeed, that he flattered
himself the affair had been forgotten.
At the expiration of some months, C---- Pasha sent or wrote to the
young man, requesting him to return, and assuring him that, as he
had thus with his own hand punished the guilty woman, his anger had
been appeased.
The secretary, therefore, resumed his post, and for some weeks all
apparently went well. One day, however, the pasha, attended by his
secretary, was again walking in the garden. On arriving at the spot
where the rose had fallen, the pasha requested the young man to gather
a flower that was growing near. Unsuspicious of danger, the secretary
obeyed, and as he bent down for the purpose, was stabbed to the heart
by his revengeful master.
This deliberate murder--for such, in fact, it was--made a considerable
stir for a time; but the high rank and great influence of the offender
prevailed against justice, and the affair was ultimately hushed up,
the pasha, it is believed, having only to pay a considerable sum of
money to the family of the murdered man.
It must not be supposed that there are many, if indeed any, modern
Turks like our agreeable but unprincipled friend; but it is said
that occasionally an erring odalisk disappears, and as it is nobody's
business to inquire about her, no troublesome questions are asked.