THE SULTAN AND THE DANCING DERVISHES
Dimitri appeared on the shore the next morning with four carriages,
"hooded phaetons" as they called them there, each of which seated three
persons. The commander, Mrs. Belgrave, and Scott went in the first
one; Mr. and Mrs. Woolridge and Morris in the second; Louis, Miss
Blanche, and Mrs. Blossom in the next, and Uncle Moses, Dr. Hawkes, and
Professor Giroud in the last. Then it was found that Felix was left
out, and he was put in with Morris in the second.
By keeping near the water room enough was found for the phaetons, for
it would have been impossible for them to ascend the hill on which
Pera is situated. They reached the broad, well-made road on which the
Sultan's palace is located. It was quite level, and different from
anything else in Constantinople. A multitude of people had collected
there, and all the nations of the earth seemed to be represented in the
throng.
The Imperial Guard of the Oriental potentate, or a portion of it, was
drawn up at the side of the street. Dr. Hawkes declared they were the
finest body of men he had seen gathered together. Of course they were
picked soldiers, rather large in stature, and of lusty _physique_.
They were clothed in complete Turkish costume, wearing the great
bagging trousers and a sort of jacket, with the fez on their heads.
The latter is worn by all the people, though there are Arabs about the
streets who are crowned with a kind of turban.
Every one of the Americans had all he could do to take in the sights to
be seen on this brilliant occasion. Promenading the avenue were quite
a number of carriages of various patterns; most of them were English,
though a few of them might have been Turkish for aught the observers
knew, the body setting on its springs, with the driver on the nigh
horse. All of them were open, and all of them contained only ladies,
closely veiled.
"But what are these ladies, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, who
was more interested than at any other time during her ten months of
travel.
"I suppose they are all the wives or the property of various pachas,"
replied the commander with a smile. "I know nothing more about them.
This building we are passing, with no windows anywhere near the ground,
is the harem of the Sultan; but none of his ladies are to be seen in
the streets."
"Do they stay in-doors all the time?" inquired the lady.
"They have grounds inside the walls. They go to the summer palace, but
in close carriages, so that no one can see them. Two of the four ladies
in that carriage are young and good-looking, but the others are old
and homely enough to bring the average down very low," said the captain.
"The younger ones are the wives of a rich pacha, and the old ones are
their duennas," said Dimitri, who was seated with the driver and could
hear all that was said.
"One of them is a beauty," added Mrs. Belgrave.
"She is indeed," said Scott. "I can see all her face almost as well as
though she did not wear the hackmatack."
"The _yashmak_," laughed the captain. "In her case the veil is the
thinnest gauze."
"The old ladies did not have gauze over their faces," replied Scott.
"The older and uglier the women are the thicker is their _yashmak_,"
added Dimitri.
Presently the survey of the promenaders was interrupted by the strains
of a band of music, which were of a wild, barbaric character, quite
different from anything they had ever heard before. A string of cavalry
then lined the avenue on both sides, leaving the middle entirely open.
No man must go in front of the Sultan, which is the rule of the road in
Turkey; and the potentate appeared riding on horseback in the middle of
the street.
Abdul-Hamid II. was about fifty years old. He wore a frock coat and
trousers in European style, but with a fez on his head. His breast was
covered with decorations and orders of honor. The trappings of his
magnificent horse were of the richest material, and were ornamented
with gold. As he approached, the Imperial Guard gave a wild and weird
yell as a salute, to which the potentate made no response even with a
nod.
The gentlemen of the party removed their caps and hats, and some of
them bowed; but his imperial majesty made no response of any kind,
though he glanced at the Americans. It was something more than a glance
which he bestowed upon the inmates of the third carriage, in which Miss
Blanche sat in her radiant beauty. The guides pointed out the four sons
of the Sultan, the oldest of whom was about twenty and the youngest
seven. He has also three daughters who do not appear in processions.
The rest of the parade consisted of pachas dressed in the most
magnificent costumes, and mounted on the finest horses. Dimitri called
many of them by name, but no one was the wiser for it. The Albanians
surpassed all the others in the elegance of their dress, and all the
ladies would have voted for them.
The Sultan and his retainers passed on to the church, and the American
party hastened to the Rue de Pera, where the monastery of the Dancing
Dervishes is located. Passing through a courtyard, they entered the
vestibule of the building. Dimitri obtained several pairs of large
slippers, which the gentlemen put on over their boots. Some smaller
ones were procured for the ladies and young gentlemen.
"What is all this for?" asked Mrs. Belgrave in a whisper.
"'Put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou
standest is holy ground,'" replied Captain Ringgold. "No one must touch
the floor of a mosque or holy place with the shoes that have been in
the dirt. Formerly no one was allowed to enter one of these places
without actually taking off the shoes; but the rule has been modified
so that overshoes may be taken off, or put on, when going into one of
them."
The apartment to which they were then conducted by the guide was in
the form of an octagon, and of considerable dimensions. The roof was
supported by columns, which also sustained a small front gallery and
a larger one on the side, latticed for women so that they could see
and hear without being seen by the audience or the celebrants. Around
the enclosure which contained the dancing-floor was a rail to keep the
spectators at a proper distance. The visitors had to squat on the floor
next to this rail on sheepskins, a very uncomfortable position for the
ladies.
The front gallery was occupied by a reader and the music. A prayer
carpet was spread on the floor opposite the door, for the sheik, or
chief, of the monastery. About twenty of the dervishes entered, one by
one or in groups, and squatted on the floor like so many tailors. They
were dressed in loose, brown robes, and looked very grave, as though it
was a religious exercise, as it really was, upon which they were about
to enter.
The sheik was a venerable old man, with a long white beard, and bowed
with age. He entered and squatted on the prayer carpet. Like all the
others, he wore a lightish brown hat, in the shape of a flower-pot
placed upside down on his head. There were boys, and men of eighty or
more, though the average age appeared to be about forty. They all had
an expression of religious enthusiasm.
The sheik repeated some passages from the Koran, and then one in
the front gallery intoned something from a book, which none of our
party could understand. After some more sentences from the sheik, the
dervishes followed a leader several times around the room, pausing at
the prayer carpet, bowing low to the sheik. Two of them crossed their
arms on their breasts, and, facing each other, bowed low. Turning on
their heels they faced two others, and went through the same ceremony;
and it was repeated till all had passed the carpet.
When the bowing was finished, the head of the line slipped off into the
centre of the room and began to whirl or waltz. He was followed by all
the others, till the whole of them were gyrating in two circles around
the circus. The music sounded like the thrumming of a banjo, with
another instrument. When the men engaged in the service had warmed up
they threw off their brown robes, and appeared in a suit of white, worn
under the other. It consisted of a jacket, and a skirt reaching nearly
to the floor.
With no cessation the whirling was kept up for half an hour. Not one of
them knocked against another, and their skirts were spread out as far
as they could be extended. They were all barefoot, and took a regular
step, and their movements were very graceful. The arms were elevated
in set positions, which were uniform with all. When the whirling was
finished, the dervishes all passed before the sheik again, the reader
intoned more sentences, and the service was finished.
"What in the world does it all mean?" asked Mrs. Belgrave when they
were in the street.
"I only know that it is a religious service, though some one told me,
when I was here last, that it was in imitation of the revolutions
of the heavenly bodies; but I cannot say that this is a correct
explanation," replied the captain.
Miss Blanche asked the same question of Louis, but he was not even as
wise as the commander.
"I could hardly keep from laughing," she added.
"Captain Ringgold cautioned us not to laugh; for it was a religious
ceremony, and should be treated with respect," replied Louis.
By this time the tourists were tired enough to return to the ship; but
the big four obtained permission to walk about the streets for a while,
Munif to go with them.
"If I were going to live here, the first thing I should do would be to
kill off a lot of these dogs," said Scott, as they walked up the Rue de
Pera.
"The Turks would kill you if you did that," added Munif.
"These dogs are the only scavengers that go about the streets," said
Louis. "They don't have any swill-tubs here, but throw everything into
the street. The dogs live on this garbage."
"They starve on it then," replied Scott. "I have not seen a
decent-looking dog among them; they are all curs."
"There's a row among them," added Morris, as a tremendous howling and
yelping was heard in the next street. "I did not suppose they had grit
enough to fight; and they are all small dogs, lank and mangy."
"There are lots of battles among them every night, more than in the
daytime. All the dogs have quarters; and when one lot invades the home
of another, looking for something to eat, the residents of the section
attack them, and a hard fight sometimes follows, as I read the other
day in Yusuf," explained Louis.
"Mind your eye, Louis!" exclaimed Felix, in a low tone, grasping his
friend on the shoulder. "Do you see that gentleman standing in front of
Misserie's Hotel?"
"I see him; but what of him?" asked Louis as all the four stopped in
the street.
"He has changed his rig; but you ought to know him," whispered Felix.
The gentleman was dressed in European costume, and appeared to be less
than thirty years old. He certainly had a very handsome face, and an
elegant jet black beard. He was looking carelessly about him, and did
not appear to notice the boys. A moment later he went into the hotel.
"I never saw him before," Louis insisted.
"Yes, you have!" exclaimed Felix. "That gentleman is Ali-Noury Pacha!"
"Nonsense, Flix!" replied Louis. "If the Fatimé had come here, we
should have seen her."
"I did not say that he came here in his steamer," added Felix.
"He has gone into the hotel. Come with me, Flix, and we will soon find
out if it is he;" and Louis led the way into the house.
They made their way to the reading-room, where the gentleman had seated
himself in an arm-chair and picked up a newspaper. Keeping out of sight
themselves, they were soon satisfied that the person was the Pacha.