On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    5 2 W OMEN IN TURKEY.

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    -«Gp- • - The Word Harem Has A Very Vari...

    it is useless to struggle . If ever I am in a country where the people are contented with hearing * that " such is the custom" in order to

    avoid examining and judging it , I shall know how to appreciate the value of its institutions .

    The long train of sunshine which entered hy the open door was suddenly obscured , a noise of whispering * and slippers dragging on

    the damp steps was heard outside , and the bey ' s three other wives , who were in the house for the time beingcame to make my

    acquaintance and bid me welcome . The secon , d and third were so much alike that I thought them sisters . They had large , fat faces ,

    whose premature coarseness might pass for Jresh ? iess in a country where the taste is not very refined . Each dragged after her the

    troop of children accorded her by Proiddence . Behind these two women was a figure which kept humbly in the back ground , and on

    which my eyes fixed at once , and remained there obstinately in spite of all the manoeuvring of the other sultanas to turn them

    on their side . I do not remember ever having beheld anything more beautiful . This woman wore a long trailing robe of red

    satin , open on the chest , which was lightly veiled by a chemise of silk gauze , with wide sleeves hanging below the elbows . The

    head-dress was that of the Turks ; and to have an idea of it one must imagine a complication , an infinite multitude of turbans placed

    one on the other , or one round the other , rising to inaccessible heights . There were red scarfs rolled six or seven times in spiral

    forms , and forming a tower like that of the goddess Cybele ; handkerchiefs of all colors crossing the scarfs up and down without

    regularity , forming fanciful arabesques ; yards of fine muslin enveloping a part of this scaffolding with their transparent whiteness , carefully

    folded above the brow , and falling in light and rich draperies down the cheeks , round the neck , and on the chest . Little gold chains or

    sequins strung together , pins in jewels or diamonds stuck into the muslin , sparkled carefully among the foldsand gave them a certain

    stability which it would have been unreasonable , to have expected from so slight a material . Small child-like feet , which seemed as if

    chiselled from marble , appeared and disappeared by turns beneath the long robe , whilst such hands and arms as I had never seen

    before , supported an infinite number of rings and bracelets , the weight of which , could not have been triflingand which sparkled

    like diamonds . The whole appearance was , strange yet graceful , but all became as nothing when the face had been seen , which was

    surrounded by this floating drapery , and which so elaborate a toilet was supposed to embellish . This countenance was of a

    singular beauty , the description of which I renounce , for how give to any who had not seen it an idea of so lovely a masterpiece of

    nature , so exquisite a mixture of bashfulness and grace ? I have said that each of the new arrivals drew after her , clinging

    to her robes , the children sprung from her , exactly like the mother

    of the Gracchi . My beauty , on the contrary , walked alone behind

    5 2 W Omen In Turkey.

    5 2 W OMEN IN TURKEY .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1859, page 52, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091859/page/52/