CHAPTER XXXVII
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 lustyphysique. 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."
"Theyashmak," 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 theiryashmak," 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.