AN ORIENTAL WOMAN'S PASTIMEAfter the painting by Frederick A. Bridgman
She is not a companion, but only a gilded toy, a decorative object.... Among the higher class she is still kept in strict seclusion, and her time is passed in luxurious idleness, save for the hours she employs at her embroidery or tapestry. The garden, with its heavily perfumed blossoms, pleases her; the ceaseless plash of the fountain falls musically on her ear; all her physical needs are ministered to. But everything conduces to the dreaminess of her nature, to slothful habits; her activities are fettered by the law of Mohammed. After all, her garden is but an exquisite prison.
The women of the Arabs, like the men, are fond of tattooing their bodies, regarding the figures they stamp into their flesh as highly ornamental, though perhaps originally there was a religious significance in them. The figure to be imprinted is first drawn upon a block of wood and blackened with charcoal. This is then impressed upon some part of the body, and then the outlines are pricked with fine needles which have been dipped into an ink made of gunpowder and ox-gall. The whole is subsequently bathed with wine, and the figure is marked indelibly.
Even the poor are very fond of personal ornaments. Chains, rings, necklaces, gold thread, may be seen in abundance, if not in costliness. It is not unusual for an Arab woman, though clothed in tattered raiment, to wear several rings of silver. But if this metal be beyond her means, then of iron or copper and sometimes of glass. Ornaments of variously colored glass are very popular among Arab women; often they can afford no other. Even bracelets are made of this material, and are much worn. Some of the nomadic tribes still wear anklets.
The women of the desert are often seen with nose-drops, or rings in one or the other side of their nostrils, which in consequence tends to droop like the ear. This custom prevails in other parts of the East, more particularly among those whose occupation is thought to call for much ornamentation, such as the dancing girls and odalisques. The ancient Hebrews sometimes used to put rings in swines' snouts for practical reasons, as indeed the Arabs do to-day in the noses of horses, mules, and asses to aid in evaporating the moisture from the nostrils, but the beauty or the utility of a ring in an Arab woman's nose has never been satisfactorily determined.
The Arab women of good quality do not, as a rule, wear their hair very long. It usually reaches about to the neck, and is tied with a colored ribbon. Many of the poorer and less cleanly among them, however, wear their tresses long, ill-kempt, and filthy. The men often think more of their beards than do the women of their locks.
The favorite flower is that of the shrub calledAl henna.It is the plant from which is obtained a dye much used by Oriental ladies upon their skin and nails as a cosmetic. The manner of preparation is thus described: "The young leaves of the shrub are boiled in water, then dried in the sun, and reduced to a powder which is of a dark orange color. After this has been mixed with warm water, it is applied to the skin." The use of henna is very old; and when the woman has finished the work of art--she herself being the subject--she looks, as one has said, like a vampire stained with the blood of its victim. The flower ofAlhenna, however, is beautiful and strongly fragrant--reminding one in appearance of clusters of many-colored grapes. These blossoms are used as ornaments for the hair and as decorations for the houses, the fragrance often conquering the malodorous atmosphere of many ill-kept, uncleanly homes.
As is the custom with Oriental ladies generally, the women in riding place themselves astride the beast, like a man, and seldom present a graceful appearance to a Western eye. Loftus has thus described an Arab lady as she sits astride the patient mule: "Enveloped in the ample folds of a blue cotton cloak, her face (as required by the strict injunctions of the Koran) concealed under a black or white mask, her feet encased in wide yellow boots, and these in turn thrust into slippers of the same color, her knees nearly on the level with her chin, and her hands holding on to the scanty mane of the mule--an Eastern lady is the most uncouth and inelegant form imaginable."
Mohammedans are never seen walking with their wives in the street, and are seldom seen in company with them or any other woman in any public place. Should a man and his wife have occasion to go to any place at the same time, he goes in advance and she follows on behind him. Jessup, inThe Women of the Arabs, gives the following explanation advanced by a Syrian of the aversion which the men feel with reference to walking in public with women:
"You Franks can walk with your wives in public, because their faces are unveiled, and it is known that they are your wives, but our women are so closely veiled that if I should walk with my wife in the street, no one would know whether I was walking with my own wife or another man's. You cannot expect a respectable man to put himself in such an embarrassing position."
If inquiries are made by one man of another concerning his family, the boys and the beasts are invariably mentioned first; the wife last of all. Among the ancient Arabs the birth of a female infant was looked upon as little short of a domestic calamity and sometimes the infant was not allowed to live. The horrible custom,wad-el-benat, of burying infant daughters alive grew out of an unwillingness of parents to share the scant support of the home with the newcomer, or, as has been suggested, from ferocious pride, or false sentiments of honor, fearing the shame that might come should the girl be carried off and dishonored by the enemies of their tribe. The birth of a son, however, was considered the occasion of great rejoicing. The daughters of the modern Arabs are usually well cared for, though apparently with little affection. They are useful in agricultural pursuits, and they are for sale as wives when they become of a marriageable age. Their marketable value is determined by their rank, their fortune, or their beauty. Among the Arabs marriage is seldom an affair of the heart, but is purely a commercial transaction. Three thousand piastres, or about one hundred and twenty dollars, is regarded as a good price to pay for a wife. The price is generally less. The father of the young man pays the bill; his wealth regulating somewhat the amount paid. The parents of the young couple make all the arrangements, though generally assisted by relatives and interested friends. Much bargaining and delay are often gone through with as a matter of course. If the whole sum finally agreed upon cannot be paid in a lump sum, the parties of the first and the second part fix upon the size and frequency of the instalments; the bride being claimed only when the last instalment has been paid.
The time for the wedding is next settled upon, whether it be days, weeks, months, or years in advance. When that event is at length celebrated, the Arab love of feasting has full opportunity to give itself rein. Days are spent in these rounds of pleasure before the young couple settle down to the stern facts of practical copartnership.
The Arab women have a number of folk songs which are sung by them at weddings and at the birth of children. Some of these may be here quoted as revealing the Arab woman's idea of physical grace and of womanly virtue, and of those qualities which are desirable in the wife and the mother. Here is a song to the bride:
"Go thou, where thy destiny leads thee, O fair bride!Tread delicately on the carpets.Should thy spouse speak to thee, what wilt thou answer?Tell him thou art his, thou lovest him and he is thy delight"
"Go thou, where thy destiny leads thee, O fair bride!Tread delicately on the carpets.Should thy spouse speak to thee, what wilt thou answer?Tell him thou art his, thou lovest him and he is thy delight"
"Go thou, where thy destiny leads thee, O fair bride!
Tread delicately on the carpets.
Should thy spouse speak to thee, what wilt thou answer?
Tell him thou art his, thou lovest him and he is thy delight"
Again, they sing:
"Oh yes, she is welcome!Let us hail the arrival of her whose eyes shine with beauty;Whose form is graceful; tall as a young palm tree,Who can shut the window without a stool!"
"Oh yes, she is welcome!Let us hail the arrival of her whose eyes shine with beauty;Whose form is graceful; tall as a young palm tree,Who can shut the window without a stool!"
"Oh yes, she is welcome!
Let us hail the arrival of her whose eyes shine with beauty;
Whose form is graceful; tall as a young palm tree,
Who can shut the window without a stool!"
The rejoicing in maternity, and especially in the birth of sons, is notable among the Arabs. The women sing:
"Behold the wife hath brought forth;She has risen from the bed whereon she reposed, whereon she slept!She hath brought into the world a child, the fairest of boys;He will learn to play with the sword.""No sorrow or harm shall come to thee if thou hast sons.God will give them to thee. He will make thee glad,Esteemed and honored throughout the country;Thou who art in the race as a gazelle."
"Behold the wife hath brought forth;She has risen from the bed whereon she reposed, whereon she slept!She hath brought into the world a child, the fairest of boys;He will learn to play with the sword.""No sorrow or harm shall come to thee if thou hast sons.God will give them to thee. He will make thee glad,Esteemed and honored throughout the country;Thou who art in the race as a gazelle."
"Behold the wife hath brought forth;
She has risen from the bed whereon she reposed, whereon she slept!
She hath brought into the world a child, the fairest of boys;
He will learn to play with the sword."
"No sorrow or harm shall come to thee if thou hast sons.
God will give them to thee. He will make thee glad,
Esteemed and honored throughout the country;
Thou who art in the race as a gazelle."
Between the verses of the songs, the women who are not singing will repeat the refrain:
"La, la, la, la," etc.,
"La, la, la, la," etc.,
"La, la, la, la," etc.,
to emphasize their sympathy with the sentiments just sung.
Because of a deep reverence for the mystery of life, the Arabs give to the woman a separate tent or hut during the period of childbirth, and there she must remain for a period. There is a strong superstition concerning the results that might come from seeing or touching her or her belongings during the time of this separation.
In the naming of children, family names are not given, but individual names, to which is often added the name of the father, and sometimes that of the mother. The latter is probably the older, and many ethnologists believe it to have once been the universal custom among the Arabs; pointing to a day when polyandry prevailed, when it was customary for women to have several husbands, if they were not indeed the common property of the tribe.
The influence of the nomadic life of the ancient Arabians still has its power over the modern Arab if he be true or a dweller in tents. These desert roamers despise those Arabs who are engaged in the arts of husbandry. Dr. A. H. Keane, quoting from Junker, gives the following evidence of this prejudice: "In the eyes of his fellow tribesmen, the humblest nomad would be degraded by marriage with the daughter of the wealthiest bourgeois." But, as he adds: "Necessity knows no law, hunger pinches, and so these proud and stubborn were fain ... to renounce the free and lawless life of the solitude and at least partly turn to agriculture for several months in the year."
The Arabs are proverbially a hospitable people. Let a stranger once eat with an Arab family and he is a friend; certainly so long as the food is thought to remain a part of his body. But since the patriarchal idea survives, man is absolutely lord of his own house. Hence, in the house, the inequality of the sexes is most noticeable. The Moslem wife never sits down to a meal with her husband if any male guest be present; and should the husband be very strict and formal in his habits, she is not permitted to eat with her lord, even when there is no guest. It is her pleasure to serve. When the master of the house has finished his repast, he allows what remains to go to the rest of the family. By this the husband does not mean to be selfish at all; but customs which have prevailed for time out of mind give to woman an inferior place as a matter of course. But the guest is never turned away empty. Even in the poorest houses, the Moslems will offer the visitor a cup of black coffee, and it may be cigarettes.
Polygamy was common in ancient Arabia. In earlier days every man might marry as many wives as he could take care of, and the length of the wifehood was solely in the husband's hand. The family possessions were his property, and should he die, his widow was looked upon as a part of the estate. Unions between mothers and step-sons were not infrequent. Mohammed numbered this, however, among the "shameful marriages."
Sir William Muir, in hisAnnals of the Early Caliphate, says: "Polygamy and secret concubinage are still the privilege, or the curse of Islam, the worm at its root, the secret of its fall. By these the unity of the household is fatally broken, and the purity and virtue weakened of the family tie; the vigor of the dominant classes is sapped; the body politic becomes weak and languid excepting for intrigue; and the throne itself liable to fall a prey to doubtful or contested successors." "Hardly less injurious," says he, "is the power of divorce, which can be exercised without the assignment of any reason whatever, at the mere word and will of the husband. It not only hangs over each individual household like the sword of Damocles, but affects the tone of society at large; for even if not put in force, it cannot fail as a potential influence, existing everywhere, to weaken the marriage bond, and detract from the dignity and self-respect of the sex at large."
Mohammed's complete misunderstanding of the true relation of the sexes has had much to do with the degraded position of woman in Moslem lands, and the complete failure of Islamic social life. It is woman that makes or unmakes society. She is the keystone of the arch, not the mudsill.
Mohammed's state of mind regarding woman is universal among his followers, whether in Algeria, Tunis, or Morocco, in the land of the Lotus, in the Ottoman Empire, or in the lesser Mohammedan dominions. The customs springing from this state are, of course, modified among the different peoples, as, for instance, among the Moors through the admixture of Spanish and Moorish blood, which resulted in a somewhat better appreciation of woman. Yet she is not a companion, but only a gilded toy, a decorative object, to be fitfully enjoyed or waywardly put aside. Among the higher class she is still kept in strict seclusion, and her time is passed in luxurious idleness, save for the hours she employs at her embroidery or tapestry. The garden, with its heavily perfumed blossoms, pleases her; the ceaseless plash of the fountain falls musically on her ear; all her physical needs are ministered to. But everything conduces to the dreaminess of her nature, to slothful habits; her activities are fettered by the law of Mohammed. After all, her garden is but an exquisite prison.
By placing women upon so far lower a plane of social and religious life than man, Mohammedanism has not only degraded the female sex, but has disrupted, if not destroyed, those healthy family relations which lie at the very foundation of all social progress and national greatness.
Out of the ruins of the Seljuk domination arose the Turkish Empire, founded by Ottoman, or Osman I., a nomad chieftain of great prowess, after whom the Ottoman Empire derived its name. Among the very first events narrated concerning the life of this important Turk was one of romance, for Ottoman was not only a bold warrior, but a brave lover, and withal, like the young Hebrew Joseph, a dreamer. In the little village of Itburuni there lived a learned doctor of the law, a man of aristocratic blood, one Edebali, with whom it is said Ottoman loved to converse, not only because of the gentleman's fine personal qualities, but because Edebali had a daughter, whom many named Kamariya, or "Brightness of the Moon," because of her beauty; but most called her Mal Khatum, or "Lady Treasure," on account of her pleasing personality. But the learned sheik did not take kindly to Ottoman's advances, for he had not yet "won his spurs," and his authority was not recognized by neighboring princes. Fortunately, a timely dream--that potent argument which is so effectual among the people of the East--came to Ottoman's aid in the pursuit of his suit. The dream is thus recorded: "One night Ottoman, as he slumbered, thought he saw himself and his host stretched upon the ground, and from Edebali's breast there seemed to rise a moon which waxing to the full, approached the prostrate form of Ottoman and finally sank to rest on his bosom. Thereat from out his loins there sprang forth a tree, which grew taller and taller, raised its head and spread out its branches till the boughs overshadowed the earth and the seas. Under the canopy of leaves towered forth mighty mountains, Caucasus, Atlas, Taurus, and Hæmus, which held up the leafy vault like four great tent poles, and from their sides flowed royal rivers, Nile, Danube, Tigris, and Euphrates. Ships sailed upon the waters, harvests waved upon the fields, the rose, and the cypress, flowers and fruits delighted the eye, on the boughs birds sang their glad music. Cities raised domes and minarets toward the green canopy; temples and obelisks, towers and fortresses lifted their high heads, and on their pinnacles shone the golden crescent. And behold as he looked, a great wind arose and dashed the crescent against the crown of Constantine, that imperial city which stood at the meeting of the two seas and two continents, like a diamond between sapphires and emeralds, the centre jewel of the ring of the Empire. Ottoman was about to put the dazzling ring upon his finger when he awoke." The story of the wondrous dream was told to the father of the fair Mal Khatum. He was at once convinced that the Fates had marked Ottoman for future greatness and for wide dominion. The moon-faced damsel fell a prize to the inevitable conqueror, son of Ertoghrul. Another early incident in Ottoman's career may be of interest in this volume upon the women of Turkey. Ottoman understood that a number of his rivals at arms were to be present at a certain wedding to be celebrated at Bilejik, in the year 1299; and that the event was to be made the occasion of his being entrapped and slain. Learning of the conspiracy against him, he secured for forty women of the Ottoman clan admission to the festivities. When all present were engrossed in the ceremonies of the hour, these forty sturdy warriors cast aside their female attire and not only captured the entire garrison, but also the fair maiden whose nuptials were being celebrated. She was a young Greek lady named Nenuphar, or "the Lotus Blossom," who afterward became the mother of Murad I. Ottoman now descended like an avalanche upon his rivals and their territory, extending his dominion even to Mount Olympus.
It is to Arabia and to Persia that Turkey owes most of its civilization, its religion, its literature, its laws, its manners, and its customs. Beginning with a Tartar basis, Turkish life has been chiefly shaped under the influence of a religion and a literature. As for the first, the debt is chiefly to Arabia; for the second, Persia must have the larger share of credit. Since these two forces, religion and literature, are doubtless the most effective in shaping the ideals of womanhood, and so in developing the female character among any people, we are compelled to look to the ancient lands of Persia and Arabia for the springs of Turkish life.
Remembering the kinship of Turkish literature to the Arabic and Persian, it would not be difficult to surmise that woman would hold no insignificant place in the literature of Turkey. While there are as many as twenty-five different written languages used in the Empire, the literary language is a product of the original Tartaric tongue and strong Persian and Arabic elements. Very much of the romantic material that goes to make up the Turkish literature is drawn from such early stories as the great Persian epicShahnamah.
The romance ofLaili and Majnunhas made a deep impression in Turkish literature. Fuzuli of Bagdad, one of the greatest of Turkish poets, has reproduced the strong love of these characters of old Persian legend, besides giving to the nation's literature manyghazelsin which fondness for the virtue of woman is presented with characteristic Eastern passion.
The Persian lady also figures in the work of Kemal Bey, who was regarded in his lifetime as "a shining star in the Turkish literary world," and one who did much to arouse the Turks to enthusiasm for their native country. He was the author of a trivial novelTzesmi, of high repute in Turkish literary circles, in which a Turkish warrior of poetic talent and a Persian princess figure.
There are numerous love ballads of Moorish origin that are highly prized and have greatly influenced Turkish literature, such asFatima's Love, Zaida's Love, Zaida's Inconstancy, Zaida's Lament, Guhala's Love, and the like; also much Moorish romance, asThe Zefri's Bride. So we find Turkish poems breathing of love and womanly charms. Among such productions is that of Ghalib, whoseHusn-u-Ashk, orBeauty and Love, is regarded as one of the finest productions of Turkish genius.
It must be remembered, however, in reading Turkish poetry of love that there is often, if not indeed generally, beneath what seems to be a sensuous and even voluptuous song or romance an allegorical or mystical significance. God is the Fair One whose presence the heart craves, and whose veil the suitor would see cast aside that his perfect beauty may be revealed to the worshipper. Man, therefore, is the lover; the tresses are the mystery of the divine character; the ruby lip is the sought-for Word of God; wine is the divine love; the zephyr is the breathing of His spirit; and so on. And yet, that many Turkish, as is true of many Arab and Persian, poems are upon a low moral level of human passion, and are revolting to the ethical sense of the more sensitive natures, is not to be disputed.
Fame in poetry has not been unknown to Turkish women. Notable among these literary women of Turkey is Fatima Alie, daughter of the former state historiographer Dzevdet Pacha, whose history of the Ottoman Empire takes high rank. In Fatima Alie, Turkish womanhood finds one of its staunchest champions.
Zeyneb Effendi was a royal poetess in the days of Mohammed the Conqueror. She recounted in glowing lines her hero's achievements. So also Mirhi Hanum was a poetess of talent. She was born of a wealthy father, a grand vizir. She was so unfortunate as to have had as a lover one who did not reciprocate her passion. She, therefore, sung her young life out in avowed virginity, wearing an amber necklace, symbolizing her eternal choice of celibacy. Among other poetesses of note may be mentioned Sidi, who died in the year 1707, the authoress ofPleasures of SightandThe Divan. Mirhi, who has been styled "the Ottoman Sappho," was a poetess of Amasiya, full of the passion of love. She sang boldly concerning the object of her devotion, but her virtue was never questioned, nor her talent deprecated.
But the women of Turkey have been affected less by the literary influence of Persia than by the religious inheritance from the Arabs. Before Mohammed polygamy flourished among the various Arabian tribes. The prophet brought some order out of the chaos, and the harem became a more or less well-defined system, with its definite laws and regulations. Therein woman was somewhat advanced from the state in which she earlier found herself. And yet, Mohammed manifestly wavered in his treatment of women and in the ideals which underlay it. A certain equality between man and woman is at one time taught in the Koran, as when it said: "The women ought to behave to their husbands in like manner as their husbands should behave towards them, according to what is just." And again the prophet said: "Ye men have right over your wives and your wives have right over you." This truly is reciprocity. And yet he asserted that "woman is a field--a sort of property which her husband may use or abuse as he thinks fit;" and again, that "a woman's happiness in Paradise is beneath the sole of her husband's feet." Commercially, the girl was of more value than the boy, because she could be sold and made a wife, and perhaps she might be converted to the Mohammedan faith.
It is, in truth, the Turkish slave woman's physical beauty, as she was captured and came into the possession of Arab sheiks, which first brought the Turkish woman into notice. But these superbly attractive, dark-eyed slaves at length captured their captors, and the Turk became master of the Arab and the most virile exponent of the Arabian faith and civilization.
Concerning his ideals as to woman, the Turk imbibed much from the Arab, who valued woman mainly for her points of physical excellence--these were tabulated in a standard of eight "fours" as follows: "A woman should have four things black; namely, hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, and the dark part of the eyes. Four things white; namely, the skin, the white of the eyes, the teeth, and the legs. Four red; namely, the tongue, the lips, the middle of the cheek, and the gums. Four round; namely, the head, the neck, the forearm, and the ankle. Four long: the back, the fingers, the arms, and the legs. Four wide: the forehead, the eyes, the bosom, and the hips. Four thick: the lower part of the back, the thighs, the calves, and the knees. Four small: the ears, the breast, the hands, and the feet."
Since Mohammed allowed four wives to all Mussulmans, the sultan as a faithful follower of the prophet may have four official wives; and after these he may take as many non-official wives as his fancy may desire. The four favored ones are known as thekadins. First stands the Bach Kadin, who is the "first lady of the land." Next her is the Skindij Kadin, or "second lady." Then come the "middle lady" or Artanié Kadin, and last of all the Kutchuk Kadin, or the "little lady." When a kadin becomes the mother of a male child she is then entitled to be called Khasseki-Sultan, or "royal princess." When a daughter is born to one of them she is known as Khasseki-Kadin, or "royal lady."
The mother of the reigning sultan always holds high place at court, yet not because she is mother of the ruler, but because it is thought that each of the four legitimate wives of the sultan must in every detail of court life enjoy perfect equality with the others, from the services of "the mistress of the robes down to the lowest scullion." Thus, the mother, called the Valideh-Sultan, holds the rank that usually belongs to the wife of a monogamous ruler. Should the sultan's mother be deceased, his foster-mother holds this position of influence. The present sultan's foster-mother has conducted herself with much conservatism in her exalted position and, it is said, with strict attention to the dignity and economy of the harem. The Valideh is sometimes poetically known as Tatch-ul-Mestourat, that is, "the crown of the veiled heads." This means that the Valideh is regarded as queen of all the Mohammedan women, who are uniformly veiled, according to the teaching of the prophet. The Valideh is in her dignity most august. No woman, not even the Khasseki-Sultan, may dare come before her unless sent for. All women when they appear in her presence must be clothed in full court dress, and, whatever the weather may be, without mantles. When she goes out she is entitled to a military escort similar to that of the sultan. An ancient custom still prevails which demands that the Valideh, once a year, on the night of Kurban Bairam, present a slave girl of twelve years of age to the sultan. The slave damsel at once becomes a member of the harem, and it is possible for her to rise to the highest position a woman may attain at the Turkish court. It is now customary, however, for the young girl to be sent as a pupil in the institution at Scutari, which has been established by the sultan for the higher education of Mohammedan women. She is now more frequently married, with a dowry, to some officer of the court or member of the sultan's household.
The sultan is granted privileges not generally accorded others as to marriage. He may marry a Christian or a Jewess, if he should see fit so to do. As a rule, the women who thus marry are expected to become Moslem in faith, though there have been notable exceptions. Theodora, wife of Orkhan, was a Greek Christian woman, and with marked persistence held on to her ancestral religion. But Orkhan was unlike Mohammed II. in character; for the story is told of the latter's strong passion for the beautiful Irene, who, however, refused to abjure her faith. The priests of Islam reviled their ruler for loving one who would not accept the religion of the prophet. This was too much for Mohammed. One day the priests were assembled in one of the halls of the palace. Here, too, was Irene, covered with a veil of dazzling whiteness. With great solemnity the sultan lifted Irene's veil with one hand and revealed the young woman's great beauty to all who were present. "You see," said the Sultan, "she is more beautiful than any other woman you have ever beheld; fairer than the houris of your dreams! I love her as I do my life; but my life is nothing beside my love for Islam." With this, he seized the long, golden tresses of the unfortunate woman, entwined them in his fingers, and with one stroke of his sharp scimiter severed her head from her body.
A lady of imperial blood has the right to add "Sultan" to her own name. This is her privilege, even though she should marry a subject, which is sometimes the case. Her superior descent, however, is always recognized; for her husband may not sit down before her, unless she should so permit.
Turkish rulers have taken a different view of the value of foreign marriages from that which has usually prevailed in the East. Political ties have been made and strengthened by royal marriages. In Turkey, however, a custom, amounting to law, prevents the sultan from marrying a free woman, one taken from the high families of his own people, or princesses of foreign courts, that no tie of politics or affinity of blood should alter the superior impartiality of the supreme master. Thus, while he is above all his subjects so far as rank is concerned, he is inferior, on his mother's side at least, in the matter of birth, Hence, the meanest subject of the Empire of the Ottomans may here feel himself on an equality with the sultan, since he is "the son of a slave woman."
It is not customary for a ceremony to be performed when the sultan marries. Only three Turkish sultans are said to have undergone a ceremony on the occasion of taking to themselves wives. When the Greek Princess Theodora was wedded to Orkhan; when Roxelana became the wife of Sultan Suleyman; and when Besma, an adopted daughter of a princess of Egypt, was married to Abd-ul-Medjid, the marriage ceremony was performed.
As a mark of certain inferiority, the bride is expected to enter the nuptial bed from the back, lifting the covering with much ceremony. It is never good form for a gentleman to inquire concerning the health of another's wife.
Mothers of the harem are often compelled to live in mortal fear for their infant sons, lest they be foully dealt with. For if a child have any prospect of some day being the Turkish ruler, his life is never regarded as altogether safe. The baby prince is brought up in the harem, with his mother and nurse; but since brothers and even uncles come before sons, the question of succession to the sultanate has often caused great disorder and bloodshed.
On the death of Mohammed, the great Arab leader, there was no mention of a law of succession. This was partly due, doubtless, to the fact that he left no son who might assume leadership of the hosts of Islam. At length, the Seljuk Turks attained to power, after which the empire fell into minor sovereignties, which were brought together at last into the Ottoman Empire. And while of late the stability of the reigning dynasty has been the most noteworthy of the East, yet the fact that there was not early established the ordinary custom of transmitting the sovereignty from father to son has been the cause of much intrigue, crime, and uncertainty in the dominion of the Turk. Cases have not been unknown in Turkish history where several hundred women of the seraglio were drowned in the Bosphorus because of plottings to depose the sultan. They were tied in the traditional sack and dropped into the sea. It was Ibrahim I., known as the Madman, one of the very worst of Turkish rulers, who first conceived the idea of thus disposing of the old women of the seraglio. Surprised and seized in the night, the unfortunate victims of the sultan's madness were tied in sacks and then sunk to the bottom of the sea. Only one of the large company of the unfortunates escaped, by the loosing of the sack, and was picked up by a passing ship and conveyed to Paris to tell the story of the cruel death of her companions. Among the many notable instances of the tragic end to which the plottings of the harem have come may be mentioned that of Tarkhann, mother of Mohammed IV. So desirous was she that her son should reign, that she slew all the other possible male heirs to the throne. She met her nemesis, however, by strangulation. It is upon her life and that of her rival that Racine has constructed hisBajazet.
Connected with the sultan's harem there are estimated to be about fifteen hundred persons. The harem consists of a number of little courts, ordairas; and the central figure of each of these courts is a lady of the female hierarchy.
In the royal household there are three classes of women. The kadins, of whom we have spoken, who may be termed the legitimate wives of the sultan, though they are never formally married. Next are theikbals, or "favorite women." From this class the kadins are usually chosen. Then come thegediklis, "those pleasant to look upon." The ikbals may come from the number of these. The women of the third class are usually of slave origin, purchased or stolen perhaps from Georgian or Circassian parents. Those who are stolen are usually taken so early from their homes, and so clandestinely, that their origin is seldom known to them. If, however, the lady comes of high station her identity usually becomes known, and she not unfrequently succeeds in elevating her family to a position of power and emolument, either by direct influence or by intrigue. In addition to these three classes of women there areustas, or "mistresses," who are maids in the service of the sultan's mother;shagirds, or "novices," who are children in training for the higher positions in the harem; andjariyas, or "damsels," who do the more menial work of the establishments.
Captured slave girls have sometimes had a most interesting career. They are brought in an almost continuous stream, but privately. In the earliest days of their presence in the harem they are calledalaikés, and are placed under the care of elderly women, orkalfas, who bring them up to suit the tastes of an Oriental court. They are instructed in manners, in music, in drawing, and in embroidery. When later they reach the proper age, they become attendants upon the kadins and the princesses of the imperial household. There is no bar to their reaching at length the highest station that it is possible for a woman to attain, the favorite wife of the sultan.
The female department of the Turkish household is called the Hareemlick, the male apartments being named the Islamlick. The women's apartments are, of course, secluded. A male physician may see only the hand and tongue of the sick lady. A black curtain is stretched to separate her from his inspection. A eunuch conducts the physician to a point where the sick woman may thrust out her hand through a hole in the curtain so that the doctor may diagnose her disease.
Faithfulness in women is held in high esteem, restraint of the harem being intended to insure it. In former days it was not a thing unknown for unfaithful women to be drowned; but the custom has fallen into disuse. Ladies of the harem, however, have a fair amount of liberty. On certain occasions they go out driving and visiting; they frequent the bazaars and the public promenades, always in vehicles, never afoot. They enjoy entertainments among themselves. Theatricals are frequently witnessed by them in the garden of the palace. Operas are also often rendered for their enjoyment. When Turkish ladies visit one another in the harem,--which they may do without permission or restraint from their husbands,--it is customary to place their shoes outside the harem door that their husbands may know guests are being entertained.
The harem of one ruler is generally regarded as the property of his successor. The women thus inherited, however, are not always sure of favor. Sultan Mohammed II. killed, by drowning, all the women of his brother's harem. Indeed, women of the harems generally cannot be said to have ample protection; for no officer may enter any harem to inspect the conduct there, or for any purpose whatever, unless the law of the house admits him. The women, whether they be wives or slaves, are practically at the mercy of their masters. Some women of the sultan's harem have risen to positions of much influence and genuine power, though they have generally been of foreign birth. The mother of the noted reforming sultan, Mahmud II., who began to reign in 1808 when a mere child, was a French woman. His stout resistance of the allied powers won for him a certain admiration for doggedness, even if success did not crown his efforts to keep Greece in subjection. It was into this struggle that Lord Byron threw himself on behalf of Greece. Mahmud, it may be to some extent through the influence of his French mother, introduced French tactics into his army, but to no avail, and at length Grecian freedom was assured.
The wife of Mahmud, Besma, taken as a little girl from the life of a peasant, rose to a position of supreme dignity and great influence. Her beauty easily won the passion of Mahmud. She never lost sight of her humble origin and was much beloved by the masses of the people, even those of the most lowly classes. She was the mother of Abd-ul-Aziz, and it was she who unsuspectingly gave to the sultan, her son, the scissors with which he killed himself. At any rate, the unfortunate monarch was found dead in his apartments. The mother pined away in seclusion, and was seen only in her deeds of charity. It was Besma who built the mosque Yeni Kalideh at Ak Serai, and it is here she rests in the midst of a beautiful garden of flowers, of which, during her lifetime, she was so fond. On her death, about fifteen years ago, she was accorded a funeral of great magnificence, and she was generally mourned throughout the empire. It is said that when Besma was building the mosque, her money fell short of her purpose, so that she could build but one minaret instead of two, as custom entitled. Her son, however, came forward, offering the necessary funds, which she declined with the remark: "No, one minaret is sufficient to call the people to prayers; another would only glorify me; the poor need a fountain." So she built a fountain for the people, and it is one of the most beautiful in Constantinople.
One of the most celebrated--even if she be not one of the best--women of Turkey history was Khurrem, the "Joyous," whom Europeans generally knew as Roxelana. She was wife of the greatest figure in Turkish annals, Suleyman the Magnificent, who reigned about the middle of the sixteenth century. Roxelana, though her origin has not been clearly traced, was probably of Russian descent. From the first this strong-minded woman exerted great influence over Suleyman. In the first place, she forced him to marry her publicly and with much ceremony, a proceeding which was then without precedent. Usually to have it announced that a woman had become mother of a male heir to the throne was regarded as sufficient announcement of marriage with the sultan. But this woman, who had now risen from the position of a slave woman to that of the highest dignity possible for a woman in the empire, determined that her marriage with the great monarch should be full of publicity and pomp. There was feasting and, apparently, great rejoicing, though the people were surprised and hardly understood what it all might mean. Roxelana was, however, equal to the emergency, and with the sagacity and determination which were native to her sent many slaves among the people as they feasted, distributing presents of money and pieces of silk to the masses. From this time, she not only held absolute sway over the sultan, but evinced great skill in buying the friendship of the people by gifts and acts of charity. Diplomacy was characteristic of her, and from cruelty she would not shrink if it were necessary to carry out her purposes, for she induced Suleyman, generally so just and prudent, to destroy the oldest and most promising of his sons, since the young man, Mustafa by name, stood in the way of her own son Selim as heir to the throne. She succeeded in her designs, but placed on the throne one of the weakest and most worthless of Turkish rulers, "Selim, the Sot." Roxelana's beauty is described as that which "attests that mixture of the Asiatic and Tartar blood, wherever the dark eyes, the silken lashes, the creamy paleness of the tint, the languor of the attitude habitual to the Persian beauties, contrast with the rounded outline of the face, with the shortness of the nose, the thickness of the lips, and the warm coloring of the skin, traits peculiar to the daughters of the Caucasus." At fifteen, she is said to have been the marvel and even the mystery of the harem. Her memory knew only the rearing of the seraglio; but her remarkable alertness and force of mind as well as beauty of person made her from the first one of a thousand. Taught in the arts of music and dancing, versed in foreign languages, and the study of history and poetry, Roxelana added to her exuberance of youth a power of mind which marked her for preëminence.
Rebia, wife of Mohammed IV., is another example of womanly power over the head and heart of the supreme ruler of Turkey. Rebia was a Greek girl from the island of Crete. Lamartine says of her: "The delicacy of her lineaments, the brilliancy of her complexion, the ocean azure of her eyes, the golden auburn of her hair, the caressing tone of her voice, and the witchery of her wit made her to be dreaded still as the prison companion of a fallen monarch, of whom she might amuse the languor and reëstablish the intrigue from the depth of his captivity." Even in Mohammed's dethronement, Rebia clung to the fortunes of her lord, over whom, during his power, she had always exerted decisive influence.
Italian women have also risen to a place of prominence in the royal harem. This was notably true in the case of the beautiful Safia, a Venetian captive girl, who had been brought into the seraglio of Sultan Murad III., who succeeded Selim his father in the year 1574. Murad was not strong, and was easily deceived by sycophants and ruled by women. Among the latter was Safia, sometimes known as Baffo, belonging to the family of Baffo of Venice. Baffo proceeded to rule her royal lord in the interests of her native land. Venice, after Suleyman's death, had become restless of Turkish rule, and proceeded successfully to throw it off. Baffo never forgot her origin, and ruled with a high hand, not only as Khasseki-Sultan, but also as Valideh. She set her son Mohammed III. on the throne as successor to her husband, even though the consummation could be reached only by the slaying of nineteen of the one hundred and two sons of Murad. Foreign women will probably never again play so large a rôle in Turkish affairs. The present sultan is said, however, to be fond of the social attractions of European women. He is probably the first Turkish sultan who has invited a European lady to dine with him.
The Turkish sultans have long lived in much magnificence. The old seraglio, or imperial residence (from the wordseray, a palace), was beautifully situated "among the groves of plane and cypress that clothe the apex of the triangle upon which the ancient city of Constantinople is built." Now, however, the sultans have left these precincts around which clustered so many memories of the horrible tragedies enacted there, memories which even the magnificence of the place could not destroy, and established their present residence, equal in natural beauty to the old, but removed from the dirt and the memories, which had at length gathered about the old seraglio.
The women's quarters are situated in the innermost portion of the seraglio. Here are from three to twelve hundred women; at times there are even more. These women are all foreigners. Indeed, all the guards and attendants of the palace are of foreign blood. The sultan and his children are the only Turks dwelling in the inner departments of the royal palaces; and both he and they are born of foreign mothers. The women's departments are carefully guarded. There were specially appointed officers in the old seraglio as guards of the queens and their children. These were the Baltajis, or "halberdiers," who were four hundred in number. They, however, really attended the royal women only when the sultan took with him some members of his harem to bear him company on a journey or a campaign.
The Baltajis, on such occasions, walked by the side of the carriages of the imperial ladies and guarded their camp at night. Ordinarily, the sultan's harem was under the care of the black eunuchs, or about two hundred Africans, who were specially entrusted with the imperial ladies. Their chief was known as the Kislar Aghasi, or "master of the girls," and was regarded as one of the chief men of the empire.
The trade in captive boys and girls stolen from Europe, Asia, and Africa was once very large; the pick of them being brought by purchase into the sultan's palace, for one purpose or another. It was thought that his imperial majesty's life was safer in the hands of foreigners brought up almost from infancy in the palace, and knowing no other allegiance than that to the will of the sultan.
Times have changed, however, and it is not possible for the ruler of the Turks to regard the best of the children of white and black parentage as born to replenish his harem. Much of the old time mediæval splendor has been swept away, not only through the reforms of Sultan Mahmud II., but by modern conditions which make the old seraglio an impossibility.
In the olden days the young princes were closely confined in a part of the seraglio known as the Chimshirlick, or "boxwood shrubbery." It contained twelve pavilions each surrounded by high walls which enclosed a little garden. These were the residences of the sons of the sultan. Each young prince was kept guarded in his pavilion enclosure, from which he dared not emerge without his royal father's special permission. Thus a prince's minority was spent in thekafe, or "cage." Each youth had as attendants ten or twelve fair girls, besides a number of pages. These and black eunuchs, who were his teachers, were his sole companions. As a rule, the tongues of male attendants and of women unable to bear children were slit. At the tenth year a young prince leaves his mother and the harem for the guardianship of alalo, or "male attendant," who is his companion day and night; next amullah, or "priest," takes the youth in hand and gives him his schooling, which consists chiefly in instruction in the teachings of the Koran.