CHAPTER XV.TURKISH WEDDINGS.Early Marriage—Betrothal—Divorce—Love Matches—The Trousseau—Wedding Ceremonies—Marital Discipline in Macedonia—Monday: Arrangement of Trousseau in Bridegroom’s House—Tuesday: Bathing the Bride—Wednesday: Visit of the Bridegroom’s Party to Bride’s House—Great Festivities—The Kena—Thursday: The Girding of the Bride—The Bridegroom goes to the Mosque—Final Amenities of Friendship—Interested Marriages.
Early Marriage—Betrothal—Divorce—Love Matches—The Trousseau—Wedding Ceremonies—Marital Discipline in Macedonia—Monday: Arrangement of Trousseau in Bridegroom’s House—Tuesday: Bathing the Bride—Wednesday: Visit of the Bridegroom’s Party to Bride’s House—Great Festivities—The Kena—Thursday: The Girding of the Bride—The Bridegroom goes to the Mosque—Final Amenities of Friendship—Interested Marriages.
The Turks generally marry early, from seventeen for the men, and from eleven for the girls—who all marry, so that an old maid, like many other European institutions, is absolutely unknown in Turkey. This custom of early marriages is encouraged by parents as a check upon their sons contracting wild habits. It may in this respect have the desired effect, but must be very injurious in every other. How can a youth of seventeen or twenty, whose studies, if he by chance has pursued any, are not finished, whose career in life is yet to begin, assume the weight of a family without morally and physically suffering for it? Ambition, the mainspring of a young man’s exertions, damped by the early contraction of sedentary habits, soon degenerates into listless indifference. The intellectual faculties, crossed in the pursuit of knowledge by a current of ideas and responsibilities totally foreign to them, are checked before they have had their due course; while, physically speaking, harem life, bad at all the stages of the life of a Turk among the higher orders, must be incalculably worse when entered upon so early.
TheNekyah, or betrothal, comprises the fiançailles as well as the matrimonial contract. The preliminaries of the engagement are undertaken by the parents of the contracting parties. The mother or some near relative of the young man, in company with a few of her friends and theKoulavouz, starts on a tour of inspection, visiting families known to possess marriageable daughters. The object of the visit being made known, they are admitted, and the eldest girl presents herself, offers coffee, kisses hands all round, waits to take the empty cups, and then disappears, her inspectors having to content themselves with the short view they have thus had of her. Should this prove satisfactory, they at once enter into negotiations, make inquiries as to the age and dowry of the girl, answer counter-inquiries on the condition of the youth, and say that, if it be agreeable to both parties and it isKismetthat the marriage should take place, they will come again and make the final arrangements. On the mother’s return home, she gives a faithful description of the maiden’s appearance to her son, and should this meet with his approval, the intermediaries are commissioned to settle all preliminaries.
The dowry is, of course, among Muslims given by the bridegroom; the only dowry Turkish brides are bound to bring consists in a richtrousseau. Should the lady possess any property the husband cannot assume any right over it, nor over any of the rest of her belongings. The wisdom and generosity of this law cannot be too highly commended; it is an indispensable clause in the canons of polygamy. So easy is it for a Turk to divorce his wife that he has only to say to her in a moment of anger, “Cover thy face, thynekyahis in thy hands,” and she ceases to be his wife, and must at once leave his abode, carrying with her, luckily for her, “bag and baggage.”
The privileges of divorce thus indulgently permitted to a man are entirely beyond the reach of a woman, whom no human power can release from hernekyahvows without her husband’s free consent. And even if she gain her husband’s consent to a divorce, she thereby loses her dowry andtrousseau, which she would retain if divorced not of her own motion. This unfair restriction gives rise to many unhappy disputes, issuing in litigation which ever proves vain and fruitless against the obstinacy of the husband or, even worse, his helplessness, should he become insane; for a lunatic’s word of divorce cannot count before the law.
The following sad history of a bride I knew is a good illustration of the latter case. The heroine was a fine brunette, the daughter of Yousuf Bey, a rich and influential personage in the town of B⸺. Anekyahhad been contracted between her and a young man rather queer and strange in his manners, but very wealthy—a consideration which more than counterbalanced his failings in the estimation of her avaricious father.
TheDuhun, or wedding-day, fixed upon, the festivities began according to the routine of pomp and display usual among the wealthy. As the wedding-day approached the bridegroom became more and more strange; now falling into fits of deep melancholy, now into merriment.
His friends, noticing this, suggested that it wasjahilik, or childishness, occasioned by the prospect of his approaching happiness, crossedby the thought that he had no father to participate in it, and no mother to second him in his duties by welcoming his bride to her future home.
Be this as it may, theDuhunwent on all the same; the bride, decked in her splendid array, arrived at the bridegroom’s house, and was met, according to custom, by the bridegroom, who, under the direction of theKoulavouz, was waiting to conduct her to her apartment. The emotion of the moment was too much for his vacillating mind. He fixed his gaze for a moment upon his bride with a vacant stare; her face was unknown to him. The tinsel, the bridal veil, the crowd ofhanoumssurrounding her, failed to impress him with the solemnity of the event his mind no longer comprehended.
In vain the shrill voice of theKoulavouzstrove to make him understand her repeated suggestion that he should conduct his bride upstairs. Her words, confusedly caught, and mingled with some flickering notion of what he ought to do, at length urged him to action. He seized theKoulavouz, a frightful old witch, passed her arm through his, and with the determination and obstinacy of the madman led her upstairs and placed her in the bridal bower. A miserable scene of confusion ensued. The poor bride, faint and sick at heart, re-entered her coach and hurried back to the paternal roof, while thehanoumsmade a rush towards theiryashmaksandferidjés, dismayed at the misfortune and alarmed by the screams of the oldKoulavouz, who was making frantic efforts to release herself from the tight embrace of the maniac. Help from the Selamlik soon arrived, and the madman was secured.
Seven years have elapsed, the unhappy bride is still pining over her misfortunes and the loss of the liberty which all efforts have thus far proved unable to restore to her.
A Turkish husband has the power of divorcing his wife and taking her back twice; but should he send her away for the third time, she must be married to another man before she can again return to her first husband. This strange and disgusting law is meant as a check upon people disposed to abuse too often the privilege of divorce. The person asked to fulfil this strange position of intermediary husband must be advanced in years, generally belongs to the poorer class, and receives a sum of money for his services. The conditions are that he should enter the abode of the lady for one night only, with every right over her of a legal husband, and quit it the next morning, telling her, “Thy liberty is in thy hands, thou art no longer my wife.” Cases have been known when the old gentleman, finding his position pleasant, has refused to give the lady up, and if this should happen the first husband is wholly without remedy, and must forego his desire of reunion with his former wife.
An incident of the kind happened at Adrianople, affording much merriment to my Turkish friends. The couple concerned were very fond of each other, and lived happily together except at times, when the husband, under the influence ofraki, would become quarrelsome. The wife, a fine spirited woman, would retort, and violent disputes followed, ending in alternate divorce and reconciliation. This happening once too often, the husband, unable to repossess himself of his spouse, had recourse to an oldeffendiwho had seen better days, and promised £20 for his services. Theeffendi, according to custom, went to the bath, dressed himself in a new suit of clothes, and being presented at the appointed time, thenekyahceremony was gone through. The old gentleman walked into the harem, seated himself upon the lady’s sofa, and began to enjoy, through the fumes of his nargilé, the sweet vision of his unlooked-for happiness; while the lady, whose dreams did not exactly harmonize with his, after offering the acquaintance-cup of coffee, generally shared by the wife on such an occasion, preferred standing at a respectful distance. The old effendi, however, would not be balked in the prospect he had formed for the re-enjoyment of his former happier days. Why should he not prolong the tenure of the rights thus unexpectedly devolving upon him? Nothing hindered but his pledged word to renounce them on the following morning. His conscience easily reconciled to this breach of faith, he decided upon remaining master of the situation, leaving the poor husband to lament the loss of his wife and his £20, and quite regardless of the useless burden he would become to the doubly-injured lady. Such events, however, are not of frequent occurrence.
It is customary for the bridegroom to furnish the wedding-dress and sundry other accessories, as well as to promise thenekyahmoney settled upon the wife in case of divorce. These, including theKaftan(outer wedding dress) are sent with great pomp eight days before theDuhun. The Hodja, priest of the parish in which the parents of the girl reside, is requested to give a declaration that the young lady is free to contract matrimony. This, taken to the Kadi, obtains the marriage license, for which a small fee is paid. A piece of red silk and some sugar-plums are taken by the bridegroom’s mother to the house of the bride. The red silk, which later on is made into an under-garment, is spread on this occasion on the floor; upon it the young lady steps to kiss the hand of her future mother-in-law and receive the gift with her blessing.
Half of one of these sugar-plums, bitten in two by her pearly teeth, is taken to the bridegroom as the first love token; literal sweetness in this case making up for any fault in the sentiment. These preliminaries are sealed by the formality performed by the Imam in the presence of witnesses who are called to the door of the Haremlik, behind which the maiden and her friends stand. The Imam asks the bride if she consents to accept the youth proposed (giving his name) for her husband. The question is repeated three times, the bride answering each time in the affirmative. The Hodja has to declare the amount of thenekyahmoney promised, and calls three times upon the bystanders to bear witness before God to the contract; a short prayer follows, and the ceremony is concluded. The felicitations are conveyed in the poetical expression of “May Allah grant harmony between their two stars!” The contract, religious as well as civil, is made verbally, and though no other ceremony of importance follows it, the bride and bridegroom do not see each other till theDuhun, or wedding festivities, have been held. The length of this period may be from a few weeks to a few years, and is a blank which potential love is at liberty to fill with fantastic pictures of coming happiness. No sweet messages, letters, or communications of any kind are allowed during the interval to pave the way towards the future binding together of two beings whose common lot is cast, without regard to personal sympathy, into the vague abyss of destiny. Kismet, the supreme ruler of all Turkish events, is left to decide the degree of misery or indifference that marriage contracted under such unfavorable circumstances may bring, instead of the looked-for happiness.
Romance, ending in marriage, however, is not unknown between Turkish youths and maidens, and the parents seldom refuse their consent in such cases. Young love, even Turkish love, is sometimes strong enough to break through the barriers of harem restraint and reach its object in spite of every obstacle with which the organization of centuries of jealous guardianship has surrounded Turkish women.
At Adrianople, a young beauty of sixteen suddenly began to pine and sicken. The color faded from her cheeks, she became thoughtful, sad, and listless; a low fever set in, greatly alarming the anxious parents, who were at a loss to divine the cause. As usual, all the learned Hodjas were resorted to, but theirMuskas, prayers, and blessings failed to revive the sinking health and spirits of the maiden. One day I happened to visit this family; the girl was seated at the corner window, overlooking the street, dreamily gazing out from behind the lattice. Her little brother was playing by her side, while the mother was describing to me the symptoms of her daughter’s indisposition. The little fellow suddenly jumped up, saying, “IshdéAli Bey. I want to go to him!” His sister started up, her cheeks suffused with blushes, and left the room in confusion. Both the mother and I noticed the incident, though no remark was made about it at the time by either of us; but I was at no loss then to understand the reason of the girl’s failing health and depression of spirits. A short time after I heard of her engagement to this young man, whom it appears she had loved as a child. This love later on becoming a hidden passion was shared by the youth and stealthily interpreted between them by the language of flowers, fruits, and scents, the mediums generally resorted to by Turks in such cases. The lover, handsome and intelligent, was a mereKyatib, who deemed his limited means an obstacle to his aspiring to the hand of one of the wealthiest young hanoums of the town. I was present at the marriage festivities of this lovely creature, and saw her a year later a blooming wife and mother.
The trousseau comprises bedding, sometimes to the amount of fifty sets, each composed of two mattresses, two quilted coverlets, and three cotton bolsters; kitchen utensils, all of copper, very numerous, consisting of two or three immense cauldrons, several large jugs and pans, and a great number of dinner-trays, with the services belonging to them; among the wealthy one of these would be of silver. It also comprises furniture for two rooms of some rich material embroidered with gold, a handsomemangal(brazier), curtains, and a few carpets and rugs, besides the house linen. The wardrobe contains several expensive fur jackets, a shawl or two, someferidjés, and a number of suits of apparel, consisting of under-gowns and jackets. Thegelinlik, or wedding-dress, ranging in value from sixty to hundreds of pounds, is embroidered with gold and pearls. The rest are less rich in material, and are of silk and woollen stuffs, and less expensive materials down to printgedjliks. The other articles are chemises, a few pairs of stockings, boots, and slippers, some dozens of worked handkerchiefs, head-ties, andyashmaks, together with a number of European odds and ends, such as petticoats, gloves, and parasols.
TheDuhun, like the circumcision ceremony, lasts a whole week, occasioning great expense to the parents, who, however, cannot possibly avoid it, and often incur debts for its celebration that hang heavily upon them through life.
The customs connected with weddings differ according to the district in which they take place. In Macedonia I was highly amused to see the manner in which the bride was introduced into her new home. As soon as her feet had crossed the threshold, a halter was thrown round her neck and she was dragged in by her husband, to teach her an early lesson of gentle four-footed obedience; on passing the first hearth-stone her head was brought into violent contact with the wall, as a warning of the chastisement she may expect in case of misconduct.
Her face is a mask of gold-dust and gum worked on the cheeks, forehead, and chin with spangles. The eyebrows are thickly painted and meet over the nose, and the teeth are blackened. This hideous disguisement is worn till evening, when the bridegroom, on his first visit to the bride, pours out the waterwith which she washes it away in order to give the nuptial kiss.
The wedding festivities begin on the Monday. A number of friends and relatives collect at the home of the bride to superintend the final arrangement and expedition of the trousseau to the bridegroom’s house. This luggage is carried byHammals, who, on arrival at the house, are entitled beside their fee to achevré, or marked handkerchief offered by the mother. They are preceded on their march by theKoulavouz, who delivers their burdens into the charge of the mother-in-law or some responsible person. Shortly afterwards, the bride’s party follows, who after partaking of coffee and bonbons are shown by thehanouminto the apartments destined for the occupation of the bride.
It is customary for Turkish youths who have homes to take their wives to them on marrying. Should the Konak be too small to accommodate all the married sons, extra wings are added to it. The guests, left to themselves, at once set to work to decorate the bridal chamber, some stretching strings along the walls on which to hang the larger articles of dress, such as furred and embroidered jackets,feridjés, cloaks, andintaris, all of bright colors, and richly worked and trimmed. The shawls, prayer carpet, and bridalboghcha, all objects of value, occupy the centre of these rows, which are successively surmounted by others, consisting of the linen, kerchiefs, towels, head scarves, and other adjuncts of the toilet, all arranged with great taste. Along the top of the walls runs a garland of crape flowers. The bride’s corner is richly decorated with these and other artificial flowers, arranged in the form of a bower. This promiscuous exhibition of silk gauze and various stuffs, intermingled with embroidery in variegated silks, gold, and silver, is most striking in effect, and forms, with the bridal bower, a sight peculiarly Oriental and gorgeous. The alcove is reserved for the display of jewels and other precious objects placed under glass shades.
When this adornment (which takes up the whole night) is completed, the party goes to the next room and arranges the furniture sent for it, thence proceeding to the hall and unpacking the bedding, which, placed against the walls upon the empty cases, forms a huge mass of colored strata of silk, embroidery, and bright cotton print. One or two little stools of walnut wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, support the candelabra, and thehochaftray with its prettily cut crystal bowl and ivory spoons would be placed in front, together with the brooms, dustpan of walnut wood inlaid with silver, both patterns of the same materials, and the kitchen utensils,mangals, and all other belongings of the bride.
On Tuesday the bride is taken to the bath with great ceremony, the expenses on this occasion being defrayed by the bridegroom. Before leaving the bath the bride is led three times round the centre platform, kisses hands all round, and goes out to be dressed. The clothes she wears on this occasion must not belong to her.
On Wednesday, the bridegroom’s party of lady friends go in a body to the home of the bride, preceded by theKoulavouz, who announces their arrival with an air of great importance. Violent confusion ensues; the mother, followed by her friends, descends the staircase. They form a double row, each couple conducting a visitor between them, beginning with the bridegroom’s mother, and proceed upstairs into apartments specially reserved for the friends of the bridegroom, who do not mix with the bride’s party on this occasion. When their veils and cloaks have been removed they seat themselves round the room and partake of bitter coffee and cigarettes, followed half an hour later by sweet coffee. The bride is led into the room by two hanoums who have only been married once, and kisses the hands of all present, beginning with her future mother-in-law, and terminating with the youngest child in the room. She is then seated on a chair near herKayn Validé, who is allowed on this occasion to take her by her side for a few minutes only, during which masticated sugar is exchanged between them as a token of future harmony. The bride is then taken away, excused by some insipid remarks on the expiring rights of maternal possession over her.
The dancing girls and musicians are now called in and perform before the company, receiving money from each person as they leave the room in order to entertain the other party of guests. When the bridegroom’s friends are about to leave they throw small coins over the head of the bride, who is led down to the door for the purpose. The scramble that ensues among the hawkers of sweets, fruits, etc., assembled in the court, the children, the beggars, and innumerable parasites crowding houses during the celebration of a wedding, is beyond description.
Before departure an invitation is given for the evening to take part in theKena, an entertainment more especially designed for the bride and her maiden friends. When the company is assembled, tapers are handed to each, and a procession formed, headed by the bride, and accompanied by the dancing girls and music. They descend the staircase into the garden, and wind among the flower-beds and groves of trees. The lights, the gay dresses, flashing jewels, and floating hair of the girls, the bright castanets, and the wild songs and weird music of the accompanyists, combine to form a glimpse of fairy-land, or a dream of “The Thousand and One Nights.”
The ceremony of theKenaconsists in the application of the henna mixture, which is prepared towards morning. The bride, after being divested of her wedding finery, enters the presence of her mother-in-law, shading her eyes with her left arm, while she seats herself in the middle of the room. A silk bath scarf is thrown over her outstretched right hand, and is then thickly plastered over with the henna, upon which her mother-in-law sticks a gold coin, her example being followed by the rest of her company. This hand placed in a silk bag relieves the other in covering her eyes, and the left hand is in its turn extended and gifted in like manner by the bride’s mother andherfriends; the feet are also stained with the henna. This is followed by the last dance, called theSakusum, performed by theChingis, accompanied by a song and gestures of the most unrestrained and immodest nature, terminating in these dancers taking extraordinary positions before each guest, sometimes even sitting on their knees to receive their reward, which consists of a small gold coin, damped in the mouth, and deposited on their unblushing foreheads. In these proceedings, the modesty and innocence of the young girls present is never thought about.
The bride reposes long enough for the henna to impart its crimson dye, but not to turn black, which would be considered a bad augury.
The only touching scene in the whole course of the wedding ceremonies, the girding of the bride by her father, takes place in the presence of her mother and sisters just before she leaves the home of her childhood. The father enters the room appearing deeply affected, and sometimes even joining his tears to the weeping of his wife and daughters. The bride, also weeping, falls at his feet, kisses them, and kisses his hands, while he presses her to his breast and girds her with the bridal girdle, giving at the same time some good advice and his blessing.
In some district towns the bridegroom’s male friends arrive at dawn with torches to take away the bride. She is not, however, seen by her husband until evening, when he is taken to the mosque, and accompanied to the door of his dwelling by the Imam. A short prayer is offered, the company joining in the refrain ofAmin, Amin, at the conclusion of which the happy man is pushed into the house, a shower of blows falling on his back; they then partake of sherbet standing, and disperse. The bridegroom proceeding upstairs comes upon a bowl of water, which he upsets with his foot, scattering the contents in all directions. The Koulavouz meets and conducts him to the nuptial apartment, where the bride, shy and trembling, awaits the introduction of the complete stranger, in whose hands her destiny for good or for evil is now placed.
She rises as he enters and kisses his hand; her bridal veil removed by the Koulavouz is spread on the floor and knelt on by the bridegroom, who offers a solemn prayer, the bride all the time standing on its edge behind him. The couple then sit side by side; the old lady approaching their heads together while she shows them the reflection of their united images in a mirror, and expresses her wishes for the continuation of their present harmonious union.
Masticated sugar is exchanged between them as a token of the sweetness that must henceforth flow from their lips. Coffee follows, after which the Koulavouz retires till her services are again required for bringing in the supper, which consists of sweets and eggs, meat being excluded on the ground that to indulge in it on so solemn an occasion would lead to future bickerings between them.
The supper hour depends upon the shyness, obstinacy, or good-will of the bride, over whom her husband can have no control until he has succeeded in making her respond to his questions. Brides are recommended by experienced matrons to remain mute as long as possible, and the husband is sometimes obliged to resort to a stratagem in order to accomplish this. The anxiously looked-for speech is at once echoed by the relieved husband by a knock on the wall, which is the signal for supper. This partaken of, the bride is divested of her finery and the paint and flowers washed off by the Koulavouz, and left to repose after the fatigue and excitement of five successive days of festivity, still to be extended for two days longer. On the morrow she is again decked in her wedding apparel to receive the crowd of hanoums, invited and uninvited, that flock to the house to gaze upon her.
I have said nothing about the bakhshish, or presents, for the reason that the givers and receivers are legion; nor of the kind of amusement resorted to during these days, since they consist principally in feasting, drinking sherbet, smoking, and chatting, enlivened only by the monotonous music and the spectacle of dancing girls. This part of the entertainment is so disgusting to behold, and so repulsive to describe, that the less I say about them the better; their immodesty can only be matched by the obscene conversations held by the numerous parasites specially introduced for the amusement of the company.
Entertainments of a similar nature take place at the same time in the Selamliks of both houses.
At Constantinople the bride is taken on the Thursday morning from the paternal roof, and conveyed in a carriage to her new home, followed by a train of other carriages, preceded by music and surrounded by buffoons, performing absurd mummeries for the amusement of the party, besides a numerous company of unruly youths, some mounted and others on foot, most of whom get intoxicated and noisy on the occasion. The bride is received by her husband at the door; he offers his arm and conducts her upstairs through the crowd ofhanoums, who are not very careful about hiding their faces, on the plea that the bridegroom being otherwise occupied will not look at them. He leads his wife to the bower prepared for her, but beforetaking her seat a scuffle ensues between them for precedence, each trying to step upon the foot of the other, the successful person being supposed to acquire the right of future supremacy.
A Turkish wedding, as shown by this description, in its frivolous forms and the absence of the sanctity of a religious ordinance, fails to impress one with the solemnity of the Christian rite. The whole ceremony contains many ridiculous superstitions and much that is worse than absurd.
Polygamy was no invention of Mohammed’s: he found it already firmly rooted in Arabia. To abolish it was an idea that could never have entered his mind. We must only be grateful to him for having to some extent set bounds to its evils. But those bounds are thoroughly inadequate. Four wives and perfect facility of divorce are bad enough, without reckoning the permission to keep as many concubines as a man pleases. But the wretched necessities of polygamy and divorce are wrapped up with the harem system. The latter absolutely demands the former; and though cases of true love do exist in Turkey where a man resigns the so-called pleasures of polygamy and of possessing odalisks; yet it may be confidently asserted that until the harem system, and with it polygamy, are finally abolished, the condition of Mohammedan women can never be anything but degraded.
Interested marriages are often contracted by young Turks, to whom ambition or gratitude recommends as partners some faded court beauties calledSerailis, or the ugly and deformed daughter of the patron to whom they owe their position and upon whom they depend for future promotion. The number of vizirs and pashas that have attained such high rank solely through the interest and influence of their wives is very great; a fact which, if better known by Europeans, would disabuse them of the idea that a Turkish wife of every rank is the slave of her husband. I have seen innumerable cases denoting the reverse. The fraternity of meek, submissive, and hen-pecked husbands is, I suppose, like the gypsies, to be found all over the world. Sultan Abdul-Medjid, on being informed that his favorite wife had concealed one of her lovers in a cupboard, had a scene with her, during which he received a sound box on the ear. At last the tyranny of this much-loved beauty passed all endurance, and the Sultan decided upon putting her away and sending her into exile. His Grand Vizir Reshid Pasha, was charged with the task of visiting the Sultana and enforcing upon her the Imperial order. She received him, heard her fate unmoved, and, still confident in the supreme power she possessed over her lord and master, quietly collared his Grand Vizir and walked him out of the room.
O⸺ Pasha, in his young days, contracted a marriage of this kind with the daughter of an influential minister. She was humpbacked, with a face so distorted as to render a disinterested marriage hopeless. I made her acquaintance at Uskup, as she passed through on her way to the interior of Albania, where her husband had been appointed Governor-General. She told me that she had made a great sacrifice in leaving her beautifulYahlion the Bosphorus and undertaking a journey the perils and hardships of which were nearly killing her, but that she thought it her duty to be near her husband lest he, yielding to the temptation occasioned by the absence of her surveillance, should form new ties that might rob her of her rights. “Do you Franks,” she asked, “trust your husbands out of your sight?”
A week after her departure, another fussy arrival of harems put Uskup into commotion. On my inquiring whose they were, I was told that they were the beautiful Circassian Odalisks of O⸺ Pasha, who were following the steps of his wife, entirely unknown to her. On arriving at their destination I learnt that they had been carefully smuggled by their owner into a house which he visited under the pretext of the longteptil, or night watches, he had to make in the town in order to see that all was right among his unruly Arnaouts. It is true the story cuts two ways: it not only shows that the husband dared not be openly unfaithful to his wife, but also that her suspicious surveillance was entirely ineffectual.