Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-01-15
CUSTOMS OF THE TURKS.

nj Brown, VINO resided a long tIiit u! OoisidH'i-
nople, and who accompanied Amin Bey' has publish
ed in the Scoia Gazette some interesting papers upon
the habits and customs Of the Turks. From one ol
them we copy the following:
The higher classes of the Oltomans or Turks OF
Constanunople are very refined in their manners and
habits. They are very gentle and mild ia DISPOSE
iion. and differ very much from the idea generally had
of This and many other countries. Their education
connot be called very good one; they have but few
works modern sciences, and none OF the histories
of other countries. Beyond history OF Catharine
H., of Russia and another of Bonaparte al 81. Hele-
ma there are none, in their own language, on any ol
the sovereigns or governments of Europe VI Amer
lea. thew possess one called the "adition of new
name." or the "Dscovery OF the Western lDd-" II
contains much that is fabulous, drawn from the
earlier accounts OF the imagined condition Of the dis.
co<uEed "Indn of Columbus and his companions. 1t
dparives Columbus of much of The merit which is
xeaesaily allowed him, and asserts that he but fol-
lowed the route pointed out 10 him by an adventur-
Gus Captain whom he found al the Canary Islands 1t
has many reports about mermaldS and other fabulous
beings, and also describes several kinds of fruits,
which, unfortunately are not now, at least, 10 be
found in any known part of America. Within late
wears some small Biographies have been translated
into Turkish from French, for the use of the public
They possess some excellent works Oh mathematics,
and always excelled ia the science ofhgures and 4sny
graaHars aad dictionaries exist in Turkish. of Ara
bic and Persian. As the Turkish language alone is
a very poor one, large additions have been made to
it from the Arabic and Persian. and it is these which
form The Ottoman tongue The Turks and Perslans
use the alphabet of the Arabs and like them write
from right to left but willis, The Arabian numerals
are sl used over Europe, Ihe Turks have set of
figures of their own, distinct and peculiar All Eas-
tern people except the Chinese write with reed :;
the latter use brush and write from he top to the bot.
tom OF the paper.
Most Oriental people resemble each other in their
social and domestic habits. Children of the two
sexes only associate together until the age of eight or
ten years, when the female assumes The veil prescrb-
ed by their Prophet for concealnen, from the males
Up To that age they associate with each other at school
brothers and sisters freely associate with their cous-
ins ef eer sex, hut sirf no tnure distant connexions
Brothers may see the faces of brothers. wives or
slaves, and those of their parents; but those of
any not nea.ly connected with them. A Nussulman
is allowed, by his relIgion to have four wives. and
to divorce them when he rlpases He cannot take
back wife divorced the thIrd time; she can then
become united in marriage To another husband, &c.
and in turn is divorced by him. He may have as
many female slaves rcncubnes as his purse will al
low aud lie has entire power over their persons as
we'll as their labor. These, as well as other slaves,
become free after seven eight wears of servlude.
following in tins respect, the Mosaic law. All white
female slave are free " no NAV bear child to their
masters and all children thus born Of slaves are free
and legitimate, and have the same right to the palr-
mony of their fathers the offspring the free mar
ried wife, divorces rare among the higher classes
of MussuImen they are considered dsreputabe, and
only now occur among .g",;.-". .II-h.a,
Few Mussu!men have more than one wife, 5"SIeFIq U
account of The expense required to keep up different
establishments for each wife, aud of the quarrels to
which feelings of jealousy give rise among them
Few also introduce female slaves into their harems
[iemale apartments for the sanre reason; and thus
though polygamy Is legal among the Turks, the in
convenience attending ii prevents Its use
MErALs OF THE UNITED STATEs.-iron is the
mos, abundant metallic mineral our country affords
It's value is ten times the value Of gold and slver.ant
one half tile value of all the metals produced in The
United States. ronis found in every Stale of the
1Un.on.
The most valuable mine is one in Salisbury Conn:
3 which yields 5000 tons annually. The mines in
Duchess and Columbia counties, in the State oiNew
Y York. produce annually 10000 lous of ore; Essex
coua,v, 1909 tons; Clinton 5000 Franklin 600; St
Lawrence 1000; amounting in all to more than $500,
Slater in 1885, was S5000,G00; in 1882, $1,000,
600. In OHIO 1900 square miles are underlad with
iron
A region explored in 1898 would furnish iron six
ty~ope miles long and six miles wide; square would
' contain OO0O00000 tons. Bv taking from this re-
gon 100000 tons annually, "a larger quantity than
Enea produced previous to iS290 il would last
27Oe wears as dong distance certainly as any man
looks ahead! The States of Kentucky, Tennessee
indiana Illinois. MARYLAND aud Virginia possess ex-
hsusbie quantities of iron ore In Tennessee, ,lO0-
600 tons are annnaily manufactured. No!wi,hsiand.
;ng our great iron resources more than one-halt of
our cutlery. hardware railroad iron, &C., is sliii I'm
ported from Great Britain.
II is supposed bygeoiogiss that the weekly supply
of gold from our own mines will be equal to the de-
mand and that otr own mines will yet he more prot
: liable than the mines of Brazil and Columbia.
The mos, extensive lead mines in the world are in
Missouwhere The lead region is seventy mlts IL ne
hy filty vide. The mines,n 1922 produced 7500,00(
tons. and The whole produce Of the United States
. 1892, ,l05
: II has been estimated that the quantity of iron re
qnred in England for Railroad, &C., for the curren
wear will be about l,26U,U0U Ions, whrh,I Is sup
# posed will be equal I'D al! that country VIII produce
o The ouanrity of lead manufactured in the Unite
}, Stale. in 1923. was i2S31l.730 pounds; in 1926
l4.54l $40 pounds; in 1885, $685. loo; and IN 1882
r 4,2slS67 pounds.
d The copper lrahe. until within year or two, ha
n no, been Of much Importance, as the result of lh
4 efforts made were not such as To justify any grea
: operations. But nnw it appears to he attracting
n good deal of attention. Whether the demands ia
n copper stock is fair index to the value ofhe coppe
o regions, remains 10 be seen.
e II is estimated that the Quantity of iron produce
L ,b, T,;,a,j C,,,., i'm lSIh was 10 100 ,,,ns
$ at S33,9i050O
. He WORE A FLAsHY WAscoAT--.TIe wore
: fashv wastcoat on the night when first We me,wi
. famous pair of whlskers and imperial of jet. ~
hair had all The haughiiness, his the manly ton