Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-09-25
EVENING STAR.
THE TURKISH HAREN

! EVENING. STAR.
71a THE TURKISH HAREM r,s .s,.
Having in q previous letter initiate,
your readers into the mysteries of
Turkish bath shall now conduct tier,
into the penetra.ia of the harem, and dis
close the secrets of the domestic life O
the Turk. The word harem is an Arab,
one, signifying sanctuary, and is usef
merely to designate the apartments an
propriated to the female portion of III,
household. 70 No place is more sacred ir
the eyes of the Turk. Its entrance j.
guarded with as much vigilance as tb<
shrine of his prophet. No male footstep
other than that of its lord and master,
ever crosses its threshold, or tresds its
floor. The green-eyed morster jealousy,
not content with those guardians which
nature has created, has, in the east, dis.
covered and formed others. whose lynx
eyes are scarcely ever to be deceived
Those hideous Nubians of neutralized
gender. like Cerberus of old, are ever
stationed and watchfuI at its door. Blu,
humanity is frail, and even they at times
Slum ber.. sl s .a'.
The apartments of the harem are usu.
ally the finest and most spacious. Those
in the houses of the wealthy consist of q
large suite of rooms, furnished in the
Oriental style, and gilded and frescoed
after the Moorish fashion. Each inmate
has her separate establishment, and there
is generally common sitting room, its
marble floor covered with rich carpets.
and in the centre is a fountain, around
which the women. collect to while away
their time in listening to its gentle MUIR
murs. The windows are covered with
blinds of exceedingly close lsttice-w work,
with small apertures in the centre,
enabling the fair prisoners unseen to OBJ
serve what is passing. 81 a. r. u So
Polygamy is by no means 50 universal
in Turkey as is generally supposed.
Though the Koran allows all true be
levers to have four wives, very few avail
themselves of the privilege and though
the number of their Georgian, Circassian
and other slaves is only limited by the
capacity of their purse, it is but seldom
(save the great and wealthy Pashas) they
possess at one time more than twelve or
fifteen. .sbs t .e-..i -'
Marriage is civil institution, and is
conducted entirely by proxy. The hap
py swain who wishes to enter that bliss.
full state learns what friend or acquaint-
ance possesses daughter that would
suit his taste. Declared BY the inexora-
BILE customs of the country from seeing
ais intended bride, he must be satisfied
with the description of her charms from
some one of the numerous old match
makers with which Constantinople is
filled, and whom he Immediately enlists
into his service. His sighs and his hopes
are conveyed to the fair one through the
medium of bouquet, and a suitable an
swer is returned by the same lovely
messengers. The lady is denied the
sweet privilege of sending or receiving a
billet doux, as reading and writing are
both mysterious to her. Should the for.
tunate lover, however, not sigh in vain,
be solicits the consent of the father or
next male relative, and if the settlement
he proposes prove satisfactory, they both
proceed to the bride, before whom he ac-
knowledgcs her as his lawful wife, and
by whom the marriage is registered, the
Turkish woman bringing her husband no
other dowry than herself
When the bride is informedof the match
that has been made for her, as in daty
bound, she receives the necessary lee
lures from all the old matrons of her ac-
quaintance on the importance of the holy
state upon which she is about te enter.
After going to the bath, from which per-
fumed and anointed, she is conveyed in
great state to the house of her husband,
dressed in all the magnifcenee of the
Oriental costume. and a white veil cover
ing her whole figure, she Is received at
the door by him, and conducted to the
apartment of the harem, where she makes
merry with her female friends who have
been invited to join her. Great, too, are
the 1eioicings of the bridegroom and his
friends who have been collected to be
present at the marriage festival. Music,
dancing and feasting is keIt up until a
late hour of the night.
The guests (both male and female) de-
part, and the grooIL enters the sanctuary
of his bride, and gszes i,r the first time
upon her face, and learns whether he has
drawn a blank or prize in that great and
doubtful lottery, matrimony.
Where beauty is the sole criterion by
which a woman is judged, and which
renders her valuable, it is not to be Won
dered that SO many lovely beings should
be found in Constantinople, or that they
should use every effort, not only to
heighten but preserve those personal
charms which are to make them irre-
sistible. Many and varied are the COS
metics they use. To improve the ex.
preston and brilliaucy Of their eyes,
which they certainly know how to use
with such effect, and must be seen to be
appreciated, they tinge the eyelids with
black dye. To elongate the eye, they
extend with the same substance the arch
of the eyebrow, which imparts to it that
almond shape so much coveted by the
women of the East. To grow "beauti.
fully fat" is one of the great desires Of 8
Turkish belle, and for this she will take
IL