Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1854-09-07

Your Turkish damsel is an odd sort of body.
Quaint, fat, painted, bedizened, tattoed, and
childish; her occupation consists in eating
sweetmeats, and tossing about her clothes
employments sometimes varied by dances and
songs, not very delicate.
The children of each lady are brought up
separately, having no communication whatev-
er with the establishment over the way; ex-
cept for the purpose of making themselves dis
agreeable TO it. Whenever they meet the op-
position, there is usually stand-up fight, in
the same way as there would be with their
amlable mammas but prudent parent usu-
ally prevents the occurrence of any unpleas-
antry Of this kind, by not making them ac-
quainted with each other. A youth on leav-
ing the harem, therefore, is often astonished
at the number of his unknown relatives-more
surprised, indeed, than gratifed. Should he
eventually become wealthy and powerful, a
sure title to his favor used to be to dispose eff
fectually of a few of them, no matter how, so
that they were never heard of any more but
recently this practice seems TO have fallen of,
Fine fat slaves, sound in wind and limb,
and good steppers, are on sale daily at
the bazaars; and there is always a large
stock on view for ready money, or the
bill of an approved party. Ladies once es-
tablshed in the family are unsaleable by law ;
but all others may be had at reasonable prices,
according to the season and demand. If Jew
or even Christian wants good serviceable
slave, there are always plenty Of his own per-
suason, ready for inspection or purchase
The Mahommedans of our species are reserved
solely for Mussumans. "A slave merchant is
highly respectable person in Turkey; in
deed, almost on level with a British horse
dealer profession much adorned by our
noblemen; in fact all good judges of flesh
whole, however. perhaps the Turk has the
best of it. He does not require stables, and
the ANIMALS fetch larger price. He has nev-
er occasion TO be solicitous about the price of
oats, and need provide, for his stock, nothing
beyond strictly moderate dietary.
Mr.. Urquhart gave tolerably long list of
the things in which we differ from the Turks.
and in which the Turks differ from us; but
there are still some others. In Turkey, the
left side and not the right is the place of hon
or. The Turks are SO lost to all sense Of
proper feeling, as to bury their dead without
any unnece essary fuss or parade; whereas, we
think it precisely the proper time to make
disturbance, and to fire off the great family
guns, so that the delightful vanities Of life
may not desert man until we have quite done
with him. Their dead are so buried as to be
dissolved speedily ours are preserved, pre-
cisely that we may be always in lively state
for the return of their diseases
and that, as they cannot come back to us, we
may join them as soon as possible
The Turk loves fine horses and servants,
but he is more or less Indifferent about his
clothes. AS for the fine arts, our excellent
new acquaintances have not. hitherto, troubled
themselves much about them. They think
the acquisition of useful knowledge, and the
motives which founded the Penny Magazine,
altogether beneath the dignity Of a.wise man
of the East. Crossing your legs, and smok-
ing an unmanageable pipe is more rational and
easy. Such is their opinion. Thus it turns
out that the art of writing is rare accom-
plishment in Turkey it is even a trade, and
practiced by very few. II is understood to
take twenty years diligent sapping to acquire
so much knowledge as may enable an indivd-
ual to look out a word in Mr.. Redhouse's
Turkish dictionary, and then the individual
must be Mr.. Redhouse himself; indeed, it
would be hardly going too far to say that ev-
cry man makes his own Turkish. 1t is GER
tain, that during tolerably close and extern
sive experience in the country, never met
two intimate friends, one of whom would
agree that the other understood his mother
tongue, as it ought to be understood. Print
ing is entirely in the background. At Con-
stantinople there are but two newspapers and
one is constantly knocking up for want of
subscribers. There is no daily journal, and
there are six hundred thousand or seven hun
Gred thousand resident inhabitants, besides
strangers. This little fact will show, as well
as most others, how thoroughly our new ac-
quaintances are likely to be informed on cur
rent events, and why they often suppose Great
Britain to be an island in the Red Sea- In
deed, their wisdom and intelligence in such
respects is hardly TO be surpassed and the
facts have related, and few others. seem
to hint to me that their language is likely
enough to be extinct in few years. The
Greeks positively will not learn it, and the
abolition of the Christian disabilities, togeth-
er with the abolition of the Greek kingdom
which seems to be threatened-will throw al
most all public BUSINESS into Greek hands
for nearly all the notable activities in Tur-
key, whether political or otherwise, are for
eigners even artizans are strangers, down to
the men who serve in the docks and arsenals
but it is not easy to see how this should be
otherwise, for the Koran expressly forbids the
carving of any kind of image; and with re-
freshing contempt for practical people, de-
clares the finest efforts of handiwork in the
world, simply abominable. The only really