Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1857-07-16

mother OF the family, seated on plle OF
cushions, was a woman of splendid beauty
and her daughters were like her.mother.-
Her young sister, girl Of twenty-five or
three, and her niece, girl of seventeen,
were standing near her, while their Nubian
and graceful women, black
as night, but not thick-lipped, having rather
the features of the Shellalee of Egypt, and
face, models of grace and beauty-waited on
their beautiful mistresses. A troop of chill
dren, with large black eyes, dressed like
fairies, greeted my entrance with shout OF
welcome, and for moment [ hesitated to
enter place sacred not only by Oriental
custom against such visit, but sacred
especially by the presence Of so much mag
niicent beauty, not before exposed to the
eye of a stranger.
''But the unsurpassed look Of Miriam and
of Mrs. and Miss Saunders re-assured me,
and I advanced with as much courage as
could be expected of a somewhat diffident
American in an Eastern harem.
ssOften since then, in still and quiet even
ings when [ remember the incidents Of my
Eastern travel, the face Of that radiant Greek
girl comes before me like vision Of the un-
real beauties of paradise.
Il never saw woman half so beautiful.
She was the first and last one that [ saw a.
broad whom [ thought equal to the Ameri-
can standard Of female beauty; and she was
ia star.
s'She was reclining on the divan, half
buried in it's cushions, with her arm around
Miriam's neck, telling her, in all the rich
Oriental phrases she could invent, Of her
love for her newly-found sister.
Il will endeavor, for the sake of my lady
readers, and with Miriam's assistance, to
describe her dress, which was almost a fac
simie of the dresses of the four other ladies
lin the room, whose inferior beauty must e1-
cuse my leaving them to sketch their splen-
did companion.
'Firstly, she wore that part of the Turk
ish lady's dress which. we should call the
trousers, known by them as the shintiyam,
and very different affair from the panta-
looms which the American ladies' rights ar
gue so much in fayarsof They 4ass aeees-
sarily more cumbersome tnan the ordinary
European style of dress, being enormously
heavy folds of silk stuff, embroidered with
heavy gold thread, gathered at the ankles
with gold and jewelled bands. Those Of
which I now speak were of rose-colored silk,
and the little feet, that were quite hidden in
the folds as they fell around it when she
walked, were covered with velvet slippers,
embroidered with seed pearls.
''The ye77ah-a sort of open dress that
falls in a long train behind, and is fastened
only at the waist, falling away so as to leave
the shintiyan visible-is, [ believe, not worn
by unmarried ladies'; but she had similar
dress, of the same rose-colored silk, richly
embroidered A low chemisette, with en-
broidered front and sleeves, left almost the
entire bust exposed; and velvet jacket,
heavy with gold thread and jewels, compile
ted the rich and gorgeous costume.
''But the dress, although Of the most cost
ly fabrics of the Damascus looms, was as
nothing compared with the jewels that fash
ed from her wrists, and neck, and hair.
cover her left shoulder, hanging like a
sash dol 1.-THE right side of her waist, was
a goldel Fdle or band, made of broad
pieces Of id, shaped like willow leaves,
and taste together at the sides. The
belt of yezlah and shintiyan, which is
ordinaril cashmere shawl, Cnown vul-
carly in Hherica as camers hair was silk,
gathered at the side with a star of brilliants
On her arms were jeweHed serpents; and
the only covering of her bosom, which was
exposed, as have said, consisted Of strings
Of pearls that lay across it, each string shor-
ter than the one above it, and whose white
ness was rivalled by the neck they adorned.
Her hair was bound together under a
small cap of crimson velvet, that rested only
on the back of her head, and Of which the
velvet was but the material on which were
clustered as many pearls and diamonds, as
[ remarked to Miriam, as would purchase
all the jewelry that the most gorgeous New
York saloon could exhibit in a crowded
evening assembly.
81 have described the lady's costume as
literally as [ can for the benefit Of my lady
readers but | thought little of her costume
then, when I was looking at her splendid
beauty. Miriam was in ecstasy herself, and
would interrupt her caresses constantly by
turning to me with the demand, Isn't she
beautiful?
''Her hair was black as the clouds of a
December night, and swept away from a
fine forehead, in heavy tresses. Her face
was no cold Greek countenance It was
full of life and passion her eyes black, and
flashing with fun; the red blood tingling
close under the skin through her cheeks,
and sometimes flushing her forehead with
an exquisite glow; her lips were red and
laughing the smallest aginable; and her
form slender, yet full and graceful as the
forms of dream-land.
81 know that [ am liable to the charge
of exaggeration in my description of this