Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-04-22
THE HAREM OF THE SULTAN.

The senior Brooks, of the New York Ex-
press, is writing for that paper a series OF
European letters, and capital ones they
are. From his last letter, dated at Constan-
tinople, we cut the following interesting par
agraph.
The sultan il now thirty-six years old
and he does not look much older, but he does
look as if he had been wearied. and worried
and leased, and cdudled into a shadow OF q
man by his harem. The Sultan only has
seven bona tide wives-that is, wives who
have the privilege Of producing. an heir to
the throne. They are called kadines' and
when the Sultan dies, can never remarry.)
But the Sultan has a whole regiment OF other
pretty women; the prettiest that can be found
in Circassia, or Georgia, or elsewhere; and
if Pera gossip be true, his heart is soft, his
nature is kind, and they give him n world OF
trouble. They run him into debt, and though
he forbids it, and swears he won't pay, yet
nav be must almost to his ruin. 1t is not a
wonder then, that with a harem Of snch
women, he looks wearied and worried-for If
one wife, in our land, employs and occupies
a man, what can no better man do here, with
seven real wives, and little army OF wives
lust a. real in point of fact? Nearly the
whole harem was out to-day. 10 see him. or
attend him en- route from his palace to the
MOSQUE near by. The curiosity OF my pro-
fession, to say nothing Of my curiosity a. a
man, was piqued to the utmost to see into the
curtained carriages of this thu' publicly en-
posed harem. I walked, then, and, OF
course, re-waIked up and down, to steal q
look or a stare wherever it was possible
TT -x.l.~.l, thoir vol nj mnSlln- leaves
their black ewes all out to human vision, and
thin as the gauze often is, we have good
look at the mouth and chin. Then l had
the benefit of some European ladies IN my
company whose bare-headed hats. and am
pie hoops were as great a curiosity to Inc
ladies of the Harem, rs their yaskmaks, ana
flowing robes were to me. Thus it was wo-
mans stare against romans stare. ana the
natural curiosity of European and Asiatlc
women, gave me as good an opportunity to
see the pent-up beauties Of Constantinople,
as any Giaour is likely ever to have. was
not struck blind by any overwhelming lumi-
nary. The eyes were often quite IilhnS'
but there was not that soul in them, that
radiatine intelligence. whichca sparkle only
from the cultivated mind. Pretty dolls !.
Charming play things! All glittering in the
silks or mouslins of Broussa, and the .ila-
monds of Golconda. One cannot help wish
ing to steal them from the tall sturdy. sword
GRIT. black Eunuchs that guard them. but
then what would we do with them, if we had
them? These black Eunuehs, by the way,
strike the American eye. as the oldest OF all
the odd sights at Constantinople. They are
picked men, six feet, or six feet eight inches
high, multilated when young, and raised tor
the especial duty of guarding. the women OF
the Harcms. The chiefofthe black Eunuchs
holds one of the highest positions in the
Empire. lie has the control Of everything
belonging to the Imperial lIarem, and apart
ments, and the governmentofal all the Eunuchs
white and black" q