The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1865-07-28
WistelIaneons.
Some Things About Turkish Women.


Professor FELTON,, in his "Familiar Let
tiers from Europe,' gives the following
interesting picture Of Turkish life and
manners
1t is common notion that tho women
lead very retired life, in the seclusion of
tho harem. Nothing can be more errone-
GUS. In passing up and down the Bos-
phorus, nearly half the passengers were
Turkish women. Three times q whole
harem, consisting of fifteen or twenty
women-partly wives, partly slaves-came
on board, from the palace of some old
Turk, under the care of a black guard,
with terrific sword by his side, to 60 down
to Constantinople on frolic, or, perhaps,
to 60 shopping in the bazars.
They were dressed in various colours
green, blue, mouse-colored and pink. The
veil or ,yashneah, was drawn over the FORE
head, and the lower part of the face, up
to the middle of the nose, leaving only a
space for pair of black eyes to flash out.
never could help laughing at the figure
the negresses made under this disguise.
took some pains to watch this people,
and twice [ happened to be in the same
part OF the boat where they sat. They
laughed and chatted with one another,
and sometimes with the men standing
around them, as merrily as SO many Chris
tians. Now and then, if the face was pref
ty and there are nanny pretty faces
the yaShnaab would be gradually with
drawn, and I had the opportunity of OBJ
serving quite at my leisure.
In each harem there are two or three
Circassian ladies of the most exquisite
beauty. These were probably the thirty
thousand plaster wives. But there was no
variety in their expression. Some of the
women arc immensely fat, and they roll
along, bundled up in their robes, in the
most ludicrous manner. One of the most
laughable sights ever saw was an old
Turkish lady with pair of spectacles on
her nose, and exactly filling the aperture
of the yashmah, while she was eagerly
cheapening piece of silk. The common
women run about, looking like bundles of
dirty linen going to the wash of their own
accord others, higher up in the social
scale, look like bundles of linen coming
home from the wash. 1t is very amusing
to see little girls of ten or twelve years.
How any of them keep their clothes on
cannot imagine.
When the Sultan went to tho Mosque
the windows of the houses along the
streets, though protected by jalouses, were
filled by black ewes peepipp curiouslv ont.
and very fat Turkish lady, with about
thousand yards of Brousa silk wound
around her, stopped her carriage just
where We were standing, and waited to
see His Highness pass. Nearly opposite
the palace is a low, broad wall, the top of
which is covered with green, pink, yellow
and mouse-colored bundles containing
women, with negresses in attendance.
In the afternoon of the same day (Fri-
day, the Turkish Sabbath) we took
caique and rowed to the "Sweet Waters"
on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus.-
This is favorite resort, being little
valley, with stream, and trees oversha-
dowing it, Here we found large num-
Der of Turkish ladies, with their, attend
ants, reclining on carpets, bolstered up
by luxurious cushions, and slipping their
coffee or sherbet, while their lords were
amusing themselves in another part of
the ground. Some Of these again were
beautiful, but of the same order with
those have already mentioned, and
scarcely to be distinguished from one