, 1877-10-13
Supplement 70 The ST. Cldl Avis, No. g. 1877.

HAS Deeh PAID 1t mas. IN TACT, ceen pAld
to at least two other European ladies'"
50 that my telegram was not STRICTLY cor
rect. But then thsy were ladies, and
something more, the one being Empress
OF the French, the other Princess OF Wales.
who as such could not only treat even
with a SuItaa on equal terms, bat were
also receiving the hospitality they had
already shown him at their own Courts.
The dinner-party here consisted Of tho
Sultan, the GRAND Vizier, Mahmoud Da-
mad Pasha, the Minister for Foreign
A%f'irs, and the two Said Pashas, one the
Chief Secretary of the Sultan. the other
Marshal Of the Palace, whose similarity OF
name causes them to be frequently con-
founded together, and each to como in
occasionally in the European Press for
praise or censure obviously meant for the
other. The dinner was served in the
French style, and is said TO have been a
very pleasant one, the Sultan playing the
host to perfestion. Wine was put upon
the table for the guests, but the Sultan
only drank sherbet. He proposed the
heath of tia Qlcen of England, express
ing his gratitude for che kind interest,"
which Her Majesty had shown in the TOR
kish wounded by sending bandages to be
distributed by Mrs. Laynrd among the
sufferers, and to Mrs. Layard hsrselt foP
her i0defatiga5le exeftions in the same
good cause. That the Sultan should
have sat down at the same table with
the wife of Her Britauic Mejesty's
Representative at Constantin0rlec though
it may not appear anything very remart-
able to people in England unfamiliar
with the stringent ruIes Of Oriental Court
etiquette, is here considered something
SO startlins'y u%uusuaI as &c have excited
more attention that would be bestowed
on a Turkish y.cto.y Oh defeat. / was
severely crosS-examined this afternoon as
to whether Mrs. Layard had dined ia
the "HaremIyk" or the "selanlyk" by
an English lady long resident in this
country, who seemed to find il dificuls
to believe that the Sultan could possibly
entertain a lady in the "Selan|yk."
Let me explain bat by "HAvemlyk" is
meant the portion Of a Turkish house
set apart for the women, and by "Selam-
lyk" that for the men. No Teri would
ever think of allowing o LAZY Of his W
household to come into the "Selamlyk,"
aud it is only very rec emily that the
more advanced aud daring Radicals have
ventured, to the disgust Of the old Toy
Party, to due occasionally with their
wives in the harem. In g Turkish
house, in TACT, there are always two
dinners served, ole for the husband aud
his guests, who. in the true spirit of
Turkish hospital y, sit down to table as
a matter of course when they happen
to be in the house at the dinner hour
and another for thu wife and her female
friends, who could no more join the
male dinner party in the "~Selamlyk'
than the husbands friends could join the
ladies 10 the harem, the threshold OF
which even the wlfe's brother cannot
cross.
In spite, however. OF all these cogent
d p1iori reasons to prove TIE impossioility
OF SO mOnstrous a departure from Mussul-
man custom-and custom to q Muss'ilman
is like caste to a Brah:nin, is the chief part
of his reIigion-it nevertheless is a mat
ter of fact that Mrs. Layard did dine ia
"~Selamlyk." It is doubtless the most
striking, but by no means the first preof
that the present Sultan has given OF his
desire to emancipate himself from the
tradition and pref udices of the Ottoman