Omaha daily bee., 1882-11-14
THE SULTAN'S WIVES.
A Country Where the Monarch is
Compelled to Marry Once
q Year,

Constantinople Correspondence Philadel.
phia Press.
It does not appear to be generally
known that the sultan Is obliged to
marry many women against his will;
yet such Is the case, and at least oncs
in each year, whether his majesty be
young OF old, sick or well, does the
law of the country oblige him to
marry. This law has not always been
In force, but was introduced by the
Sheich- ul-Islam, or head of the
church, about 1863 years ago, to force
Sultan Selim-who, wishing to abolish
polygamy, kept one wife only, to
maintain and uphold the ancient and
authorized custom. The ceremony of
the Caliyh's marriage is so important
an event that a description of it will
interesting. The prophets birthday,
or rather birthnight, as the Moslem's
call 1t, is a festival com.
mencing at sunset of the 18th
day of Ramazan, and ending at
sunrise of the following morning, thus
making q purely night holiday. 1t is
after the holiday of the Courtian
Bairam, which took place only a few
days ago, and at which General Wal.
lace, United States minister to Tur-
key, assisted-the greatest of Moham-
medan festivities. Besides being q
religious holiday, it Is q national one
also, as ON this very night CONSTANT.
nople was taken by the Turks after a
siege which lasted many years, dur
ing which not q few thousand of the
faithful were sent to El Wady, or
Paradise. Constantinople during this
night, which the Turks have named
Kadir Gegessi, presents an appear.
ancs which can nowhere else be equal
ed, as, although Europeans may in
vent all sorts of artificial means of
illumination, there is no spot on the
face of the earth which presents such
natural beauty, and the innate taste
of the splendid and magnificent for
which Orientals are famed, ia fully
appreciated on the birthnight of the
prophet. u
ANovEL WAY OF ILLUMINATING.
The mode Of illuminating is initself
exceedingly simple, consisting of
small Tampa filed with water of many
c%olors, at the top of which oil is
burned. Millions of them are used
on all the public buildings, and,
indeed, on every building, rich or
poor, la the town. The bridges over
the Golden Horn are studded with
light, and 80 are all the ships and the
men.of-war; both in the inner and
outer harbor. The most beautiful,
however, of all arc the thousands of
mosques, whose minarets have the APP
pearanoe ii enormous flaming spears,
and as the city is built on seven
hills the whole presents an sp-
pearance not easy to be forgotten.
For many days previous to the cere-
mony the palace officials are busily
engaged in selecting the girls who will
be allowed to be- present on the even
ing of the Kadir Gegessi, and from
whom his majesty will select one as
wife. Singular as it may appear to
Americans, there Is hardly a Moham-
medan family which does not do Its
best to get its daughters into the
harem, although they know full well
that it is already adorned with some
hundreds of wives or slaves of great
beauty, and from all countries.
POLITICAL IEFLUKScE IN H HAREM.
The original custom was that girls
of all ranks and conditions of society
should take their chances on the birth