Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1883-01-11
HAREM NAZlRENES.

Observation-Disclosures yOH an the harcm -
What tourist returned from the East has
not, sooner or latter, had this question put
to him? Sometimes it is accompanied with
4 dig in the ribs and wink which insinu-
ates that all wickedness is print TO the roam
er Of the Orient or the curious ouerist asks
for information in Il whisper, and with Il
cautious glance in the direction of Madame,
which is not altogether complimentary TO
poor smith rs the master of household.
though, "hctwecn ourselves, old chappic, We
do have goodish time"-whcn clear of
Hordcum house and Mincing lane. The
temptation is great, no doubt but Smith is
forced to confess that, though he drank coi-
fec with kourbash Pashaand lent u 'pony'
to his son, the Bey, the acquaintance of the
Mesdames kourbash, and the other pcris of
this Eastern paradise, is still to be rcckoncd
among the pleasures of hope. And 50 it is
likely 10 continue, for Irritation with his
wives remains among the few fragments of
his quondam deccncy, which the Moslem de-
clines to accord either for love or money.
You may be on the most intimate of terms
with Monsieur, but Madame is more un-
seen than if your host were u bachelor. 1t
is even an offence TO hint at her--or their
existence, and the loItiest magnatc who
ever received honors at the Court of FeZ
would run the risk of his k'skcs&O disagree
ing with him il, in q moment Of cordialitv,
he hoped the Sultana was well, though it is
Il matter OF nOtOrlety that this prudish
"Caliph Of Our Lord Enthronedn goes
through fresh wedding every Friday NOR
ming, and has every nowand then to dsrb-
ute the overpourings Of the harem among
his bashaWs and kaids. Still more parlous
would it be to call on an Arab friend and
wait till he returns - for there would be
an imminent risk of Muay ben NIoosa spit
ting the Christian dog on the end of a brass
hiltcd knife. You may, if that is any salts
faction, be on winking terms with the veied
ladies whose black eyes twinkle on the
Giaour riding past their jalousies but, as
surcdly, if the gay gallant is not anxious to
pull oll'a double event, in the shape of an
execution inside and IL murder outside the
harem, he had better draw the line so long
as he is not beyond the surgeons aid.
No such difficulty is, however, interposed
in the way Of the Nazarene ladies gratifying
their curiosity. To visit harcm is, indeed
among the ordinary items of an Eastern
tour. and the worthy Israelite who ''obtains
pcrmission," for Il consideration, to take
visitors to Moor's houses in Tetuan, and
hires very dirty dcrvishes TO curse their
burnt grandmothcrs" in the regulation
fashion, would doubtless provide Il conven-
tional harcm, were the supply of Christion
travellers sufficient to make it worth his
while. The wayfarcr is, perhaps, conscious
Of an audible tittering overhead us
he knocks at the Aoslem's door, and if he
is admitted quickly, he may catch sight of
Il dragsle-taiIcd figure scuttling across the
patio with run which is not Eastern, and
Il laugh over her shoulder which recalls
something heard on an afternoon in Picca-
dily, or at the top of the Haymarket when
the lamps are lit. Yet the most curious
feature your wifes visit to the harem is,
that she found no signs of the painted wo-
man whose retreat was so narrowly cut OIL,
All the peris arc Circassians or Soudanee,
or Abyssinlans, or Nubians, or Egyptians.
Not one Of them can speak word of anv
civilized tongue, and the narrator of her
experiences among the slattcrnly inmates
of the pashas harem is inclined to be in
dignant if asked whether none of her new
friends were from Chelsea or Leicester
square.
Yet it is quite notorious that every harem
in the East aims ut getting European ten
nant torit. Year after year girls are reported
to be missing from London or Paris or Brus-
sells, without any one knowing what has
become Of them. In few days they are
forgotten; they may have drowned them
selves, become reformed, or died their usual
death. Sometimes the story is that the
girl has been decoycd to Belgium; though
why Belgium, which is blessed with a
plethora of that particular species of fraltv.
should cart Goals to its own Newcastle is
not easy TO explain. Meantime it is i'm.
possible to pass along the streets of London
without seeing snaky-eyed Crientals peer
ing into the faces of millinery girls; and
he must be an unobservant traveller in
deed, who has sailed in a p. and O.
steamer for Alexandria or Port Said, with
out meeting the same rapscallions escorting
rosy y-cheeked damsels Cairoward. The
supply is perhaps little less than it used to
be, when Ismail Pasha ran special trains for
the convenience of his consignment from
Europe But that in Egypt, India, Turkey,
and the Orient generally, every harem of
any consequence, keeps in its gilded cage
one or more frail or foolish Britons is fact
which it is needless trying to deny, though
it is humiliating to confess.
These wretehed girls are tempted by life
of ease and Incidence. They are dazzled by
4 show ofjewels fine clothes, and thestories
of the gorgeous East, and find too late that
that they have entered squalid prison,
amid women as heather as any whom the
world can show, and with whom it is i'm
possible to exchange word to while away
the loneliness of a life which has lost its
novelty. So long as they keep the favor Of
their lord they are objects Of persecution
and plots; when they lose it their lot is un-
happy beyond conception. Such stray lambs
are seldom sought after, though to their re.
latives they are as much lost as if they had