Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1883-01-04
Visit To m Egvn+ian Princess.

in white rs her husband preferred i,.
Tier jewels surpassed anything | ever
SAW; they were both quaint and yalua-
bic. The Princess I refer to WAS the
first who ever introduced The fashion DC
birds ,nd butterflies. made in precious
stones, as ornaments for the head. /
was with, her one day when she was
giving am order to Fienchwoman 70
have several made for her in Paris. She
selected them ont OF a book. and chose
those Of tle brightest plumage In
those DAYS visits were always long: Won
were generally expected to remain
three or four hours. \ short visit was
looked on rs not polite.
These beautifully dressed slaves hand
ell chibouques Gong pVes) to the Wis
itors, and then others entered carrying
81 tray draped aud covered in velvet
embroidered in gold, with long gold
fringeS, while others poured out the cof-
fee in small china cups. like our egg
cups without the shank. and then placed
them in gold "zalIs' set with precious
stones. | have seen zaris with large
ruhias and emeralds, worth | don
know how much, in.thts Princess har-
EN-, and in iihgree gold of the most cN-
quisiJe workmanship. and an done by
native workmen When You had fin
ished your coffee, the slave came and
took your cup, placing her hand on ,he
top of the cup and holding the foot of
the zarf with the other hand making
You % slight sa.utation, which YOU re-
turned by putting your hand 70 your
lips aud he a.
After this, You conversed a little. in
sleepy fashion. rs silence is golden I'm
the East, and taikativc people are not
appreciated there. Then come the
dancing girls and the musicians, who
play wild Kind OF music. very unmu-
Steal to our ears, but seeming to give
them intense pleasure, Judging by the
movements OF the dancers. These girls
are generally dressed in a kind Of tin
sell and are most of them very young.
The most wonderful feat they perform
is taking a small coin off the floor with
their mouths, bending back their bodies
in perfect arch without touching their
hands, with their head thrown hack
ward. This dance lasts about an hour
and half.
| have seen them dance our dancers"
which was very funny. They were
danced in a much more elaborate STYLE
than we ever dance them. The Prin-
cess had this dance for me- i'm compI-
meut to my country, and she turned to
me and said. This is the way YOU
English ladies dance" / tried to dis
abuse her mind OF such an idea
Whether | succeeded or not, | am sure
| don't know In the East they look
on dancing MS Il mental occupation and
therefore cannot understand ladies and
gentlemen INDUCING in such things
and calling it amusement
There is one very erroneous idea
about Eastern people which have read
in several books, written by persons
who had no practical experience OF
their habits and customs; which is, that
they are very generous and give hand
some presents. | can only say my
opinion is quite the reverse, as | never
received u present from one of them,
and when | asked a lady the cause of it,
she repied "They hold you in too
high esteem to dare to offer you any
thing On one occasion | presented
lady to the Princess, and, to my horror,
this lady intimated to the interpreter
that she would like Turkish costume;
the next morning She received a mag
nitieent one ut her hotel; so that this
proves that those who have had pres
ents ask for them, and that these
Turkish ladies throw the Christian
dog Gas they term us) bone in the
shape of a costume or jewel. | should
prefer my se,f-respect to all their cast
off finery. There was a lady who was
always Boosting that she had such love
" presents from the Princess, and when
some one asked the Princess why she
liked this person SO much, she replied:
"Why, don't like her at al, ncr do
Prospect her"
"Then, Atesse, why do you give her
such lovely jewels?'
"Why, she admires them, and says
she would like them. so | throw them
to hertz
When the guest has waited for the
dancing girls to withdraw, she takes
leave OF the Princess who rises and
gives her the Eastern salutation, touch
ING the heart, lips and forehead with
her hand, the guest doing the same
The attendants then conduct her to the
outer har. where other servants offer
gobets Of rare workmanship; then the
eunuchs see her to her carriage and
hand her in, her own footman not being
allowed to enter the inner courtyard.
Those who have visited Egypt since
the time of Ismail Khediye have never
seen in his harems q reception such as |
have described as his ambition was to
make his women d pear Europeans,
while he knew they were not. In The
time of Said they were much purer "
morals, and while they strictly adhered
to their Mahometan customs you felt n
respect for them which you cannot feel
now, rs then it was the true metal, but
now only gilt. 1t is q curious fact that
now the only ladies | know who adhere
to the Oriental costume habits are the
daughters of n Freuchman who became
Mahometan, and brought up his fam
lily strictly in the religion, They are
very charming and cultivated, speak
ing five or six languages, and reading
all tbp na,u t,1auayiups and rpVipkya -