Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-02-16
AN ORIENTAL BAZAAR.
What q Traveller from the Occident Saw
in a Shop at STEAMBOAT.

Whht Traveller rom the Occident Saw
in a Shop at STEAMBOAT.
During my stay in Constantinople
my fayorite amusement of an after
noon was to 60 over to Slamboul, &C
ccpt the kind invitation of some
merchant to take coffee in his shop,
and sit there for an hour, gossiping
and watching the movement of the
bezestin. Such an invitation may be
readily accepted, and you may even
inspect merchant whole stock with
out buying any thing, and yet he will
not grudge you his hospitality and the
savory cup of coffee. 1t is not the
splendor of the bazaar that strikes one;
indeed, as we have seen, the bazaar is
dirty, ill-lighted and cheap-looking
place. 1t is not the aspect of null
tifarious northumberland stuffs, and
all the fabulous luxury Of the East
for. after all, there is little but
paltry and current goods in the bazaar
nowadays, and our Western dealers.
and even such establishments as the
Louvre, the Bon Marchc and the other
grand bazars Of London and Paris
can boast finer stock Of stuffs, car
pets and Oriental arms than any of
the dealers of Constantinople. My ex-
perience in the bczestin reveal
ed to me the fact that as a rule, the
dealers ask for any object,
even for pair of babouches. Just
fiv times the price they are willing
to accept. Nor did they ask me this
price because was Frank and a
giaour, but because such is their
habit whether they are dealing with
Franks, or Mussulmans, or Zoroastri-
ans. No; to my mind the interest of
the bazaar is in the general aspect The
bazaar forms sort of neutral
ground, where you can observe the
Turk. and the Persian. and all the
other people who meet there. without
their resenting your curiosity; it is a
place where curiosity is legitimate,
and where every body INDUCES freely
in the satisfaction of that sentiment
Above all, the bazar is an Oriental
institution. which has remained I'M
changed except in the character of
the goods sold. 1t is true, one sees
there bales of Manchester cottons,
rolls of English cloth, cargoes
of Russian hollow-ware; but
this fact does not prevent
one seeing at every moment
de ails of life and customs which are
precisely noted in that inimitable
mixture of fancy and realism, the
stories of Scheherazade. 1t is q per.
petual charm to the eyes to soc this
living exhibition of costume; to noto
here dervish, there turbaned Turk
who has made the pilgrimage to
Mecca, there grave Persian, and
there swarthy eunuch who can not
find diamonds big enough for his
vanity. 1t is amusing, TOO, to watch
the coquettish ladies of the middle
classes, who come in groups of two or
three, followed by their children and
their negresses, the latter carrying big
bags, into which their mistresses pass
their purchases. For. although Mos
lem jealousy does not allow women to
keep shop and although in the whole
quarter of Stanboul you will not
see single woman of any
nationality engaged in commercial
occupations there are no more active
buyers and no keener bargainers than
the Turkish ladies. Draped in their
long feridis, and with their faces and
heads cnveloped in the white yachmach,
they spend hours and hours in the ba-
Ears; chattering like magpies, and
lavishing torrents of abuse on the
dog of Christian" on the ''son of a
father who is roasting in hell" on the
giaour who dares to look too fxedly
into their beautiful flashing eyes.
Sometimes, also, but then under the
guard of an eunuch. you see in the ba-
Ear women of higher rank --perfum ed
flowers of the harem, whose white and
delicate visage the sun has never tar
nished.
I confess that this contempt of III,
Franks, which the Turks do not dis.
guise. gave me much pleasure. They
at least among all the nations on
earth, have not bowed the knee before
the idol Of progress. Firm in the taitt
of their fathers, they calmly ignor,
Western civilization; and If they dc
recognize the existence of the DC
ciden tai, it is only TO despise him. ant
not TO ape him, and thereby lose tbeil
own personality, which has been the
fate of so many nations who have be
come the victims of Western pro
pagandism and Western ideas. A
Constantinople. or at least in STAN
boul. you feel that you, Frank, d.
not exist IN the eye of the Turk
You may wear the largest checl
suit that a London tailo
can produce, and yet the Tull
will pass without deigning even to lool
at you. At the public fountains h,
will go through his religious ablution:
in your presence as if you were mile
away. Ha will spread out his carpet
turn his face toward Mecca and sa,
his prayers while you are looking on
and so mean are you in his estimation
that he ignores you. For this dignity
and stability of character l respect tn,
Turk; and l am grateful to him TO
procuring me sensation which is no
common in foreign travel, in Europe
at any rate-the sensation that l an
an intruder. contemplate dog
n person worthy only to b
spat upon and killed. Happily. III
diplomatic relations which the Sub
lime Porte still entertains with tn
Western world guarantee the materia
security of the traveller in the Sultan
dominions But every thing in Con
stantinople tells us that the Turk. al