The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-08-06
NASR ED DIN'S HAREM.
WIVES AND HANDMAIDENs OF THE
RULER OF PERSIA.

Queen Victoria Pictured by Edmund
Yates-Working Girls as Rich Mems
Wives-POssessed by a Devil.
Without indiscretion it may be
noted that the denizens of the royal
seraglio belonging to his interesting
majesty, who are under the care OF
the Koji Bashi, or chief eunuch and
his fellows, are about 300; that of these
800 many are children, and 200 at
least are simply servants, a large num-
Der being negresses. Each office OF
the Persian court has its correspond
ing dignity in the Anderum, says mod
ern society. Few additions have been
made of late years to the number OF
inmates of the royal seraglio, and it
contains absolutely no European or
male person over the age of eleven.
Each royal favorite has her separate
pavilion and her staff of servants, her
equipage, her jewels and her revenue.
The principal favorite generally has a
high-sounding title conferred upon
her, such as 1.-THE Delight of the
State"
The ladies are v seen abroad
unveiled, save one or two of the hand
soner or more Tightly of the number,
who sometimes, when driving in their
glass coaches" purposely give a
rather liberal display of ford charms
to passefs-by in carriages or on horse
back. TIE legends of tatooed Greek
-usoooa o%ruf4L,Ao al;no. ~ 10 nT1ifa
certain that, as a rule, no man save
the kind enters the royal harem, or
| having done SO, leaves it alive. Some
years ago an unfortunate workman,
| while engaged in eXcavating a water
course, suddenly found himself in the
royal harem, and nearly died of fright
accordingly (by the way, the indoor
dress worn by Persian ladies has been
described as precisely resembling the
costume of a ballet girl minus the
maillotD, but the king, seeing how the
matter stood, pardoned him.
The means of getting rid OF those
who have ceased to please is simple
and yet ingenious. There is no sewing
| up in sacks, no casting from towers,
no bowstring, 40 poisoning. Some
provincial general is informed that he
| will be favored with q wife from the
royal harem. To refuse is impossible;
the disguised lady arrives and is
placed at the head of her new hus-
bands household. She usually insists
on his divorcing his other wives, and
in any case treats them as servants
and interiors. One old general who
had become the recipient of one OF
these royal favors (the lady led him a
sad life never alluded to her but-in
a whisper of course-as 1.-THE old
camel" Beauty and youth are the
few and simple qualifications for n
tertaining the royal harem. Various
accomplishments, such as singing,
playing on the hand drum or tumbak,
| the tambourine or the harmonica are
often acquired after the lady has been
received into the seraglio.
Only the fresh arrivals and those
who have failed to please live to-
gether in q sort of barrack under the
supervision of the Amin-i-Agdas, an
old favorite who acts as a sort of
"Mother of the Maids" Every
Thursday there is. a kind of review,
the Shah personally inspecting the
whole establishment other than the
recognized wives and favorites. The
throwing of the handkerchief is no
invention and has not gone out OF
practice. The number of legitimate
wives (or adki) for every Mussulman
is four. The head wife of the present
Shah (who is his cousin also, and who
bears the title of Shuko-es-Sultana) is
the great granddaughter of Futteh
Ali Shah, a monarch whose family was
SO large that ITO of his descendants
were alive at his death. This lady is
the mother of the crown prince or val
lad. Her marriage with the Shah
was one of policy, The next wife in
seniority is the daughter of a son of
Futteh Ali Shah. She is only known
to rumor as having a somewhat sharp
temper.
The third wife, and the actual favor
tie, is Auys-u-Dowlel. She he's been a
legitimate wife nearly thirteen years,
is very fat, fairly good looking, and is
said to be very good tempered and at
tractive. She actually accompanied
the Shah as far as Moscow on his first
Journey to Europe, but the attempts
to see her made by the Russians of all
classes were so pertinacious that, to
her great disappointment, she was
sent back to Teheran. The Auys-u-
Dowlel has immense influence, and
vet she never takes a bribe, but her
own family is we'll cared for, three of
her relatives filling important posi-
lions at the court, where their reputa-
ton is not that of her royal kins-
oma The whole family were the
children of a village miller, who lived
near Dimarvend, a nearly extinct vol
cano, which, capped with eternal
SHOWS, towers over Teheran, and may
be seen, it is said, a distance of 200
miles -.E.Uchan0e.
Victoria Painted in Words.
In a recent letter by Edmund Yates
on the Queen, as she appeared when
she met the Shah of Persia three
weeks ago, he says
1.-THE Queen is suffering very much
from lumbago and rheumatism, and
on Thursday, at Marlborough House,
it was quite apparent with what diff
Guilty she walked, even with the aid of
the arm of the Prince of Wales and
her stick. She had not recovered
from the chill caught during the jour
ney from Scotland, She hardly stood
at all at Marlborough House, and her
Indian attendant vas close at hand
| all the time to give her a chair, She
looked tired and was very red in the
face, though very gracious and in good
spirits. She wore her usual black
gown, and the suite with her wore