The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-11-03
WV
s THE SULTAN Or TURKEY 5

The sultan Is the only man alive who
keeps q company Of actors 10 give repre-
sensations OF his own plays. for ne fancies
himself a playwright.
No innate Of the harem is permitted
under any circumstances 10 address the
sultan without being first spoken 10. To
do so would mean death
The present grand eunuch lives outside
the palace in spiendor, having his own car
riages and stables and many retainers and
courtiers
The sultan begins dinner with any dish
that happens 20 strike his fancy, and has
been known TO start with ices and finish
with q soup.
The son and heir of Abdul Harnid is be-
ing kept in close confn a virtual
prisoner, for fear he VIII plot TO assassin
ate his father.
There IS no aristocracy in Turkey. where
even the patronymic name is unknown.
and a man rarely knows who was his
grandfather.
Throughout the Turkish dominions Il is
a high honor for any woman TO enter the
imperial haren, and thousands try in vain
TO attain it.
The Georgian slave merchants reserve
their choicest female slaves for the sultan
and the grand eunuch selects the best for
the harem.
A passing glance from the sultan at once
raises any inmate of the harem to a high
l&Ah, anu Il Nolu lAUA44 MN uldACS AltI
very important.
Wondra. Vhe court violinist. wanted TO go
TO Paris TO study. but the sultan said he
had nothing TO learn and kept him in Con-
stantinople.
Abdul Hamid is the thirty-fifth in male
descent OF the house OF Gilman and the
twenty-eighth sultan since the conquest
OF Constantinople.
Every visitor 10 Constantlnople is inter-
ested in two things-the imperial harem
and the weekly ride of the sultan TO The
mosque.
The sultan is supposed to have the regu-
lation number of wives, four. but they are
not married 10 him. They are called ka-
dimes.
New. fresh faces for the harem are be-
ing constantly sought, and the official who
procures a favorite is indeed a lucky man.
The princesses of the imperial blood are
kept under lock and key and almost as
jealousy guarded as the women of the
harem.
New additions to the harem are not pre-
scented to The sultan, but are dexterously
brought into his presence as servants.
Abdul Hamid IS alleged 10 be the son OF
an Armenian woman. His maternal an
cestor is. like that Of all the sultans, OBJ
scure
The harem includes women of all ma
tionalit!es, the sultan being a man with
out race or religious prejudlces in this mat
ter.
The private euruch of the sultan's IA
vorite IS a man of much influence in
Turkey. He is supposed to have pull"
Rich blonde beauties, with blue eyes and
transparent skins, are the most eagerly
sought fer the imperial harem.
The sultan is responsible TO nobody for
the national taxes, and can take what he
pleases without rendering account.
Inc kurds are mountaineers who for
centuries have preyed upon the Arrne-
mans who are peasants of the plains.
The biggest reform accomplished by Abb
dul Hamid has been in reducing the ex-
penses of the imperial kitchen.
The chief object Of the harem is to per-
petuate the imperial family, in which il
has been eminently successful
Dealing in slave girls is one of the most
profitable occupations of Turkey, and is
encouraged by the sultan.