The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-28
IN AN EGYPTIAN Harlem.
A WOMAN's Description OF WHAT
SHE SAW AND HEARD.
No One but the Husband May See the
Wife's Hair-The Dancing Girls
and Their Performances - The
Children.

hareem lady. This I thought possible by
making calls" on certain pashas' wives
whom knew in and around Cairo, but
soon discovered. II I really was to know
and understand the hareem woman as she
veritabiy is. must live with her as she
herself lived in the hareem. Having come
to this conclusion. 1 discussed the ways
and means with a Turkish pasha of my ac-
quaintance, who got me the necessary in
PRODUCTION. and in less than a month
obtained the post Of governess to four lit
tie children in the hareem of one of the
best natured Egyptians in the interior of
Egypt
The word "hareem' which has, to Eng
lish ears, such an ominous sound, simply
means in Arabic females" or women"
1 believe the original meaning was "for-
bidden." For an eastern to speak of wo-
men, as women, is considered highly i'm
proper He must call them hareema. The
hareem of a man is, therefore, the apart
ments set apart for the sole use of the wo-
men and their children. These are usually
the whole of the first floor of the palace
No man may enter but the husband, and
sometimes certain of the male relatives
but have known a case where the head Of
the hareem would admit none of his male
relatives into his hareern. The hareem
usually consists of the wives, to the num-
Der Of four; female slaves these 1 speak
Of were black, and female free women
who were natives of Lower Egypt. The
slaves are the husbands property, and he
I NAV use them @ poncnbfyeS or mt ba
desires.
1t is considered indelicate for a lady to
allow any one but her husband to see her
hair, and unclean for any to grow upon
her face or body. Indoors, therefore, If she
respect herself, she wears a headdress
which hides the hair, and is by no means
unbecOming. When out IN the carriage she
allows only the eyes to be seen.
The hareem lady is bound to be. from
her bringing up, of a low type. Her only
education is the idea to be the plaything Of
some rich man-that rich man, of course
being her legal husband From babyhood
she is taught certain exercises of her body
which, to any pure-minded European, are
disgusting. She has no life outside of her
bath. her body, the visits of her husband
and, in very mild way her children.
/ For recreation, a eunuoh will take her for
a drive, to call on another hareem in the
hareem closed carriage, and for amuse-
ment dancing girl Will be brought into
| the harcem, or, If the house is in mourn
ing, sheikh will chant the Koran in the
/ mems quarters, when the women gather
on the hareem terrace to listen. The room
in which the dancing took place was a
/ large entrance room in the hareem about
seventy feet by sixty. OF this room were
/ all the bedrooms. Each bedroom opened
/ into this room, and there was no communal
/ cation to the bedroom except through this
J F-1.. i 4. al
! entail style-heavy silk carpets and cur
tains, divans all around the walls floor
cushions on the floors and a marble table
! In the center The Ghawazee, or dancing
| girls would be sent for and with much
CHATTER of Shoes would waddle into this
room, removing their outdoor clothing
! Coffee, cigarettes and cognac would be
! handed them-the latter, as they say to
| remove the veil of modesty from before
their eyes! We would all then recline on
| the divans with cigarettes and coffee to
| hand, and the slaves would fan us An
enhancing woman, who had grown too
old TO dance, would begin to beat the dara
Dukeh, or drum, another would produce a
most monotonous discord, in excellent
time, on the kemengeh. a stringed instru-
ment, while a third would blow through a
sort of flute. The great point to each OF
! them, so 1t seemed to me, was the time
| which the performer on the darabukeh
seemed to have at her disposal When
they had fairly warmed to their work. a
Ghawazee would get up. and, with ciga-
| rette In her mouth, begin to dance What
this dance is like it would be difficult for
| me to describe. A series Of wriggles of the
body to the time of the music, which be-
! gins slowly, gradually getting faster and
| faster until one is dazed, when the dancer
! suddenly throws herself on her back on a
floor cushion, all the while wriggling to the
music which gets slower and slower till
i II stops The dance usually lasts about
half an hour, but have seen one Gha.wa-
zee who kept it up for an hour and ahalf.
only stopping to wipe the perspiration from
her face. One of these exhibitions is quite
enough to disgust any European woman.
no matter how broad-minded but when
| ever the dancing girls come to the ha-
reem, 1t is one of the duties of the govern
| ess to be present with her pupils that the
little girls may learn to initiate the move
| ments.
Should one of the ladies be indisposed
she remains in her ROOM A slave places
her shlp-ship (the satin slippers worn in
the mousse outside her door. Then we
| would all go into her room sit upon the
divans or floor cushions, drink the tinv
cups OF black coffee, and smoke unlim-
TIED cigarettes, and discuss the eood
qualities Of the patient in low tones.
If she were suffering pain one of the
ladies' would say, God, who sent it YOU.
help you bear itP' when we would ali
respond by the Prophet, your talk is
good" Then another silence would be
broken by some one remsrking, Suffer
ing was made by God, all praise to his
name! but it was meant for giants But
COD also made death. Death is the finer
work of the two This latter saying was 4
very common one, and my pupils often
made use of it to me if 1 had a tooth
ache or headache. 1t was always quoted
as though it were quite original The
calm way they would leave the sick
room, after assuring the occupant that
If she died the world would be n per-
! feet blank to them,' and then stolidlv
walk into the next room and abuse her
roundly, and with a fierceness which was
horrible, rather astonished me. and
showed me how little real sympathy they
had one with another. Their jealousy
of one another was fiendish in its in
tensity, and sympathized with the pasha
when he said to me how happy English
men must be with no wives to quarrel
over theml
The great saving clause to the life in
the hareem for a European is the chill
dren. They are the most perfectly charm
ing and straightforward little beings i'm