The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-10
POWER OF THE HAREM.
AN INFLUENTIAL FACTOR IN
ORIENTAL DIPLOMACY.
How European Powers Intend to
Use the influence Of the Serag-
lilo for Political Purposes.

Europe has apparently come to the
conclusion at last that it has made a
big mistake in neglecting to take into
consideration the harem as a factor in
the course of events in the Orient.
Until now the seraglio has been, so to
speak, a sealed book to the Christian
Powers of the civilized West. In the
North of Africa and throughout Asia,
where the harem system is in vogue,
irrespective Of religious belief since the
Buddhist King Of Siam, the Confucian
Emperor of China, the Shintoist Mi
kadoi of Japan and the Brahmin Rajahs
OF India all maintain great seraglios in
the same way as the Sultans of Turkey
and of Morocco, the Khedive of Egypt,
and the Shah of Persia, no male save
the sovereign is permitted to cross the
threshold of mans zenana. The lit
ter is closed even to the judicial author
tiles and to the police. Murder and
crime of every conceivable character
can be perpetrated with impunity be-
hind it's doors. To such an extent, in
deed. is the harem secure from the visi-
tation of any save it's owner that al
though the authorities of British India
numbers of those many hundreds of
young English women and little girls
who disappeared during the Sepoy
mutiny of 1857 were and are still de-
tanned as inmates of the zenanas of
Ra5ahs, native dignitaries and rich
merchants of India, they have never
dared to institute any search for these
captives or to deliver them from the
Era in WI !, III;
perhaps demonstrates better than any,
thing else the degree to which the
harems of the Orient have remained i'm
penetrable mysteries to Europeans.
Under the circumstances it is not sur
prising that much ignorance should
prevail in the Occident concerening the
true character of the women of the
Orient, and. inasmuch as the sole
knowledge of their individuality and of
their intellectual capacity is derived
from the stories of women tourists.
usually frivolous and only able to con-
verse with the inmates of the harems
through interpreters, and from the rare
ana derogatory remarks of the male
natives. who affect profound contempt
Tor the fair sex, it has been taken for
granted in this country and likewise
=
the inmates of the seraglios is exceed
1ngly low and even degraded. An ORR
entail will never refer in polite society
10 his harem, and it is regarded as a
breach of etiquette to question him
about the latter or even to inquire
after the health of the inmates, while
the general tenor Of his utterances con-
corning the weaker sex is entirely in
hot
cording to which the Almighty created
women not with a rib of Adam, but of
the tail of cur
According to this story, which in a
Slightly different form is current
throughout Asia and the greater part
of Africa, Allah, while sewing up the
side of Adam, after removing the rib
which was to serve as the basis for
the construction of Eve, had laid it
down by His side on the grass. A
hungry yellow dog happened along
and, catching sight of the rib, seized it
and bolted. Allah started in hot pur.
suit, and would have recovered the
bone had not the tail of the dog given
way, and remained in his hand just as
he managed to clutch hold of it.
Thanks to the fresh Roadway which the
and to swallow the rib before being
once more caught. Unwilling to de-
prive Adam of another bone, Allah re-
solved to use the dogs tail in lieu of
the rib for the construction of Eve.
ard 1t is alleged that it is precisely be-
cause there is SO much of the caudal
appendage of the dog in the compost
ton OF woman that it is just as impos-
sible for her to remain quiet for any
length of time as it is to keep a dogs
tail from wagging.
WOMAN'S INFLUENCE IN THE
EAST
: Yet no greater mistake can possibly
be made than to set down the inmates
of the harems of the Orient as what the
French are wont to term a negligible
quantity. Women are the same nll
the world over, and they exercise quite
as much influence in the East as they
do in this country. Indeed, their IN
fiunce is probably greater. For, where
as in Europe and especially in America,
pretty faces and comedy figures unset
tie and distract a mans attention at
every step. in the Orient his infatuation
is restricted to the inmates of his own
harem who have nothing to fear from
the wileS or charms of their friends or
acquaintance. In fact, he is amenable
TO no influence save their own, and in
asmuch as their main object in life is to
WIN his, affection, and to devise means
Tor the retention of his obedience to
F.. their every caprice and fancy, an aim
which they generally manage to attain.
1t naturally follows that the harem is n
far more important factor in the co,,rso
of events in Asia and in Africa than the
people Of the West have been willing 20
believe.
1t is with the object of availing them
selves OF this harem influence for polit-
ical purposes that the Russian Gov
eminent has just organized at ST.
Petersburg a special school for the
training of female students for secret
diplomatic service in the seraglios of
the Orient, and it is probable that other
foreign nations having interests in Asia
and in the North of Africa will very
shortly follow suit. Indeed, they will
have no alternative but to do so. For.
male diplomats being forced to remain
outside the gates of the harem Rus
sia's female agents will have. diplomat
ically speaking, an altogether free hand
and an unhndered course within the
seraglio, until they are called upon TO
cope with political rivals of their own
sex who enjoy the same means of access
as themselves to the zenana The stu
dents of this new Government school
at St. Petersburg are being instructed
not only in the Turkish, Chinese, Siam
csc, Persian and japanese languages.
but likewise in the various dialects