The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-11-09

same servility, and she reigns abso-
lutely over the harem.
The seragliO contains several Of these
daires. separated one from the other
but all connecting and arranged in
continuous straight line. Each has it's
own dining room, but the princesses
and kadines prefer to take their meals
in their bedrooms or in their boUdoiTs.
! They frequently invite each other to
dinner and pay each other a thousand
attentions of this kind. Almost al
ways there are three or four together
at meal times.
The sultan is feared rather than loved
by his odalisques. He is, however, kind
and attentive to them when his mind
is temporarily free from its usual
anxieties and worries, and he has even
succeeded in inspiring some of them
with feelings of affection.
At times he cOndescends to enter into
conversation with his favorites,
with whom he has no diff
Guilty in passing for man of
/ ignorant women, and the superficial
education they have received renders
them childishly naive. He entertains
them with the political news and gOs-
sip of the day, and tells them anec-
dotes of foreign courts Of which he is
very fond himself, and this is the only
| idea of history they possess.
When the valide-sultana received in
/ her private apartments the empress of
/ Germany, she expected that her Wis
! itOr would merely kiss her hand re-
/ spectfully. When the empress shook
/ hands the valide appeared greatly an
/ noyed, and after the reception re
marked to the women of her suite that
/ the foreign sovereign was Eli bred
/ This view is perhaps hardly surpris-
/ ing when one considers that these
/ women breathe at the foot Of the i'm
/ perial throne the intoxicating incense
/ that is burned continually before the
master.
Dancing in all the forms that it as
/ sUmes in the Orient is very popular in
! the harem. and it is the principal mode
I of Observation-Disclosures dances to the
/ accompaniment of timbrels, tambOur-
/ ines. or a chorus Of languorous voices,
and Circassian, Egyptian and Arabian
| dances among which the sultan pre-
I feTs the most modest. The favorites
often find amusement in the dancing
/ of their slaves. and singing, music
! rowing and for some photography and
/ even cycl'n~ are among the principal
amusements.
| Otherwise they spend their time In
7
mechanical and swimming dolls. or
/ they amuse themselves by initiating the
/ cries of animals, the crow of the cock,
+ the buzzing of the fly, the barking of
! q dog, or else they viii smear the faces
/ of their negress attendants with flour.
( and put them up to all kinds Of tricks
/ or excite them to quarrel among them
! selves-in short, try everything to pass
away the time.
One may imagine the rivalries and
! je9 Iousies of all kinds and the compli-
\ Gated intrigues that occur among these
/ idle women, all young, ardent or am
bilious. They form numberless little
/ cliques and groups, each having it's Sc
! crets, its sympathies and it's hatreds.
/ The different clans wage an incessant
and underhand warfare, often giving
rise to hand-tO-hand combats which
4 necessitate the Intervention of the
eunuchs and at times are only checked
with difficulty In fact. il needs all
/ the authority of his highness Abdul
I Cant Agha the grand eunuch, to en-
/ force discipline in the unfortunate and
/ graceful flock over which he guards.