Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-11-02
The Sultan's Beauty Show
Abdul Famids Harem and Its Three Hundred Inmates.
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to very ancient custom the sultan new
en- marries a girl of high rank, but
selects his o wives only among his
slaves.
If it happens that among all his
slaves the sultan takes a fancy TO one
in particular the latter becomes
~gueuzde, literally, she who has struck
the eye. The gueuzde is promoted TO
the rank of ikbal, glorifed. If the
ikbal gives birth to a child she be-
comes kadine, or lady, n takes rank
as princess in the harem. She then &C.
cupies a special apartment and has a
large suite of slaves and eunuchs at
tached to her person.
But the kadine is not yet a wife and
can only become SO If a vacancy oc-
ours by the death OF one OF the first
four wives Of the sultan, and If the lat
ter is willing to honor her with the title
Of kadine corsort. 1t would be natural
to suppose that the sultan, possessing
so well populated a seraglio, would be
the father OF a large family, but such
is not the case. The number Of his
children is relatively small, being actu-
ally only thirteen.
Above all the kadines Is the valide
sultana, who Is a sort OF feminine re-
Election Of the sultan. She reigns alb
solutely over the harem. A kadine may
never under any pretext leave the i'm
perial seraglio. This Is not so in the
case Of an adalisque or a mere ikbal
who has had no children. The latter
may be presented by the sultan to a
faVOrite or to some great parsonage
and in this case naturally occupies the
first place in the harem OF her new
master. Often the Padishah makes a
gift of this kin to get rid Of a woman
OF whom he is tired, or whose presence
in the palace seems useless to him
sometimes, however, a mere sinister
design Is hidden under this gracious
favor.
More often still these women are dis
tributed among the harems OF sus-
pectcd persons and charged with the
wretched duty of spying. If 1t hap
pens that the woman becomes at
tached to her new master and does not
carry out her Instructions she loses the
right to r%e-enter the imperial harem.
To be able to return into THE Garden
Of Felicity" and be in favor there she
must render services. This, in the
slang OF the harems, is called, Get
ting your passport"
Sometimes Abdul Hamid discovers for
himself what he desires to know. For
instance, having noticed one day q
young slave who was washing the
handkerChiefs OF her mistress, a ka-
dine, he took a sudden fancy to her and
had her brought to his presence. He
promised her the rank of princess on
condition that she reveal to him what
the ladies Of the harem thought Of him.
Thus encouraged the new ~favorite did
not delay In satisfying her masters
curiosity and old him that the kadine,
her mistress. thought him old and fool
ish. Edited, Abdul Hamid placed the
young slave above her mistress, now
d~isgraCed, saying:
Thus will j act toward all those who
have not in their hearts what they
have on their lips"
The seraglio OF the Sultan Mejid was
formerly the theater of indescribable
orgies, the women being badly looked
after and having no hand to restrain
them. His successor, Abdul AZiz, Jeal-
Gus as a tiger, introduced reform, but
the imperial harem has never been
conducted SO strictly, SO exclusively or
go respectfully, so TO speak, as under
the present sultan. An intrigue in the
Yildiz at the present time Is an impos-
sibility. Imprisoned within a double
row of high and thick walls the women
of the seraglio live in al extraordinary
world of their own to which no man,
except the grand Turk, has ever ac-
cess.
Abdul Hamid prefers pretty and
graceful women to hose of regular
and striking beauty. In this his taste
differs from that of most ~orientals, who
have q prediction for majestic and
heavy forms. 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
it's usual anxieties and worries and at
such times 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 difficulty i'm passing for
q man Of great brilliancy. They are all
densely ignorant women, and the SUI
perflcial education they AVE received
renders them childishly naive. He en-
tertainS them with the political news
and gossip of the day n tells them
anecdotes of foreign courts, of which
he is very fond himself, and this is the
only idea of history they possess.
Dancing, in all h forms that 1t as
sumes in the orient, is very popular In
the harem and is the principal mode OF
amusement-Turkish dances to the a c
compartment of timbrels, t~ambourines,
or n chorus of dangerous voices: and
Circassian, Egyptian and Arabian
dances. The favorites often find amuse-
ment in the dancing of their slaves
| otherwise they spend their time In
childish pursuits, playing with me-
chanical dolls, or they amuse them
selves by initiating the cries OF ami
mails. or else they will smear the faces
of the negress attendants with -four
and put them up to all kinds of tricks
or excite them to quarrel among them
selves.
They all love sweetmeats, tobacco
flowers. perfumes, especially musk ant
violet. of which the sultan is particu
larry fond. They adore Angora cats
parrots. doves, coffee, cards and sug
gestive stories. They crave two Things
being women, because they are prohib'
ited-wine and raki, an oriental brandy
made from the grape, which the KIND
ness of a eunuc sometimes procure'
4, for them.
The westerner, who, by a miracle
succeeded in entering ne seraglio OF tn
great lord without knowing where h
was, would think at first that he ha
before his eyes rich European ladie
assembled in a feminine congress o
beauty and elegance. In fact, the toll
cites of the odalisques tend more an
more TO follow the tyrannical fashion
OF Paris. This evolution, moreover, /
almost general in modern harems, an
the time Is fast approaching when tn
cid and picturesque costume OF tn
Turkish hanoums will exist only as
memory. AT Yildiz the odalisQues wea
cotton or cloth dresses, according I
the time of year, and the princesse
and favorites wear mousseline or silk.