The Savannah morning news., 1901-09-29

legitimate wives. In addition 10 THESE
four wives he may have as many
| slaves (djarie) as his means permit
concubines whose children are as le-
Ultimate as those of the wives. Ac-
cording to very ancient custom the
! Sultan never marries a girl of hlgn
| rank, but selects his four wives only
among his slaves.
If it happens that among all his
slaves the Sultan takes fancy to one
| in particular the latter becomes gueuz-
de Literally, she who has struck the
eye). On leaving the imperial alcove
the gueuzde is promoted to the rank
of ikbal (glorified.) If the ikbal gives
birth to a child she becomes kadine, or
lady and takes rank as princess In
the harem. She then occupies spec
ial apartment and has a large suite
of slaves and eunuchs attached to her
person. But the kadine is not yet
wife and can only become so If va
cancy occurs by the death of one of
the first four wives of the Sultan. and
If the latter is willing to honor her
with the title of kadine-consort. 1t
would be natural to suppose that the
Sultan, possessing so we'll 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 actually only thirteen.
Above all the kadines is the valide sui
tana, who is a sort of feminine refiec-
ton of the SSltan. She reigns abso-
lutely over the harem. A kadine may
never under any pretext leave the inn
perial seraglio. This is not so in the
case of an odalisque or OF mere TX
bal who has had no children. The lat
tire may be presented by the Sultan
to a favorite or to some great per-
sonage, and in this case naturally oc-
cupies the first place in the harem or
her new master. Often the Padishah
makes a gift of this kind of get rid
of a woman of whom he is tired, or
whose presence in the palace seems
useless to him; sometimes, however,
a more sinister design is hidden I'M
der this gracious favor and the wosn-
an thus offered may be sent on ter
rible mission to the man OF whom she
becomes the wife. More often
still these women are distrlp-
uted among the harems of suspected
persons and charged with the wretched
duty of spying. If it happens that the
woman becomes attached to her new
master and does not carry out her IN
structions she loses the right to re-en-
ter 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 ha-
Sometimes Abdul Hamid discovers for
himself what he desires to know. For
instance, having noticed one day
young slave who was washing the
handkerchiefs of her mistress, 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 ia
vorite did not delay in satisfying her
masters curiosity, and told him that
the kadine, his mistress, thought him
old and foolish. Edited, Abdul Mamid
placed the young slave above her mis-
tress, now disgraced, saying: Thus
will / act towards all those who have
not in their hearts what they have on
their lips"
The seraglio of the Sultan Medjid
was formerly the theater of indiscrib-
able orgies, the women being badly
looked after and having no hand to
restrain them. His successor, Abdul
Aziz, jealous as a tiger, introduced
reform. but the imperial harem has
never been conducted so strictly, so
so exclusively or so respectfully, so to
speak, as under the present Sultan. An
intrigue in the Yildiz at the present
time is an impossibility. Imprisoned
within a double row of high and thick
walls the women of the seraglio live
in an extraordinary world of their
own to which no man, except the
Grand Turk, has ever access.
Abdul Hamid prefers pretty and
graceful women to those of regular and
striking beauty. In this his taste diff
fers from that of most Orientals, who
have a 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 sue
ceeded in inspiring some of them with
feelings of affection.
At times he condescends to enter in
to conversation with his favorites,
with whom he has no difficulty in pass
ing for a man of great brilliancy. They
are all densely ignorant women, and
the superficial education they have re-
ceived renders them childishly naive.
He entertains them with the political
news and gossip of the day and 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 the 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
accompaniment of timbrels, tambour-
ines, or a chorus of dangerous voices
and Circassian, Egyptian and Arabian
dances. The favorites often find
amusement in the dancing of their
slaves. Otherwise they spend their
time in real childishness, playing with
mechanical 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 flour,
and put them up to all kinds of tricks
or excite them to quarrel among them
selves. They all love sweetmeats, to-
bacco, flowers, perfumes, especially
musk and violet, of which the Sultan is
particularly fond. They adore Angora
cats, parrots, doves; coffee, cards and
suggestive stories. They crave two
things, being women, because they are
prohibited-wine and raki Can Oriental
brandy made from the grape), which
the kindness of eunuch sometimes
procures for them.
One may imagine the rivalries and
jealousies of all kinds and the COM
plicated intrigues that occur among
these idle women, all young, ardent or
ambitious. They form numerous little
cliuues. each having its secrets, its
sympathies, its 'hatreds. The different
| clans wage an incessant warfare,
which often gives rise to hand-to hand
| fights, necessitating the intervention
of the eunuchs. In fact, IL requires all
the authority of His Highness, Abdul
GAM Agha, the grand eunuch, to en-