Year: 1870

A MAN OF WIVES.


The most illustrious and impor-


tant Of the passengers on board the


Minich (writes a correspondent of


the London Daily Telegraph, is a


Pasha, who is escorting his harem


from Constantinople to Alexandria.


Of the eight saloons, the doors Of


which open upon our narrow cabin,


six are occupied by the Fasha and
family-or to speak more accurately,


his families, for there are many.
The Irishman, when he was carried
in a sedan chair with no bottom to
it, remarked that, but for the honor
of the thing, he might as well have


walked I might almost say that
though l have had the privilege OF


berth i'll d separate saloon, might


as well, but for the honor Of the


thing have been an inmate of the


Pashas harem. AS I sat in the


cabin waiting, the door of each OF
the various saloons opens in turn,


and, with the utmost wish not to
see, 1 cannot help becoming ac-


quainted with the most intimate de-


tails of the inner life of the seraglio.


In every pantomime there is a stock


scene in which a house is shown


upon the stage with any number OF


doors in the facade, and as fast as


one shuts another opens. / often


fancy that l am the solitary specta-
tor of a pantomime in which clown


and columbine, harlequin and pan


taloon have attired themselves a la


Iarque for my especial entertain


ment. The dramatis persome, as far
as I have been able to grasp the
play, are as follows: The chief
actor, manager and director is the
Pasha himself. I don't think
ever saw man so fat for his height,
or SO short in stature for his girth.
When he is en- dishabiNe, he looks
for all the world like one of the
Chinese mandarin figures which are
placed upon chimney pieces, and
nod perpetually. Dressed in a
chintz bedgown, festooned round
his waist-with a red sash, the
lower half round figure is twice the
bulk of his upper. When in full
attire, he wears a green robe lined
with fur, green turban, and dia-
mond ring with stone SO large
that I cannot but doubt its genuine
ness. His face would be handsome
if it were not so distented with fat !;
his eyes are bright, his skin white !;
and / should question whether, un-
wie1dy as he is, not much over
forty. He looks intelligent, and as
good -humored.as a man well can be
who loves quiet life and is worried
all day long by any number of
wives. They tell me on the boat
that he has four legitimate spouses !;
but besides them what with concu-
bines, slaves and servants, he has
at least a dozen women who have
a vested right to his attention. The
four wives-the lawful ones I mean
are of various ages. There is an
old wrinkled beldame who has a
voice and terrible tongue,
and who spends her time trotting
about with her veil all awry over
her face, chattering perpetually and
scolding everybody she comes
across. The second wife is a wo-
man well on toward forty, with a
face already assuming the nut
cracker shape, and with sharp,
sour look which years are sure to
develop. Wife number three is
dark, sallow brunette, with bold
flashing eyes, and the look of a
woman able to hold her own in any
position in which she may be
placed; while the better half-or
better eighth I suppose I ought to
say-No. 4, is young, sprightly,
dark-eyed damsel of 19 or 20, who
wears lavender kid gloves with four
buttons, and has a white silk para
sol lined with black lace, and a veil
so tightly tied round her straw sail
or's hat that you might take her for
a European lady. Each of these
four danes has her own separate
suite of servants, and most of them
have children and nurses, though to
whom the families belong 1 have
not been able to discover. There
are two pretty fair little children-a
boy and a girl--of whom the Pasha
is extremely fond. He is always
feeding them with cakes, sweets and
fruit, and they have their abode in
the largest saloon, where is also
baby in arms. But, besides, there
is dark little boy somewhat older
to whom nobody pays much atten-
ton, and who is more or less in
everybody's way, and evinces a dis
position to be friendly with the
Giaour which is not to be observed
in his more favored playmates. 1t
is easy enough to guess that he is
the Ishmael of the household,
though who is the Hagar, I cannot
tell. 1t may be the pretty soft
eyed woman I sometimes catch a
glimpse of peeping through the