DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62355#0286
126
BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS.
formed the bed. A low sofa or divan runs round the other three sides of the
apartment, luxuriously supplied with cushions, and richly covered with cut velvet
or embroidered satin; and the floor is invariably spread with soft and handsome
carpets.
It is an amusing fact, that an idea of impropriety is attached by Europeans
who have never visited the East, to the very name of a harem; while it is not
less laughable, that they can never give a reason for the prejudice! How little
foundation exists for so unaccountable a fancy must be evident at once, when it
is stated that the harem, or women's apartments, are held so sacred by the
Turks themselves, that they remain inviolate even in cases of popular disturb-
ance, or individual delinquency; the mob never suffering their violence to
betray them into an intrusion on the wives of their victims; and the search
after a fugitive ceasing the moment that the door of the harem separates him
from his pursuers.
It is also a fact, that although a Turk has an undoubted right to enter the
apartments of his wives at all hours, it is a privilege of which he rarely, if ever,
avails himself. One room in the harem is appropriated to the master of the
house, and therein he awaits the appearance of the individual with whom he
wishes to converse, and who is summoned to his presence by a slave. Should
he, on passing to this apartment, see slippers at the foot of the stairs (a token
that a female visitor is in the harem), he cannot, under any pretence whatever,
intrude himself into her presence; it is a liberty which every woman in the
empire would resent; and when guests are on a visit of some days, he sends
a slave forward to announce his approach, and thus gives them time and
opportunity to withdraw.
Every good harem has a commodious bath, and a garden gay with flowers
and fountains attached to it, where the women may wander at will among the
leaves and birds, or dream away the sultry hours in their pretty kiosques over-
hanging the Bosphorus; where from behind the shade of their latticed casements
they can breathe the cool air from the water, and mark the arrowy speed of
the graceful caiques, as they fly along the channel.
The amusements of the harem are few and simple ;—the bath is its greatest
luxury, the remainder of the day being spent in lounging on the divan, listening
to the music of the zebec, played by one of the slaves, and accompanied by the
voices of others; in the arrangement of the jewels worn upon the turban; in
playing with the birds whose gilded cages glitter upon the walls ; in spoiling all
the children within reach; in eating sweetmeats, and drinking water ; or amid
the cool shadows of the garden, hearkening to the fall of the fountains and the
BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS.
formed the bed. A low sofa or divan runs round the other three sides of the
apartment, luxuriously supplied with cushions, and richly covered with cut velvet
or embroidered satin; and the floor is invariably spread with soft and handsome
carpets.
It is an amusing fact, that an idea of impropriety is attached by Europeans
who have never visited the East, to the very name of a harem; while it is not
less laughable, that they can never give a reason for the prejudice! How little
foundation exists for so unaccountable a fancy must be evident at once, when it
is stated that the harem, or women's apartments, are held so sacred by the
Turks themselves, that they remain inviolate even in cases of popular disturb-
ance, or individual delinquency; the mob never suffering their violence to
betray them into an intrusion on the wives of their victims; and the search
after a fugitive ceasing the moment that the door of the harem separates him
from his pursuers.
It is also a fact, that although a Turk has an undoubted right to enter the
apartments of his wives at all hours, it is a privilege of which he rarely, if ever,
avails himself. One room in the harem is appropriated to the master of the
house, and therein he awaits the appearance of the individual with whom he
wishes to converse, and who is summoned to his presence by a slave. Should
he, on passing to this apartment, see slippers at the foot of the stairs (a token
that a female visitor is in the harem), he cannot, under any pretence whatever,
intrude himself into her presence; it is a liberty which every woman in the
empire would resent; and when guests are on a visit of some days, he sends
a slave forward to announce his approach, and thus gives them time and
opportunity to withdraw.
Every good harem has a commodious bath, and a garden gay with flowers
and fountains attached to it, where the women may wander at will among the
leaves and birds, or dream away the sultry hours in their pretty kiosques over-
hanging the Bosphorus; where from behind the shade of their latticed casements
they can breathe the cool air from the water, and mark the arrowy speed of
the graceful caiques, as they fly along the channel.
The amusements of the harem are few and simple ;—the bath is its greatest
luxury, the remainder of the day being spent in lounging on the divan, listening
to the music of the zebec, played by one of the slaves, and accompanied by the
voices of others; in the arrangement of the jewels worn upon the turban; in
playing with the birds whose gilded cages glitter upon the walls ; in spoiling all
the children within reach; in eating sweetmeats, and drinking water ; or amid
the cool shadows of the garden, hearkening to the fall of the fountains and the