Princess Sultana 39;s Circle Pdf
Penny Bozic
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In publishing the present work I feel that Ishould be deficient in self-justice, did I not statea few facts relatively to the numerous difficultieswith which I have had to contend duringits compilation.
The language of Turkey, in itself a seriousimpediment from its total dissimilarity to everyEuropean tongue, naturally raises a barrier betweenthe native and the stranger, which is tothe last only partially removed by the interventionof a third person; who, acting as an Interpreter,too frequently fritters away the soul ofthe conversation, even where he does not wilfullypervert its sense. But this drawback to afull and free intercourse with the natives, irritatingand annoying as it is, sinks into insignificance,when compared with the myriad snareslaid for the stranger, (and, above all, for theliterary stranger) by party-spirit and politicalviprejudice. The liberal-minded and high-heartedpolitician of Europe, even while he is strainingevery nerve, and exerting every energy, to supportand strengthen the interests of his country,disdains to carry with him into private life thehatreds, the jealousies, and the suspicions, which,like rust on metal, mar the brightness of thespirit that harbours them. He does not rejecta friend because his political tenets may be atvariance with his own; nor overlook the amiabletraits of his character, to dwell only upon hisopposing prejudices and interests.
Such are the adventitious and unnecessarydifficulties that have been gratuitously preparedfor the Eastern traveller, and superadded toixthe natural impediments of the locality; and ofthese he has infinitely more reason to complain,than of the unavoidable obstacles which meethim at every step in his commerce with thenatives. That the Turks as a people, and particularlythe Turkish females, are shy of makingthe acquaintance of strangers, is most true; theirhabits and feelings do not lend themselves readilyto a familiar intercourse with Europeans;nor are they induced to make any extraordinaryeffort to overcome the prejudice with which theyever look upon a Frank, when they rememberhow absurdly and even cruelly they have beenmisrepresented by many a passing traveller, possessedneither of the time nor the opportunityto form a more efficient judgment.
When my father and myself left Europe, itwas with the intention of visiting, not onlyTurkey, but also Greece, and Egypt; and weaccordingly carried with us letters to influentialindividuals, resident in each of those interestingcountries, whose assistance and friendship wouldhave been most valuable to us. And, for the twoor three first months of our sojourn in Constantinople,while yet unwilling to draw deductions,and to trust myself with inferences, which might,and probably would, ultimately prove erroneous,xI suffered myself to be misled by the assertionsand opinions of prejudiced and party-spiritedpersons, and still maintained the same purpose.But, when awakened to a suspicion of the spirit-thrallin which I had been kept, I resolved tohazard no assertion or opinion which did notemanate from personal conviction, and I foundthat I could not prove an honest chronicler if Imerely contented myself with a hurried andsuperficial survey of a country constituted likeTurkey.
To this conviction must consequently be attributedthe fact that the whole period of my sojournin the East was passed in Constantinople,and a part of Asia Minor. But my personal disappointmentwill be over-paid, should it be concededthat I have not failed in the attempt of affordingto my readers a more just and complete insightinto Turkish domestic life, than they have hithertobeen enabled to obtain.
It was on the 30th of December, 1835, thatwe anchored in the Golden Horn; my long-indulgedhopes were at length realized, and theQueen of Cities was before me, throned on herpeopled hills, with the silver Bosphorus, garlandedwith palaces, flowing at her feet!
As my gaze wandered along the shore, and,passing by the extensive grove of cypresses thatwave above the burying-ground, once more followedthe course of the Bosphorus, I watched thewaves as they washed the very foundation of thedwellings that skirt it, until I saw them chafingand struggling at the base of the barrack ofTopphann, and at intervals flinging themselveshigh into the air above its very roof.
To an European eye, the scene, independentlyof its surpassing beauty and utter novelty, pos4sessedtwo features peculiarly striking; the extremevicinity of the houses to the sea, which inmany instances they positively overhang; andthe vast number of aquatic fowl that throngthe harbour. Seagulls were flying past us inclouds, and sporting like domestic birds aboutthe vessel, while many of the adjoining roofswere clustered with them; the wild-duck andthe water-hen were diving under our very sternin search of food; and shoals of porpoises wereevery moment rolling by, turning up their whitebellies to the light, and revelling in safety amidthe sounds and sights of a mighty city, asthough unconscious of the vicinity of danger.How long, I involuntarily asked myself, wouldthis extraordinary confidence in man be repaidby impunity in an English port? and the answerwas by no means pleasing to my national pride.
Then came a third, gliding along like a nautilus,with its small white sail; and bearing abevy of Greeks, whose large flashing eyesgleamed out beneath the unbecoming fz, orcap of red cloth, with its purple silk tassel,and ornament of cut paper, bound round thehead among the lower classes, by a thick blackshawl, tightly twisted. This was followed bya fourth, impelled by two lusty rowers, whereinthe round hats and angular costume of a partyof Franks forced your thoughts back upon thecountry that you had left, only to be recalledthe next instant by a freight of Armenian merchantsreturning from the Charshees of Constantinople6to their dwellings at Galata andPera. As I looked on the fine countenances,the noble figures, and the animated expressionof the party, how did I deprecate their shavenheads, and the use of the frightful calpac, whichI cannot more appropriately describe than bycomparing it to the iron pots used in Englishkitchens, inverted! The graceful pelisse, however,almost makes amends for the monstroushead-gear, as its costly garniture of sable ormarten-skin falls back, and reveals the robe ofrich silk, and the cachemire shawl folded aboutthe waist. Altogether, I was more struck with theArmenian than the Turkish costume; and thereis a refinement and tenue about the wearers singularlyattractive. Their well-trimmed mustachioes,their stained and carefully-shaped eyebrows,their exceeding cleanliness, in short,their whole appearance, interests the eye atonce; nor must I pass over without remarktheir jewelled rings, and their pipes of almostcountless cost, grasped by fingers so white andslender that they would grace a woman.
My continued indisposition compelled myfather and myself to remain another day onboard; but I scarcely felt the necessity irksome.All was so novel and so full of interest aroundme, and my protracted voyage had so thoroughlyinured me to privation and inconvenience, that Iwas enabled to enjoy the scene without oneregret for land. The same shifting panorama,the same endless varieties of sight and sound,occupied the day; and the same magic illusionslent a brilliancy and a poetry to the night.
This difficult, and in most cases impossible,achievement for an European was rendered easyto me by the fact that, shortly after our landing,I procured an introduction to a respectableTurkish merchant; and I had no sooner writtento propose a visit to his harem than I receivedthe most frank and cordial assurances of welcome.
The apartment into which we were usheredwas large and warm, richly carpeted, and surroundedon three sides by a sofa, raised abouta foot from the ground, and covered withcrimson shag; while the cushions, that restedagainst the wall or were scattered at intervalsalong the couch, were gaily embroidered withgold thread and coloured silks. In one angleof the sofa stood the tandour: a piece of furnitureso unlike any thing in Europe, that I cannotforbear giving a description of it.
18The tandour is a wooden frame, covered witha couple of wadded coverlets, for such theyliterally are, that are in their turn overlaid bya third and considerably smaller one of richsilk: within the frame, which is of the heightand dimensions of a moderately sized breakfasttable, stands a copper vessel, filled with theembers of charcoal; and, on the two sides thatdo not touch against the sofa, piles of cushionsare heaped upon the floor to nearly the sameheight, for the convenience of those whose rankin the family does not authorize them to takeplaces on the couch.
The double windows, which were all at theupper end of the apartment, were closely latticed;and, at the lower extremity of the room,in an arched recess, stood a classically-shapedclay jar full of water, and a covered goblet in aglass saucer. Along a silken cord, on eitherside of this niche, were hung a number of napkins,richly worked and fringed with gold; anda large copy of the Koran was deposited beneatha handkerchief of gold gauze, on a carved rosewoodbracket.
In the middle of the floor was placed the mangal,a large copper vessel of about a foot in height,resting upon a stand of the same material raisedon castors, and filled, like that within the tandour,with charcoal.
The room was a perfect square, totally un22furnished,save that in the centre of the floorwas spread a carpet, on which stood a woodenframe, about two feet in height, supporting animmense round plated tray, with the edge slightlyraised. In the centre of the tray was placed acapacious white basin, filled with a kind of coldbread soup; and around it were ranged a circleof small porcelain saucers, filled with slicedcheese, anchovies, caviare, and sweetmeats ofevery description: among these were scatteredspoons of box-wood, and goblets of pink andwhite sherbet, whose rose-scented contents perfumedthe apartment. The outer range of thetray was covered with fragments of unleavenedbread, torn asunder; and portions of the Ramazancake, a dry, close, sickly kind of paste, glazedwith the whites of eggs, and strewed over withaniseeds.
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