THE CHANGING EAST

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 46, 18 November 1919, Page 11

THE CHANGING EAST

A TANGO ON THE BOSFHOKUS. Tho'Constantinople correspondent of the Lonoon "Times" interestingly describes the changing life of women in the East. Five years ago a Turkish ladv would never have doited veH aud "ehnrchaf" in tho public rooms of any hotel, if. indeed, she had entered .them. Now the "Hnrem" come in'to dine in eveniii" frocks, which pnly'diffcr from those worn by their'nori-Moslcm sisters in beine less "aecollctees/ , ■■''.■ Thev have a pretty-headdress,:-the silk handkerchief, generally.''.cmbroiceretl, tied behind in bows and falling over the naue and shoulders, which the Hanuni wears intlooi'S... Their; -taste : is,genernlly good. The type varies amazingly, .for if some are simply Mediterraneans and some are indistinguishable from Greeks, others show a strongly Asiatic-, profile, and one often notices a "piqunntc" face which one might best describe as Mongol eve and cheekbone, Jewish nose and mouth, Arab slimness' and carriage of the heart—a throwback, perhaps, to some early cross between Tartar and Armenian or Arab. Some are on their.honeymoon and wear the plain gold;"ring on the third finger of.the left hand,' as do Europeans, a new custom this among Turkish folk. After dinner-jin orchestra strikes up, I and tho Hanums crowd into tho dr.awingroom. where somo Russian and- Rumanian girls are dancing- A brown-faced ultra smart little Turk, a sort of mns■tnr of ceremonies, darts in, and. begins fo one-step with a Rumanian,;;..' Next a Russian couple nance some Russian, peasant dance, and the Turkish Indies clnp their hands and discuss every'point in tho dancing ..vith much animation; So far no Haniim'lias danced. But the door from the verandah opens, and thrco women enter, tall, excessively well'dressed: boiewelled, ana' followed by a male nondescript. Tho tallest and most expensively dressed and one of her rompniiionsa're Turks—rho third may be a Greek: all have that faint suggestion of coarseness and foxiness on otherwise handsome faces that betrays their calling... ... . ... . , ■ :. A vounpt '.Turkish bride and- her. girl friend sifting- near mo are intensely amused and just a little scandalised— ■"Mv lamb. ■ if mother knew that people like that came here!" 'Tint, Feridiy look at her jewels, that npek lace must be worth —-I" "But my- dear who id she?" "Do I know the. names of persons of that' class?" '■ Anothc-r Hanum supplies the; information.!. "Oh. she is'Z—, a great dancer, so well known in-'-'Pera, a dreadful woman, and do you see .that low percon with her." .'.■■' ■:■.': Tim orchestra strikes up a tnngo, and . (strange portent' of Turkey's now age) /i.'s Turkish companion donees, and presentlv tho master, of ceremonial pilots Z. herself, who is obviously unlearned in European dances, through a few steps. . Ferirte ami her friends pretend •to look shocked nt th-i spectacle,..but' we really vastly interested, and would not have missed it for worlds. By flie doprwuy stands an old Turkish Kehetvilr—still straight backed and slurdv—a , mnn who I'M fought with , good fortune and evil in the Haijaz, in Yemtn. in the Balkans, who had been a Spraskicr. in his day; qne of the old school.' He should be-looking, sternly on this frivolous scene, for hns lie not always passed as a stern and somewhat nnstere OM nnd a reactionnry at heart? Should he indeed bp looking at all? But though it would be more artistic to introduce' him ns a grim and protesting figure, a symbol of Islnmic Conservatism, I ruth compels m<3 to shite that eo i'nr fmm being shocketf ho looked like a genial grandpa watching H\e liurscrv romps with benevolent indulgence, thpush I .think hs did not quite nrimii'fc /'. Ilnmim. Tjpcitleclly the Uiichangiiix .East is changing mow'sind more rapidly. A little more of this and we 'Western dwellers at Constantinople will begin to feel l'iilher old-fashioned. Gcrmnnv'a siijjar production shows a decrease of nearly two million double centners' (irpproximiitcry'll)C|B"s'ton£) v -.iis compared , with last year. .