A TURKISH ROYAL WEDDING.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3183, 10 September 1881, Page 4

A TURKISH ROYAL WEDDING.

The following description of the recent marriage of Naile Sultana, one of the two imperial brKl~~, has hsen supplied to a correspondent, tit Constantinople by an English lady who was an invited guest: On our arrival at the hon°<\ ■> Uvea building situated up a steep, narrow stivet, not far from Do!ma Baghtche Palace, wo were ushered by half a dozen eunuchs through an ante-rooni, in which lounged a few attendants, into a fine apartment crowded with slaves. We were just beginning to tire of watching the throng, when the stir without proclaimed the coming of the bridegroom, a man of 24 year" of age, short, and inclined to sloufness, but not wanting in a certain comeliness. Naile Sullana had herself chosen him at the Friday's selamlih. This power of selecting a husband, by inspection, as it were, is a privilege of Princesses of the House of Othman, and is carried to such an extent that even if the favoured gentleman already possesses a wife, he must divorce her and wed the Sultana. Cases of this kind are rai-e, but one at least has occurred during the latter half of the present century, when an officer was compelled, much against his will, to comply with the custom. Being rich, however, he sought consolation in keeping his discarded love in a separate establishment, a proceeding which is supposed to have reached the ears of his royal partner. In the Ipresont instance on the contrary, Mehemet Bey was quite ready to embrace the chance which Fortune offered him. Poor and without interest, a simple aide de camp uncertain of promation, he suddenly finds himself the husband of his Sovereign's sister, a General and Highness to boot. His appearance was the signal for a frantic rush, to which he responded by scattering quantities of silver piastres (in olden days they would have been golden liras) amongt the slaves. The scramble that ensued baffles description. Eunuchs and girls fought and tore each other in their eagerness to obtain the coveted coins, which are understood to bring extraordinarily good luck to their happy possessors. So great was the confusion that the bridegroom could not force his way along, which being perceived by an old woman, chief of the harem, she seized a thick rod and laid WiiV.yJTM'rinMy around 1 ! •: witi. unsparing rury. On breasts, backs, heads, and legs descended the sharp cuts, but the slaves seemed not to care ; long acquaintance with the stick had possibly rendered them callous to its sting, or else the pressure from behind did not allow the foremost to retreat, till at length, every piece having been picked up, the mass of heated, dishevelled, and bruised women fell back and permitted the bridegroom to pass, for the first time, into the presence of his bride. The ceremony of marriage was iaen immediately performed, but only witnessed by the Sultana's mother. If merely consisted in the Imam tying them together with a rope, and declaring them man and wife. Directly this was over, Meliemefc Pasha escaped by a side entrance, to avoid being mobbed and buffeted, according to the common practice of the slaves, who must have been appeased by unlimited backsheesh. As soon as the doors were thrown open the whole mob poured helter-skelter into the inner chamber, where the bride was sitting in state with a sister by her side. All the slaves, and also the few Armenian ladies who had been invited, bent humbly down and kissed the hem of her garment; but with, us she shook hands without rising, and motioned us to chairs very near her. A fair, sweet-faced woman of some 22 summers is Naile Sultana. She was dressed in a loose-fitting Turkish robe of rose-colored silk slashed with gold, whilst a long white gauze veil, likewise embroidered with gold, drooped down from behind the little cap that surmounted her tightly drawn up hair. On her shapely hands and bosom sparkled magnificent diamonds. Her singlebutton gloves had burst in fastening, and altogether her toilet was far less perfect and rich than we had expected. Close by stood her mother, a bright-eyed, plain-featured old lady, who, being a slave, cannot publicly sit in the presence of a princess although her own daughter, but who, good woman, accepted the strange position with the strongest marks of pi'ide and pleasure, contenting herself with arranging from time to time the folds of the bride's enormous train or sweep of the veil, and repulsing several attempts made by the slaves to pay her, too, respect. Watching her without knowledge of the relationship, we should have put her down from dress and manner as a favorite nurse whom faithful services justified in trifling acts of familiarity. Na'ile herself appeared to us much amused by the unwonted animation and bustle, for we caught her more than once biting her finger to avoid laughing outright. Having satisfied our curiosity, and received an unanticipated apology from the mother, who explained that she had been searching for us in a room which had been reserved, but to which we, pleased by the novel scene, had declined to retire, we rose; and after wishing the bride every happiness, bade her farewell. With a kindly smile she thanked us, and, shaking hands, asked iis to come and gee her again. In the outer room further refreshments were brought us, and with them appeared the Sultana's sister, who wished thus to pay us a compliment. Her slaves immediately handed her cigarettes, but she steadily refused to shock our European prejudices by smoking, and when we left she rose with ready courtesy to return in the graceful Turkish fashion our parting bow. Yesterday the bridegroom entertained his friends, to-night he eats out of the same dish as his bride, and to-morrow both of them, as well as the slaves, must feed on sheeps' trotters. We could not ascertain the meaning of this custom, which concludes the three days' ceremonies.