WOMEN IN TURKEY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5366, 8 June 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

WOMEN IN TURKEY.

From a review iuTAe Timeslot Les Femmes cn, Turquic, par .Osman Bey (Major , Vladimir Audrejevioh), we take . the following.extract, i The reform, in Turkish polygamy imust begin, where its evils are most apparent, and where it'will produce the greatest effect on the subjects of the Sultan. The spot is ho,dess than the Seraglio of the Sultan himself,'of which Osman Bey treats in the third part of his book. •In the harem, or womeh’s part of the Seraglio,' he has ‘never 'set foot; but hO kiiowa ' every comer of.the mabein. or male quarter, of that '■immensepalace,’ and he does not hesitate to say that the,; social apd domestic reform of Turkey must begin within its walls. . What with the harem .with its seven classes,of -Sultanas, from the Sultana .Vhlidd to the Imperial Princesses 'with "their. separate .establishments, of. ladies and eunuchs, there are not far from 1000 souls in the harem of the Sultan. Then on tho male side,' between buffoons, musicians, eunuchs, ■ cooks; and dwarfs, the Commander of the Faithful haa more than lOOO.attendants to wait on ! him. Fancy '3OOO souls and’bodies, all extravagant and < grasping, and reckon how many purses it must cost to maintain the establishment. in the Seraglio. One little fact, if it bo a fact, may; show .how wasteful the Sultan’s ways are. *i .’According to Osman Bey, it-Would be considered high treason against the dynasty: of Othraan if : the Sultan ever, wore auy articleof dress twice. From the fez on his 1 head ito the slippers on his feet ho must have, new clothes every day of his life. < His tailors must havebo sinecure, and as for the Sultan himself how ho must suffer"from- new. : coats: and pantaloons'on every /day ; never allowed to keep any article of his’dress till ho can get fond of it ; andi then, if ho_ be enlightened enough to wear shoes, - how his feet must .be tortured by a new pair every His -400 wives and their ‘quarrels! and. their-children must be bad enough, but new shoes every day would be worse. Seriously speaking, all this barbarous and useless extravagance must be. swept away ; the Augean stable of the Seraglio must bo cleansed. The new Sultan Will have hard work to make both ends meet in future. Let’him try to effect that useful process by a reform which as become a necessity for the prestflmrtkw of hi* Empire.” -i | ,