IN A TURK'S HAREM.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 150, 25 February 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

IN A TURK'S HAREM.

DESCRIBING THE DAILY LIFE OF A TURKISH WIFE. When a Turkish girl reaches her 'teens the laws of her land compel her to "take tiie veil." Her girlhood days are ended, almost before they have well begun; henceforth she is regarded as ; woman, on whose face, however fair, the outside world of men may never look; and she exchanges unfettered freedom for the closely-guarded seclusion of the harem, for the life of a prisoner, however sumptuous her prison and however gilded her (ha ils. How she dreads this prospect we know from the confession yf a Turkish princess who i-ay.s: "Tiie iuture had for me ;in indescribable terror. I was well clothed, wel 1 fed, invar-orated amid-t surroundings of silk, satin and jewels, and waited on day and night by s'aves whose position : n life only differed from my own in a small degree; for while the slaves were recognised as such, I became a slave in a'l but the name.''

When in process of time the girl becomes ,n wife, her .»>t is no more enviable. Probably she shares the enpriclous affection of her lord with three other wives, who are iier unscrupulous rivals and nith whom she is condemned to l : V(i on at least outward terms of amiability.

ALWAYS WATCHED AND GUARDED. Once a day, perhaps, she i.s allowed to leave tiie harem for a walk or drive, her face veiled, herse'f as closely watched and guarded as any prisoner. Every night she bleeps behind locked and guarded doors; and she dares not speak above a whisper for fear of listening ears behind the arras. Tiie very slave--, I e.iutiful Circass'jv,, g'rls, who minister to her wants, arc her dangerous rivals, scheming with cunning arts and veiled coquetries m win her husband's favours for themselves: and she knows that for the mnsi trivial cause he can divorce her at any moment. All that is necessary i,-. for her lord to write to her, or to say in the pr ence of a w'tness, that he wishes to be rid of her; and she is divorced there and then. If he relents and takes her back into fa\our. he can repeat the process ,\s often as lie wishes: so that her position is never secure for an hour. Picture the long day of the harem ladies —lounging on rich divans, reading, gossiping, dreanrng or quarrelling, as the mood suggests; the languid hours spent in dressing, painting the complexion a bewitching hue. perfuming, in an attempt to outrival each other in beauty and adornment; hours spent in eating rich and 'ndigestible foods and sweetmeats —a life of souldestroying ease and luxury, varied by occasional visits from female friends or from professional buffoons whose coar-e jokes and anecdotes amuse some, but dl-gnit others.

After the coffee and an hour's gossip, the ladies are conducted through an avenue of salaaming slaves, to the bathhouse, converted into a bower of flowers, with rich rugs, brocade-hang-ings, and mirrors, on doors and ceil-

Here, to the singing of the slaves, and the sound of splashing and merry laughter, the ladies disport themselves for hours in the tepid and pellucid water, until, weary at last of the bath, they adjourn to the cooling-rooms. Wrapped in .silk coverlets and lying on snowy sheets and pillows, they are wooed to slumber by the sound of a low, nntrmurng song.