The inmates of the harem—The tyranny of life and death exercised over women—What they do and how they live in their prisons—Preservation of beauty the chief aim of life—The arts of the toilette—Eastern idea of beauty—Jealousy in the harem—Cruelty of Mahometan husbands.

THE ladies constituting the families of the late Khedive Ismail Pacha and of his numerous sons are in many respects an exception to a general rule, in their accomplishments, education, and manners. While they have, in many respects, European customs and habits, yet these are modified by restraints of seclusion ; and they share with their sisters of all classes the odious law of the Prophet, that they should be held prisoners under a rigid surveillance of guardians especially prepared for the unholy office.

Statements are made that serious misunderstandings often occur among them in consequence of this oppression. There is no doubt that the beautiful young daughter of the Khedive, who was accustomed until thirteen years of age to visit the opera without a veil, rebelled when the time came for incarceration, and that she lamented in tears her unfortunate fate. Marrying soon after her seclusion, she lived but a few months. Universally the Moslem women know nothing of life, being simply pieces of furniture in their homes. With no education, they are strangers to the interests and affairs of their masters ; decked out with fine dresses and jewelry, they are sensuously content. They amuse themselves in crunching melon-seeds, eating candy, smoking cigarettes, and showing their jewelry and fine toilettes to their friends. Living a life of ease and indolence, they are never supposed to spoil their hands with labor or rack their brains with thought. When they toil, their sole occupation is to beautify themselves. When young they are well made ; their extremities are fine and their hands are soft, white, and supple, and they might be likened to the budding flower which opens at the first rays of the morning sun. Their complexions are white, and their cheeks tinged with rose ; their eyes are sometimes blue, but that is exceptional ; they are generally black as jet, and when fully open are of almond form and full of sensibility and delicate sweetness. They never conceal them, and gallant men often confess that they have interfered with their repose of mind. It is pleasing to speak of these beauties, for they have few to admire even this much of their comeliness. The houses, many of them, are elegant, and so constructed as to completely conceal the hidden glance of the fair who are doomed to eternal isolation when without a veil, as no woman can be seen lawfully by any other man than her husband. She is forbidden the homage that all nature demands. Controlled by a powerful hand, and bound irrevocably by custom, she is compelled not only to kiss the hand of her tyrant, but to hug the chain which manacles her.

This despotism is the more extraordinary on the part of the men, inasmuch as they pretend to feel delight in beautiful objects of nature ; they will watch the play of birds for hours, and think it a crime to disturb or deprive them of the free air they breathe. Yet they incarcerate the loveliest and most beautiful of all the Creator's works, and think it a great favor to permit woman's enjoyment of a flowering shrub in some hidden recess. In tearing aside the impenetrable curtain of the harem, it is only to see its inmates, like the flower which the heated Khamsin touches, withering under a jealous despot whom the law arms with complete power, and whose cruel suspicion is endured in slavish silence. Such is the rule of custom, which alone regulates society among Mahometans, if intercourse between the sexes there can be dignified with so exalted a term. The women rarely leave their homes, or even enjoy the beauties of nature, as do the men, who profess great love for rare exotics and beautiful flowers. They are employed in preserving their complexions, the delicate tint of which is never blemished by the light of the sun, and enhancing their beauty by every means that long-studied art can effect, only to please one whose delight is assured when he knows that his prisoner is safely confined. It seems incredible to men used to our Western civilization that in the nineteenth century, among so large a portion of the human family there should be an impassable barrier drawn between the sexes, when every manly inspiration dictates a generous sympathy for the delicate and graceful woman whose instincts prompt her to trust in man as the natural protector of her sex. Here she finds in him, on the contrary, a violator of a great law of nature, who assumes the right not only to shackle her mind, but also to confine her person by a law of his own creation. So binding is the law that no man shall see the face of a woman not his property, that in case of a violation of its sanctity, it looks with favor on the action of the injured husband should he solace his jealousy with the death of the intruder. It is not even permitted to recognize a woman outside of the harem. In spite of strenuous precautions and the difficulties which environ them, Moslem women, eluding the greatest watchfulness, are fond of coquetting, like their Western sisters. Though entirely uncultivated, they have delicate and pretty ways, and show, as if by accident, their beautiful dresses and jewelry in opening the black silk habarah which envelops them when on the street. No women excel them in the language of the eyes, which with them are always large and wide open.

Society among the inmates of the harem means simply smoking cigarettes and pipes, and the most trivial amusements. Instead of the sparkling conversation and pleasant music with which the sexes reciprocally entertain each other among Western people, horrible screamings, the monotonous noise of drums, and the clang of tambourines are here the solace of woman in her hours of ease. The boasted luxury of the palaces offers in its isolation no attraction to a refined nature. This life makes people prematurely old ; a man of fifty is wrinkled and superannuated, and a woman of thirty has passed her meridian. No one works unless compelled to it, as tranquillity of mind and person best pleases the Oriental taste. They ignore the passage of time, which never disturbs them with the cry of bukrah (to-morrow) ; yet people write of the fascinations of Eastern life. It may be the climate, with its sunny sky and the quickening air of the desert, or possibly the stagnation of existence which deludes them. It cannot be the effort of thinking or of feeling that awakens pleasing impressions, for there is nothing here that does not clash with every sentiment, habit, and custom of intellectual life. Society is the isolation of a prison, though the captives are surrounded by numbers of people. The philosopher residing in the East is forced to meditate bitterly upon the waste of humanity around him. Only an anchorite whose religious duty consists in counting beads could be charmed with such monotony and silence. The man of energy and thought would think it a cruel punishment to be forced to undergo the ordeal of intellectual stagnation amid a people whose ignorance and indolence fill their minds with egotism, obstinacy, and self-importance.

It is a common thing for Egyptians who have been educated by order of the government in the best colleges in Europe to come back to Eastern life and immediately throw away their books, abandon intercourse with intelligent foreigners, shut themselves in a harem among ignorant women, and there end their existence. This is probably what they mean when they say that “ in their education of mind they do not neglect the heart.” An Eastern man will sit for hours inhaling the perfume of a sweet flower and enjoying the music of a fountain (murmuring at the time a chapter in the Koran, without stopping to understand its meaning) and the beautiful objects of nature which Allah has spread before him. He enjoys to-day, but never thinks of preserving objects which please him in sculpture or painting, however dear to him, for the sake of the pleasure they might give in the future. This their writers call a life rich in sensations.

Eastern women study beauty of person, believing that the sole end of their life and their mission on earth is to bear children. No wonder that the women create in the minds of their masters that fear of infidelity of which Mahometans complain. Whenever this calamity overtakes them, as it sometimes does, it must be held by every fair mind to be, so far as the injured men are concerned, a just recompense for their suspicious and cruel treatment of their women. Though the same laws and customs control all classes, yet it would be a mistake to think that women in common life possess all the loveliness and beauty of the favored few, or that they spend their time in adorning their persons. The women of the fellah class when young are the perfection of symmetry. They soon, however, lose their suppleness and good looks, from hard labor and maternity, in premature age, instead of preserving the rosy freshness of those who live in luxury. They have the same dark brown skin as the fellah, and labor alike with him, exposed to the eternal sun which dyes their tawny complexions a still darker hue ; and like the men they wear a blue cotton dress, the men binding it round the waist, and the women draping themselves in its loose folds. The style of dress of all classes is unvarying. Like their religion, it is the law, and their dreams are never disturbed by the rapid changes of fashion. When on the street it is amusing to see the most elegant lady, apparently a black or white package, waddling along in yellow slippers with pointed toes, and their large, languid black eyes glittering with curiosity at sight of a stranger. The eyes are the only features seen, and even these would be veiled by law also, but that there is so close a similarity in the appearance of women when clothed in the habarah that their nearest kin cannot distinguish them.

Juvenal says that the Roman ladies heightened the beauty of their eyes by dyeing, and we all know the advice of Ischomachus to his wife on this interesting subject, as related by Plato in one of his Socratic dialogues. It is a traditional art with the Eastern women of all classes and ages to enlarge the eye and make it blacker, if possible, by tingeing the eyelashes and eyebrows with the kholol or antimony powder, which is mixed with the vapors of the lamp or smoke of amber. The fair one who knows this cunning device can imagine how the deep shading of the eye heightens the extreme whiteness of the complexion of these secluded women, when beheld under the illusion of the veil. Unfortunately, the coloring does not bear close inspection, and gives the face a severe and saddened expression. It has been ascertained that this art was sanctioned by immemorial usage among the ancient Egyptians, as many of their mummies are found with stained eyelids and lashes like those of the modern Egyptians. It has always been an Eastern custom not only to dye with henna the surroundings of the eye, but also to tint the rosy nails and palms of the hand and the toe-nails and bottoms of the feet. The women of the country are accustomed to prick peculiarly formed pictures with India-ink upon their chins and the backs of their hands. Before decorating the soles of their feet, already delicate among the refined, they are rubbed with a little instrument made of clay until they become still softer and smoother, and therefore better fit to absorb the preparation. The dye is made of the flower of the henna-tree, grown in Egypt, and pulverized. When used it is diluted in water, afterward rubbed on and covered for an hour It then becomes of an orange color, which to the eye of the Egyptian is very beautiful. Wilkinson says that the priests of the ancient religion of Egypt shaved the entire person, thinking it made them clean and pure in approaching the throne of God. The faithful sons of the Prophet are followers of this custom to a great extent. They sometimes leave a tuft of hair on the heads of their boys, that an angel may by it take them to heaven in case of death, and the men often let their beards grow, which in old age are considered a great ornament. The women cultivate the hair on their heads with loving care, for it is considered by them universally a thing of beauty ; but in order that all roughness may be smoothed and the skin have a beautiful polish over the whole person, the hair is entirely removed elsewhere. This care is particularly taken if nature should be at fault and give them any semblance of a beard when the same depilatory process is used to make it disappear.

The Eastern notion of female beauty is a large and round person, and next to a beautiful polish of the skin the ideal is to be stout even to fatness. The method of attaining so desirable an end is reduced to a science. Nothing annoys the Oriental woman so much after marriage as a slim and tapering shape ; and she employs every effort to change that symmetry which adds so much grace and loveliness to the Western lady. In order to attain so happy a condition, women make great use of the nuts of the cocoa-tree and the bulbs of what the Arabs call the chamere-tree, which grows abundantly in Arabia and Egypt. These are ground to a powder and mixed with sugar, which makes to their taste a delicious comfit, and of this they eat great quantities. Notwithstanding this effort to change their form, they do not always get into such flesh as to do away with all beauty of contour, and even when married many of them have graceful figures and a fresh softness and fairness of complexion which make them very attractive. In giving these experiences of their inner life it ought to be said that one means of possessing their charms as long as possible is the attention they pay to perfect cleanliness. No people in the world are more devoted to the bath (which is a religious institution with them) than the middle classes and higher orders of the people of the East. They love perfumes ; it is a matter of deep delight in their every-day life to inhale the odor of attar of roses and sweet-smelling flowers. But of all these the most agreeable to sight and smell is the universal henna, which diffuses its odors and embellishes every garden, however small. Like the lotos in the case of the women of ancient Egypt, the flower of the henna is valued by those of modern Egypt. The ladies carry it in their hands, perfume their bosoms with it, and offer the beautiful flower to their neighbors. They are never-failing companions in their apartments. The significance of the flower is that it is the emblem of fertility, the want of which to the Eastern woman is the most dreaded of misfortunes. So much appropriated by the women, it is considered exclusively their own. It may not be out of place to speak of the sable watch-dogs of the abode of bliss. Eunuchs are as a rule the willing instruments of their masters, but in many instances they are said to be more obedient to the lady over whom they are supposed to have arbitrary power ; in either case they constitute a dark stain on the East. It is often truly said that woman is frequently at the bottom of much that is great and good, and sometimes of much which is bad. It is a curious fact that this refined barbarism of the eunuch originated with a woman—Semiramis, the noted queen of antiquity, celebrated for beauty and sensuality as well as for her skill in war and government.

In Egypt and other Mahometan countries the birth of a female child is a source of regret and sorrow. Girls are never educated in the East, except when they have the good fortune to be the children of an enlightened potentate or other nobility, such as the late Khedive Ismail. As a rule, women are slaves or daughters of slaves, with no education to elevate either sentiment or character. Rarely or never leaving their homes or the city in which they are born, never travelling under any circumstances for pleasure or health, the unfortunate girls live only to be sold into slavery, very often for small sums of money. As the inmate of a harem, the woman is made to stand, as a rule, and wait before her master when enjoying his repast, prepared with her own hands, and fill his pipe when that luxury is to be indulged in ; and finally, in the hour of siesta she watches over his repose and rubs the soles of his feet to soothe him into still more profound sleep. She does all this and more to retain his favor, and it may be readily imagined that, with her peculiar ideas and training, when her purpose is thwarted she becomes wicked and vindictive under the inspiration of jealousy. This is often excited to the greatest fury lest a hated rival should cause an unjust divorce. There is nothing so terrible to her mind as the law authorizing divorce by the simple word of the man, as it often plunges her into dire poverty when her beauty begins to fade. Thoroughly imbued with superstition, her first determination is to seek the learned in weaving dark spells. Believing that her rival has enlisted one in the same secret service, she is even willing to call upon Iblis himself, and thereby sell her soul to the demon in order to accomplish her design. Failing in this, she does not stand upon ceremony, and nothing but the death of her rival can now appease her vindictive soul, though the bowstring and muddy waters of the Nile may be her doom in consequence. She knows that others have faced the ordeal, and she too seeks her revenge by a potion in the coffee of the rival. Instances of this have been related ; but not being personally acquainted with the facts, I do not mention them.

To realize the sacred privacy of the harem, it is only necessary to remember that when a rival dies by poison, or children are strangled, or a slave is killed by bad treatment, which sometimes happens, the facts are rarely known, for the simple reason that there is no one who dares reveal the secret. There is no law which penetrates into the harem's privacy, and even if there were so slender a protection, public opinion is perfectly ready to prevent interference. Every man is sovereign to do as he pleases with his own household. As there is no register of births, neither is there any of deaths. No certificate of a doctor or official is necessary. This is particularly the case when the master visits vengeance for crime committed by the inmates of the harem. He can thus accomplish his will and prevent scandal. When an irresponsible and jealous tyrant is the sole arbiter, it can be imagined how deep and dark the deeds may be.

To show how vague is the Mahometan idea of the binding force of matrimony, and how easily these people stifle natural ties when their interests or their inclinations dictate the introduction of a multiplicity of wives into their harem, an instance by no means uncommon within the knowledge of the writer will be given. An officer of fine sense, well instructed and of good character, who had received much kindness from me, desiring, as he said, to make some return, suggested that the only way it could be done was simply to take another wife. He coolly said that his mother had advised him to do so, because this would enable him to give a grand “ fantasia” (this is a word the Egyptian magnates use for their fêtes or celebrations when addressing a foreigner). As their weddings are always attended with great rejoicings and feastings, in which they spend large sums, the occasion would enable him to invite me as the honored guest. Not fully appreciating the interesting part I was called upon to play, however, I determined to refuse the proffered honor, and gave my reasons for declining. Upon asking the Arab if he were not pleased with his present wife, I received the reply that she was a good woman and a good wife ; that she had borne him several children, among them a son, and was as beautiful as an houri. To this I answered that I did not believe it was right to fill his home with many women ; that I “ should consider his invitation an insult instead of an honor;” and that if he were an ignorant Arab, who had never associated with enlightened men and acted merely in obedience to his Mahometan faith, there might be some excuse ; but that for the reasons given such an act could not be perpetrated without crime. The other answered that if not now, it would be absolutely necessary for him to take a new wife in the early future, because women grow old and ugly in their country sooner than in others, and that it was obeying a great law of nature that men should have young wives to increase and multiply as commanded by the Koran, since the Prophet, in case they could support them, allowed four. He was then asked if he introduced another wife into his family, was it not certain that his present wife would be moved by the same feeling of indignation that would stir him in case she demanded an additional husband? No, he thought not, as she was ignorant, and her peculiar training was otherwise. She knew it was criminal, and that the law visited instant and terrible punishment for any violation of the marital rights of her husband. But he was told that it was his fault that she was ignorant, and that he would be equally to blame in case she became prematurely old ; that, taking advantage of his own wrongs in every particular, in his treatment of her it was as if she was his slave in reality as she was in name, and his conduct could not be considered other than cruel and brutal ; that in all civilized countries women were on an equality with the men, and that their rights were protected by the same law, exacting constancy ; that their demands were even more powerful than any written law, and that elevated, refined, and educated, they were always good, young, and beautiful. There, men never had but one wife ; here, the thread was snapped asunder often without cause ; there, divorces were sometimes resorted to, but only in extreme cases, where the man or the woman was guilty of vicious or bad conduct. That it mattered not how this might be, his preposition would be looked upon in all enlightened countries, not only as a crime, but as an act of cowardice, in wronging a helpless woman who could not protect herself ; that in taking another wife into his family, outraging his present wife and children, the law might protect him here, but everywhere else in the world he would be branded morally, and punished by the law. Though what passed did not seem to make much impression at the time, years afterward he said that it did, and as he grew older and wiser he had reason to be thankful for the advice given him upon that occasion.

Part I, Chapter XI

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