FEMALE SMOKING. 147 



the use of the harem ; but the strongest and most pungent 

 sorts of tobacco are not unseldom smoked, until the mouth, 

 which, according to the assurance of the poet, in the bloom 

 of its youth breathed forth ambergiris and musk, in its forti- 

 eth year acquires so strong a smell that the lady can be 

 scented from a distance. 



"Like their lords, the hanyrus of rank have also their 

 tchbukdes, of course of their own sex, who accompany them 

 when out walking or on a visit. In this case, however, the 

 cover in which the pipe-stem is made, not of cloth, but of 

 silk. The habit of refreshing oneself with a pipe on some 

 elevated spot which commands a fine view, is common to 

 both sexes. Men can indulge this taste whenever their fancy 

 may suggest, but ladies only in retired spots ; for, whenever 

 a Turkish fair one removes the yas mak (veil) from her lips, 

 as she does to smoke, all around her must be harem (sacred). 



" Sometimes an eunuch stands guard at a little distance 

 off, and if a stranger of the male sex approaches, gives a 

 signal ; the pipe is held aside, while the mouth is kept 

 covered by the veil, until the unexpected Acteon has passed 

 by. But where the pipe plays the most important part is in 

 the bath. It is well known that the Turkish ladies are 

 accustomed to frequent the horn mams assiduously, and to 

 remain there for hours together. They enter the bath about 

 eight o'clock in the morning ; take their midday meal there, 

 and return home between three and four in the afternoon. 

 During these hours of leisure, the most agreeable in a Moham- 

 medan woman's life, the pipe is their constant resource. In 

 the middle of the warmest room is a round terrace-like 

 elevation, called Gobek-tosh. 



"Here are clustered old and young, the snow white 

 daughters of Circassia and the coal-black beauties of Soudan, 

 and beguile the hours with never ending gossip, while 

 around them rise the dense fumes of their pipes. Now one 

 of the elders of the party tells a story, now a learned kdy 

 holds a discourse on religion, or extols the beauty and virtue 

 of * Aisha Fatirna.' " 



The Fairy, or Dane's pipe is the most ancient form of the 

 tobacco pipe used in Great Britain and of about the same 

 size as the "Elfin pipes" of the Scottish peasantry. A great 

 variety of pipes both in form and size have been found in 

 the British Islands some of which are of ancient origin 

 bearing dates prior to the Seventeenth Century. Some of 



