482 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ward to it as the great opportunity of their lives. They go to 

 seek it as a conscious jewel might start in search of a costly set- 

 ting. They show no more reluctance than Esther manifested 

 when Mordecai delivered her over as one of the fair young vir- 

 gins gathered from far and near to adorn the palace of Ahasuerus. 

 Indeed, the history of Esther reveals the motives which probably 

 animate each of the many maidens of Circassia who to this day 

 re-enact that old biblical story. Each believes that it is she who 

 may find grace and favor in the royal crown, and thus control at 

 will the rise or fall of the royal scepter. But even if not chosen 

 by royalty, those who purchase the beautiful damsels of Circassia 

 are the wealthy and titled ; and not the slightest social degrada- 

 tion is attached to their position, even when taken to harems 

 wherein a Turkish wife may be installed as head of the household. 

 The common dependence of all the inmates of a harem upon the 

 favor of a lord who may at any time elevate the Circassian 

 slave to the position of a lady fosters a spirit of equality of 

 pure, practical democracy, that would be inconceivable under any 

 other circumstances, and in our Southern slave relation to nomi- 

 nal mistress was totally undreamed of. As a Turkish lady ex- 

 plained to an astonished English visitor, " A slave may become a 

 lady any day, and in treating her as one beforehand we take off 

 very much of the awkwardness which would else ensue." When 

 we consider that all the children of slaves are acknowledged as 

 the legitimate children of their father, we must confess, in justice 

 to the Turk, that theirs is a condition in which the evils of slavery 

 to the slave are reduced to a minimum. 



The first step after purchasing a Circassian girl is to give her 

 (as unto Esther) a special retinue of personal slaves, brought from 

 Africa, who relieve her henceforward of the slightest necessity 

 of unpleasant exertion. Though she may not, like Esther, be put 

 through "six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with 

 sweet odors," every accessory of the toilet which may enhance 

 her original attractiveness is bestowed upon her, accompanied by 

 careful lessons in the graces of deportment. Thus to the mountain 

 girl who looks forward to life in Turkey reports of that life go 

 back freighted with all that could allure and blind the unthinking. 

 Dread of an evil fate is reduced to a mere vague and flitting sur- 

 mise, while the lottery matrimonial is represented to her as one 

 filled with magnificent prizes. As the Circassians, though pos- 

 sessed of much native intelligence, have no written literature, 

 none of these girls can read or write. They are trained for the 

 marriage market as a fine horse is trained for a race course, and 

 the higher price they bring the greater their satisfaction. " Ask 

 a higher price for me, dear brother/' says a Russian nobleman, 

 " is their not uncommon admonition to the brother who is man- 



