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 ona 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 hommams 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 lady 
holds a discourse on religion, or extols the beauty and virtue 
of ‘ Aisha Fatima.’ ” 
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 
