18 CONSTANTINOPLE. 
CHAP, charms, and in loitering at the gate. This gavc^ 
'' ' » - ^ him and his friend no small degree of terror ■ 
as they would have paid for their curiosity with 
their lives, if any such suspicion had entered 
into the minds of the black eunuchs. He 
described their dresses as being rich beyond all 
that can be imagined. Long spangled robes, 
open in front, with pantaloons embroidered in 
gold and silver, and covered by a profusion 
of pearls and precious stones, displayed their 
persons to great advantage ; but were so heavy, 
as actually to encumber their motion, and almost 
to impede their walking. Their hair hung in 
loose and very thick tresses, on each side 
of their cheeks; falling down to the waist, 
and entirely covering their shoulders. Those 
tresses were quite powdered with diamonds, 
not displayed according to any studied arrange- 
ment, but as if carelessly scattered, by handfuls, 
among their flowing locks. On the top of their 
heads, and rather leaning to one side, they 
wore, each of them, a small circular patch or 
diadem. Their faces, necks, ^nd even their 
breasts, were quite exposed; not one of them 
having any veil. 
The German gardener, who had daily access 
to different parts of the Seraglio, offered to 
conduct us not only over the gardens, but 
