CONSTANTINOPLE. 
§ 
features of the women, whom they described as possessing ex¬ 
traordinary beauty. Three of the four were Georgians, 
having dark complexions and very long dark hair ; but the 
fourth was remarkably fairand her hair, also of singular 
length and thickness, was of a flaxen colour : neither were 
their teeth dyed black, as those of Turkish women generally 
are. The Swedish gentleman said, he was almost sure they 
suspected they were seen, from the address they manifested, 
in displaying their charms, and in loitering at the gate. This 
gave 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 the minds of the black eunuchs. 
He described their dresses as rich beyond all that can be ima¬ 
gined. 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 ad¬ 
vantage ; 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 their cheeks; 
falling quite/down to the waist, and covering their shoulders 
behind. Those tresses were quite powdered with diamonds, 
not displayed according to any studied arrangement, 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 
fa^cs, necks, and even their breasts were quite exposed ; not 
one of them having any veil. 
The german gardener, wdio had daily access to different 
parts of the seraglio, offered to conduct us not only over the 
gardens, but promised, if we would come singly, during the 
season of the Ramadan* when the guards, being up all night, 
would be stupifted during the day with sleep and intoxication, 
to undertake the greater risk of showing us the interior of the 
charem , or apartments of the women ; that is to say, of that 
part of which they inhabit during the summer; for they were 
still in their winter chambers. We readily accepted his offer s 
I only solicited the further indulgence of being accompanied 
by a French artist of the name of Preaux, w hose extraordina¬ 
ry promptitude in design would enable him to bring away 
* The Ramadan of the Turks answers to our Lent, as their Bairam, does to Easter. 
During the month of the Ramadan , they impose upon themselves the strictest priva- 
lion; avoiding even the use of tobacco, from sunrise to sun set They feast ail night 
during this season, and are therefore generally asleep during the day. 
