268 
LADIES OF BAGDAD. 
grounds of probable reciprocity of benefit; the other, when not 
commanded by religion, can only arise from the compassion of 
a disinterested heart. Hence, though we find individual in¬ 
stances of this species of benevolence in all countries, it is only 
where Christianity prevails, that care of the poor is practised as 
a national concern. In the midst of the scenes just described, 
acting within and without the walls of Bagdad, luxury grows as 
rankly round the rich, as in the most prosperous cities; and the 
expences lavished on “ singing men, and singing women,” 
brought from afar, are equally enormous. The ladies of Bagdad, 
in particular, appear to be singularly inclined to festivity; and 
their assemblies, like those of our own countrywomen, are ge¬ 
nerally held during the later hours of the twenty-four. They 
usually meet, by invitation, at the harem of some one of the 
wives of the chief officers of state; where due care has been 
taken to provide the best female dancers, singers, and musicians 
that the city affords ; and thither, about sun-set, the several 
bidden guests assemble, in the most lovely groups of youth and 
beauty, attended by their serving-women bearing >their nar- 
quillies; a sort of hooker or kalioun, of which even the most 
delicate of the fair sex in these countries, are remarkably fond. 
Before I proceed with the details of the entertainment, it may 
not be amiss to stop, and describe the dresses of the ladies, in 
the customary style of drawing-room paraphernalia. 
Women of the first consequence here, go about on ordinary 
occasions, on foot, and with scarcely any attendants ; it being 
the etiquette to avoid, when in public, every striking distinction 
of appearance. In compliance with this fashion, all the fair sex 
of the city, high and low, walk abroad in the blue-checked 
chadre ; its folding drapery having no other mark of an august 
