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WITH THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR. 57
When a vessel arrives on the coast, it is always for the purpose of traffic in slaves ; and
all the girls, who have been waiting its approach with longing eyes, prepare themselves to
be sold to the best advantage, and their hearts bound with the bright prospect which they
are taught to believe lies before them. The splendour of the harem is contrasted with
their own miserable huts; the rich stuffs in which they are to be clothed, with their homely,
coarse, and squalid garments; the generous viands on which they are to be fed, with the
meagre of their scanty diet. They have no ties to attach them to their native land,
or dim the bright prospect that awaits them in another. They look upon their sale to
a foreign merchant to be the foundation of their future fortune, and their entrance into a
foreign ship their first step to a life of pleasure and enjoyment; nor are they disappointed
even in the outset.
These Oriental slaves are conveyed, not in the coarse and brutal manner in which
European traders carry on their traffic in human flesh. The vessels sent to bring them
to their capital are well appointed in every respect for their accommodation. As the
price is to depend on the state of health and beauty in which they arrive, every precaution
is taken to preserve them. Instead of being crammed into noisome and suffocating holds,
the greatest attention is paid to their comforts; their appetites are consulted, their pleasures are complied with, so that neither privation nor anxiety may impair their looks; and
the slave dictates to her owner, in whatever she wants or wishes. When arrived, they are
lodged in a spacious khan provided for them, and the police are especially ordered that
every thing shall be cared for.
Now comes the Kisler Aga, or chief of the black eunuchs, to select for the imperial
harem the most lovely and desirable of the importation, and having conducted them to
his master, they are assigned apartments in the seraglio, and placed under the care of
the instructress of the females. The rest are sent to the Aurut Bazaar, to be sold to
those who have the means to purchase them. The Africans, and slaves of other countries,
are here exposed, but the Circassian is secluded from the general crowd in separate apartments, which are carefully closed against all intruders, except on days of sale, when the
sacred rooms are thrown open from nine in the morning till mid-day; and every true
believer comes to avail himself of the permission of the Koran, and make new selections
for the enjoyments of his harem. An infidel is inhibited from entering the market, unless
by special permission ; and so far from being allowed to purchase, he is not even permitted
to look on those chosen females, lest the glance of his evil eye might wither the expected
enjoyment of the faithful purchaser.
As these females receive no education at home, it sometimes happens that the Jew
slave-merchant who buys them, endeavours to bestow on them such accomplishments as
may enhance their value. These, however, are generally fruitless efforts. Personal, not
mental qualities, are those that are sought for, and most prized. The Circassian seems
to have an inaptitude for any improvement of the mind ; and while the Greek or French
females, whom the fortune of war or other calamity has consigned to slavery, make considerable progress under their instructors, the indolent and voluptuous Circassian despises such vain labours, and few attain even the elementary accomplishment of reading
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