AN EASTERN CAGE. (From Tent Life in the Holy Land)

Waikato Times, 7 January 1873, Page 3

AN EASTERN CAGE. (From Tent Life in the Holy Land )

A BM\Ui piece of dirk mg'it slipped into the room, and aroun I a.nong the chibiuks and nargiles to my feet, where, pressing hts forehead to my hand, he contrived to whisper to me that " Sitt Miriam" wanted to see mo Supposing thereby that she was ready to le )a t, I "went out into 1101 10 large reception room, but no >n > wai there My sable guide led on, while I followed, 3inp ciou* that tho imp might commit An error, and guide me into forbidden rooms. I was not far wrong. Crossing a court, down into which the stars •hone, I followed him into a dark entry, when he threw open a door, and I found myself in tho holy of holies of an Eastern house, that spot forbidden to the foot of man in all ages of Moslem rule. The scene that burst upon my astonished vision was wortli ajourncy to the Orient to sco. Ono twift glance around the room convinced me that all was right, for I caught the eyes of Miriam, who was curled up on a crimson divan, and smoking a nargilo as if she had brought up to it all her life, and m a moment I understood that «he had managed the introduction by some 'ngenuity that I could not liavo believed possible In Greece the seclusion of the harem is unknown But in Greek fa-mlie-* living in Ezjpt or Syria it is even more s( rictly enforce 1 than by the Mahommedans themselves, for the contempt which is poured out on a Mahommedan « mnin w'lo lias •hown her face to men, ■ visaed tenfol 1 on C'irisLians, who hive difficulty n keeping their pos tion in Ihe oiwtry Tho footstep of a man never cross" I this tVes'ioll before, except ot a father or brother, and the inhabitants of tins retreat »hrank at first in terror from having tneir faces seen by a stranger. It was bv admit management, bv proposing it as a frolic, working up their curiosity that Miriam had persuaded them to consent to send for me, and they s-'curod the old man's permission on fie ground of the universal love of Greeks for Americans, and so I was sen* for anl so I cvno. The sc i n» in the roon when I entered was worthy a painter's iircenc The mother of the family, seated on a pile of cushion', was a woman of •')lcndid beaut y, and her daughters were Ikpt' c r mother. Her young sister, a girl of twenty-two or three, and her niece, a girl of -eventeen, were standing near her ; while then* Nubian slave*, slender and macful women, bhek as nig'it but not thi'k-lmped, havnef raf'or tie features of the Shellalee of E:\nt, nn 1 in firm nnd rer ' c ~nodeta of grace and beauty, waited on their 'iniu' f ' mittr i -ses A. trooo of children, with large b'nek oyes, dressed 1 ke fairies, greeted mv entrance with a bhout of we'oi-ie, nnd for l mi ien 1 I h<«-<'t<ited to on f er a '.lace sarre 1 not only bv Cri ntal custom against such a visit, but *acred p-ipeeiallvby the nresonee of «o "uic'i magn fieent benutv not before exposed to tio eve of a stranger Rut the unsurprised look of Miriam and Mr* and Miss Saunders rea»surpd me, and I advanced with as mue'i coura^o as could be expected of a somewhat diffident American in an Eastern harem. Often since then, in still and quiet evening, when I remember the incidents of my Eastern travel, the face of that radiant Greek q rl comes before me like a vision of the unreal beauties of Paradise. I never saw a woman half io beautiful. She was tho first and la't one that I <nw abroad whom I thought equal to tho American standard of female beauty ; an 1 she was a star. She was recl'nin<r on the divan, halfbur'od in its cushions, with her arm around Miriam's neck, telling her, in all the rich Oriental phrase* she could iment, of her love for her newly f und sister. I will endeavour, for the tako of my lady roaders, and with Miriam's assistance, to describe her dress, which was almost a fac-similo of tho dre*ses of four other Indies in the room, whose inferior boauty mustexcise my lea? ng them to sketch their splendid companion Firstly, she wore that pa>-t of the Turkish lady's dress which we should call the trousers, known bv thorn ts the xhintiyan, and a vprv different affair from tho pantaloons which tho \m^rican ln.i-es'-rirr'its Indies argue =o much in favour of T'ipv are nperssiHv more cumbersome than the ordinary E'tronean srvlo of drps«. b^'ne pnormon^v hoar V fb'df of silk stuff 1 , c nhro'dered with licirv i»->H thre id, gathered at tho ankles with god and ie've'led band*. Those of wlvch I now sneak wer of rose-eolonred s>!k, and the little feet that «cro q-i tp hidden in tl>o folds ts they fell arouni it when « l ie wa'kel, were covered w'tn velvet • 1 "n - >prs embriiderel seelJi^arU Tie vellik » sO"t of dress that falU -n n loni tra n behind and '« r i,iten' > d o 'Iv at the waist, fVlin-» awa" so *' to 'eavp t'«o thintiyin. visib'e, if, I believe, nit worn bv unmarried ladn><«, but s'>e had a iimi'ar dress of the c »no roso coloured silk, riehlv emh^Llored A low chomisott^, with omhro'd»red fron 1 and "^D^es, left almost tl-e entire bust exposed; and a velvet jackot, hoavv with cold thread and jewel", completed tho rich and "orjenn ci'tume But, tio dress, althou<»h of tho most cosMv fabrics of the Damasm* loo^ns, was ns nothing compared with tho jpwels that (la^'ied f 'om her wrists, % H neck, nn 1 ha»r Over her left shoulder hanging like a sash down to tho right side of her waist, was a golden girdle or band, made of broad pieces of cold, sunned I'kn willow leaves, and fastened together at the sides. The belt of the vellak and tK!nl!i/an, whi'-h is ordin*rilv a Cashmere «hawl (known vulgiriv in America as camels' hair), was silk, gathered at tho side with a star >f brilliants. On her arms wore jewelled •erpents; and the only covering of her bosom, which was oxnosod, as I have said, consisted of strings of n<*arls that, lny across it, each string shorter than the one above it, and whoso whiteness was rivalled, bv thon^ek rhev adorned. Her hair was bound together under a small can of crimson velvet, that rested only on the back of her head, and of wh>ch the velvet was but the material on which w«ro clustered as many pearls and diamonls as, I remarked to Mi ift-n, would purchase all the jewellery that tho most corgeo'-g Not Yoik eaioon could exhibit in a crowded ovpnm? assembling I have de«cnb"d tho lad-« cottume as Morally n« T can, for tho boneit of mv lalv readers, but, I thought little of her costume then, whon I was looking at 1 er splendid beauty. Mir'am wns in pc-'ta^v himtelf, an'l woul l -nterT'int h^r caresses eonstintly by turning to me with tho demand, " Isn't bio b-autiful ? " Her hair was bla"k as the clou 1- of a T)cconbermir'ii, and swept away <Vvn -i (in© f>ro'ieal in hoavv tr a *ses Her faeo was no cold Greek coii'iten inee. It was full of lifo and passion; her ovos black and flashing wth fun; and red blo^d ting'ini close under the skin through h«r cheelti, and sometimes flushing her foroVad 1 with an oxquiqu'«it« tfow ; hirhnu were red and laughing; her chin tho «m*"eit imtjnwh ; and her form «'ender, yet full tfld cr»f 'ful *» fc ' Ift f^rfha of dream-laud .... When wo rose t^ g°. an^ lam hound to admit t\* v> - > " • w»n' ' have beon thought lat« ev«n itt America, they wonld «<»rcelT permit Miriam t« loare t^-ni, bnfc a^ain tai »«»in embraced htr and kissed her on each «*>»*>, unA on her lins, w ile the Jfnbisns would seise her »t the itine initant from behind, with oat'tamA Op Mdh. t\b, tad gir« b*r s »ji»p*thetio iijueoio m accord«ae» with etoh fan of their fur m streiscs