Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor: Series One and Series Two in one VolumeWalsh, R. (Robert)
History
Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor: Series One and Series Two in one Volume
Walsh, R. (Robert)
Istanbul (Turkey) -- History; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Pictorial works
successor to the throne; and hundreds at once, in the prime of life and
splendour of beauty, are consigned to a watery grave.
The merchants who purchase slaves are usually Jews. When a female of
great beauty is not accomplished in the arts of pleasing, the Jew
undertakes her instruction. She is taught, by competent masters, music,
dancing, and other personal attractions−-the cultivation of the mind is
never thought of. When her value is thus enhanced by her acquirements,
the most extravagant price is exacted and given. The usual purchase
of a young white slave is 6000 piastres, or about £100: for a black,
merely intended for the domestic drudgery which a Turkish woman will
not submit to, 1200 piastres, or £16.
The illustration represents the act of sale. On one side are females
purchasing black servants. A slight examination as to health and
strength is all that is used. The girl starts up, draws her scanty
coarse garments about her, and, with a merry laugh and cheerful
countenance, trips away after her mistress. The severe decorum of a
Turk at once changes her half-nakedness for a more suitable dress: her
head and feet are no longer bare−-her dark visage is dignified with a
snow-white veil−--and she feels pride and gratification in her new and
altered state. On the other side are white slaves, who are examined
not by females, but by a master, of whose happiness they are hereafter
to constitute a part. He is attended by his black eunuch, and the
slave-merchant is pointing out all the personal charms of his purchase,
and eulogising those which escape his observation. In the gallery
above, are slave-merchants settling their various accounts, with the
aid of coffee and tobacco.
[Illustration: T. Allom. J. Sands.
THE MOSQUE OF YENI JAMI.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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