The conversation was, of course, changed on her entrance; and the subject of jewels having been mentioned, Heyminè Hanoum despatched a slave for a handkerchief with which she was in the habit of binding up her hair, in order to show us one of the Albanian fashions. It was of black muslin, painted with groups of coloured flowers, and bordered all round with a deep fringe of fine pearls. I never in my life saw any mixture which produced a more striking effect; and when she wound it about her head—the dark glossy tresses of her hair relieved by the bright tints of the flowers, and the whiteness of her clear brow rivalling the pearls that rested on it—her crimson jacket, lined with sable, falling back, and revealing the transparent chemisette of gauze, and the fair throat which it shaded—the pale blue silk trowsers trimmed with silver, and the small white naked foot that peeped for an instant from beneath them as she altered her position—I thought that earth could hold nothing more lovely than Heyminè Hanoum! I was very busily engaged in examining an elegant hand-mirror set in a frame of chased silver, when a couple of negroes entered to invite us to the presence of the Pasha, who was awaiting us in his apartment. I have already mentioned that one room in the harem is appropriated to the master of the house, wherein he receives such of its inmates as he desires to converse with. The message was scarcely delivered when the Buyuk Hanoum, whom the Pasha had desired to introduce us, entered the apartment, evidently somewhat surprised at the honour which was about to be bestowed upon two female Infidels. I had heard a great deal of the Scodra Pasha, and I naturally desired to see him; nor perhaps may it be amiss to impart to my readers a portion of his history. Mustapha Pasha was residing on his Pashalik in Albania when Sultan Mahmoud reformed the national costume of the country, and replaced the lofty turbans and flowing garments of past centuries, with the scarlet _fèz_ and frock coat of the present day. When the order for this change reached the Pasha, he at once communicated it to the troops, who resisted it with such violence as to threaten not only the liberty, but the life of their Chief if he persisted in its enforcement. In vain did he argue, explain, and persuade; the soldiery, wedded to their ancient usages, refused to listen to his reasonings; their opposition being furthermore aggravated by a conscription, enforced with sufficient severity to lend them arguments against all concession to a power by which they were thus oppressed; and he finally found himself compelled to adopt a decided line of conduct in order to insure his own personal safety.