It is scarcely wonderful—even disgusting as a great portion of the ceremonial undoubtedly is—that many of the Turkish ladies occasionally relieve the tedium of the harem by the exhibition of the Babaluk; that vague yearning to pry into futurity so inherent in our nature, coupled with the uncertainty on whom the spell of the sybil may be cast, causes an excitement which forms an agreeable contrast from their customary _ennui_. No second fate is ever foretold at the same orgies. When the first Babaluk begins to speak, the others sink down into a sitting posture, occasionally enforcing her assertions by repeating the last words of any remarkable sentence in a long, low wail; and, when she ceases and takes her place among them, they are for the third time overtaken by a trance: the brazier is then removed, the spectators leave the room, the door is carefully closed, and the Babaluks are left to awaken at their leisure. When they finally come forth, they resume their customary avocations, without making the slightest allusion to the extraordinary scene in which they have been actors; nor do they like the subject to be mentioned to them until several days have elapsed. CHAPTER XVII. Imperial Invitation—Disagreeable Adventure—Executed Criminal—Efficacy of Wayside Executions—Tardy Conversions—Mistaken Humanity—Summary Mode of Execution—The Palace of Asmè Sultane—Entrance of the Harem—Costume of the Slaves—Nazip Hanoum—Ceremonious Reception—The Adopted Daughter—Costume of the Ladies of the Seraï—Beauty of the Slaves—Extraordinary Arrangement—Rejected Addresses—The Imperial Lover—Sacredness of Adoption in Turkey—Romantic Correspondence—Ladies of the Household—The Mother of the Slaves—Peroussè Hanoum—Crowded Audience—The Imperial Odalique—Music of the Harem—The New Pet—The Kislar-Agha—The “Light of the Harem”—The Poetical Sultan—Indisposition of the Sultana—The Palace Gardens—The Imperial Apartments—The Dancing Girl—Reluctant Departure—Ballad by Peroussè Hanoum. Having received an invitation to wait upon Asmè Sultane, the elder sister of the Sultan, at her summer palace, I started from Pera early one morning accompanied by a friend, to obey the Imperial summons. The weather was beautiful; the great Cemetery was crowded with loungers, and the road leading to “The Sweet Waters” thronged with horsemen. The spring flowers were bursting, and the young leaves trembling in the fresh breeze; and, as we passed on, amid sunshine and salutations, I forgot the purpose of my errand in the enjoyment of the glad scene around me.