The City of the Sultan; and Domestic Manners of the Turks, in 1836, Vol. 1 (of 2)Pardoe, Miss (Julia)
History
The City of the Sultan; and Domestic Manners of the Turks, in 1836, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Pardoe, Miss (Julia)
Turkey -- Social life and customs
The custom of burning perfumes in the mangal is, if not a healthy, at
least a very luxurious one; and the atmosphere of the saloon of
Angiolopolo was heavy with ambergris and musk. I have not yet met with a
native of the East, of either sex, who was not strongly attached to
their use; their own perfumes are delicate and agreeable, being rather
concentrated preparations, than individual scents; and soothing, rather
than exciting, the nerves; but they are also very partial to those of
Europe, and among the latest presents of the Empress of Russia to the
Princess Asmé, the Sultan’s eldest sister, were several cases of Eau de
Cologne.
The pastille of the seraglio, of which a large quantity has been
presented to me by different Turkish and Armenian gentlemen, is a
delightful invention; and looks, moreover, in its casing of gold leaf,
extremely elegant; as it is somewhat costly, it is not in common use,
but it is greatly prized in the harems.
Perhaps no country exceeds Turkey in the variety and value of its
cosmetics; and, although there are no daily prints to advertise their
virtues, no ingenious puffs to expatiate on their properties, the ladies
are by no means ignorant of their existence, but employ them in all
their varieties; from the dye with which they darken their eyebrows, to
the henna that disfigures the extremities of their fingers.
Among the fair Greeks, the use of rouge is by no means uncommon; and
they also carry to a greater extreme than the Turkish women the
frightful custom of joining the eyebrows artificially across the nose,
by which mistaken habit I have seen many a really pretty face terribly
disfigured. I am, however, bound to confess that the dearth of beauty
among the Greek ladies is very striking; their expression is good, but
their features are irregular, and ill-assorted; and, were it not that
they have almost universally fine, sparkling, dark eyes, they would be,
taking them collectively, a decidedly plain race.
I looked in vain for the noble, calm, and peculiar outline which we are
prone to believe must characterize the whole people; for the
finely-poised head, the expansive brow, the drooping eyelid, and, above
all, the straight nose and short upper lip of genuine Grecian beauty; I
met with it only in one instance, but that one was a breathing model of
the beautiful and classical in nature.
The Greek ladies are bad figures, are by no means gifted either as to
hands or feet, walk ungracefully, and are remarkable only, as I have
already stated, for their bright eyes, and their dark, lustrous hair.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account