If these be “barbarous” pleasures, then are the Turks the most barbarous people upon earth, for in these consist their highest enjoyments—In them the Minister finds his ready solace for the cares of office, and the labourer for the toils of weary days—But if they be indeed those which should be the best calculated to impart their charm to cultivated minds and unsullied hearts; then, as I have already ventured to suggest, the Turks have “chosen the better part,” and are authorised to smile, as they ever do, in quiet pity at the coil and care with which we of “civilized” Europe, cheat ourselves into the belief that we have far outstripped them in enjoyment, as well as science; and toil throughout a long life in pursuit of a phantom which flits before us like a beckoning spirit, but is ever beyond our grasp. I was never more struck with this truth than at Guiuk-Suy, I never saw the women of Turkey under a more favourable aspect.—Every heart appeared to be holding holyday; and when, as evening closed, we returned to our caïque, and bade adieu to the valley of the Asian Sweet Waters, I felt that I knew them better—that I understood more correctly their social character, than I had hitherto done; and it is an important fact, and one which is well worthy of remark, that the more an European, resolved to cast aside prejudice, and to study the national habits and impulses, comes in contact with the inhabitants of the East, the more he is led to admire the consistency of thought, feeling, and action which influence them; and the high-minded generosity with which they tolerate the jarring and discordant habits and prejudices of their foreign visitors. I am obliged to concede that no assemblage of European gentlewomen would have welcomed among them two female strangers, as the Turkish ladies, during the day which we spent at Guiuk-Suy, received my friend and myself. The wandering Giaours were every where greeted with smiles, urged to linger, invited to partake of every rural collation: treated, in short, as friends, rather than persons seen for the first, and, probably, the only time. And such a welcome as this might be secured by every Frank lady, did she consider it worth her while to conciliate the Turkish females; who are always sufficiently rewarded for their courtesy and kindness, by a gay smile and a ready acceptance of their proffered civility; and yet it is a singular fact, that the European ladies resident in Constantinople are scarcely acquainted with one Osmanli family, and I have been asked more than once if I was not frightened of the Turkish women! It were needless to comment either on the illiberality of the prejudice, or the effects which it is so unfortunately calculated to produce—Effects which are painfully visible; and whose cause is anything but creditable to European generosity or penetration. CHAPTER XVIII.