The City of the Sultan; and Domestic Manners of the Turks, in 1836, Vol. 2 (of 2)Pardoe, Miss (Julia)
History
The City of the Sultan; and Domestic Manners of the Turks, in 1836, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Pardoe, Miss (Julia)
Turkey -- Social life and customs
It is impossible to express the contemptuous hatred in which the
Osmanlis hold the Jewish people; and the veriest Turkish urchin who may
encounter one of the fallen nation on his path, has his meed of insult
to add to the degradation of the outcast and wandering race of Israel.
Nor dare the oppressed party revenge himself even upon this puny enemy,
whom his very name suffices to raise up against him.
I remember, on the occasion of the great festival at Kahaitchana, seeing
a Turkish boy of perhaps ten years of age, approach a group of Jewesses,
and deliberately fixing upon one whose delicate state of health should
have been her protection from insult, give her so violent a blow as to
deprive her of consciousness, and level her to the earth. As I sprang
forward to the assistance of this unfortunate, I was held back by a Turk
of my acquaintance, a man of rank, and I had hitherto believed, divested
of such painful prejudices; who bade me not agitate, or trouble myself
on the occasion, as the woman was _only a Jewess_! And of the numbers of
Turkish females who stood looking on, not one raised a hand to assist
the wretched victim of gratuitous barbarity.
Very shortly before our departure from Constantinople, my father and
myself were ascending the hill of Topphannè, on our way to Pera,
followed by a Jewish lad of sixteen or seventeen years of age, heavily
laden with linen drapery, which he was hawking for sale. About mid-way
of the rise we passed a house upon whose doorstep a party of Turkish
boys were amusing themselves; but they no sooner saw the Jew, who was
quietly pursuing his way in the centre of the street, than they
simultaneously quitted the sport with which they were engaged, and,
springing upon the poor youth, they commenced beating him, and
endeavouring to drag from his back the merchandize with which he was
laden.
The terror of the lad was frightful. The street was, as usual, so filthy
as to entail ruin upon every thing that fell to the ground; and, as he
struggled against the pain of the blows that were showered upon him on
all sides, and the efforts which were made to destroy his goods; the big
tears rolled from his eyes. But the contest was soon terminated by my
father, whose cane liberated the unfortunate Jew from his tormentors in
a very short time; and procured for himself a volley of abuse, the most
_piquante_ of which was: “See the Giaour! the Giaour who fights for the
Jew!”—a specimen of wit that appeared to be greatly relished by a
couple of grave-looking old Turks, who had been unmoved spectators of
the whole scene—the poor lad, meanwhile, like an animal which has been
beaten, and rescued by a passer-by, following crouchingly upon our
footsteps until he entered the High Street.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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