They seem, indeed, to be a privileged class. Wherever they appear the men must retire--and woe to the man who ventures upon a warfare of words with a Turkish woman; for her tongue has no bounds, and her slipper is a ready weapon of chastisement; and no man would dare to repel the attack. The convenience of the slipper as a ready means of self-defence, seems to have been familiar in the days of the old classics, for, the Roman poet says: "Et soleâ pulsare nates," And doubtless many of the rising generation can testify to its abuse, even in these days of modern improvement. The very whims and caprices which seem indigenous to the fair sex, are tolerated as a matter of course with philosophic resignation, as they are instructed by the Koran, "If ye be kind towards women and fear to wrong them, God is well acquainted with what ye do." They have a proverb also which supplants all reasoning on such occasions. "Satchi-ouzoun, Akli-Kissa." Long hair, short brains. To salute a lady, or in any way accost her, in public would be an act of consummate rudeness; even a husband would pass by his wife and family with an air of affected indifference. Certainly such a neglect of the fair sex would be unpardonable in Europe and this country, but on the contrary, in the East, it only evinces the greatest deference and respect. Nevertheless, the Mohammedans have been most maliciously reported by ignorant writers on the East, to hold that women have no souls; or if they have, that they will perish like those of brute beasts. This assumption is founded upon the promise of the Prophet, that the faithful shall be provided with black-eyed Houris in Paradise. If this excludes the Mussulman women from Paradise, we may reasonably place the Christian ladies in the same category, for they are assured in the Gospel that "there will be no marrying nor giving in marriage in Heaven." On the contrary, Houris are but an addition to the earthly wives of the Mussulmans, and the faithful are assured that "God promiseth unto the true believers, both men and women, gardens through which rivers flow, wherein they shall remain for ever," and that "whoso doth good works, whether he be male or female, and is a true believer, shall be admitted into Paradise, and shall not in the least be unjustly dealt with." CHAPTER XXIV. PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND COSTUME. The first years of the life of every girl are spent both in the Harem and Selamluk (or men's apartment), indiscriminately. The female children being then allowed free access to the society of the men, they imbibe certain notions in their youth, which are not always consistent with refinement.