Walter Matthew Gallichan

“ Men and women accept one another joyfully as gifts from the gods. They fulfil their sex-lives naturally, without concern as to which sex is the more virtuous or superior. I am not assuming that all is wrong with our own mar- riage system and that everything is right with wedlock in Turkey.
There are, however, certain sane and beneficial cus- toms in Turkey that other nations might imitate. English and American women, who have seen the inner home-life of the Turks, frequently assert that the women are, on the whole, in a better position than in any other country of Europe ”

“ I think I never saw a country where women may enjoy as much liberty and fear from all reproach as in Turkey." This opinion is confirmed by almost all the observant travellers whom I have questioned, and in numerous volumes to which I have referred. Several English women have written of the women of Turkey as down-trodden, immured and secluded, but such a view is scarcely just. Certainly, judged from a purely Western standpoint, Turkish women are debarred from specific forms of freedom enjoyed in Christian countries. ”

“ Turkey and its People." " Paradise is beneath the ground over which mothers walk," said Mohammed. This esteem for maternity and gentle solicitude for the well-being of the young is one of the most beautiful traits of the Turkish character.
The man who understands children, and is loved by them, has certain qualities that appeal to women. Women say that tenderness is one of the virtues that they most esteem in men. This tenderness is nearly always apparent in the Turk. He is a born wooer, possessed of sympathetic insight into woman's inner soul. Art develops this natural gift ”

“ Women of the haremlik have the chief care of their children during the years up to the marriageable age, and their influence is great during childhood and adolescence. Being imperfectly educated, and inex- perienced in all that concerns the larger life of the world, the average Turkish mother, in spite of her parental tenderness, is not often a competent in- structress of the young. ”

“ Although some Turkish women are excellent dancers, they are not fond of physical exercise, and the sporting or athletic woman is unknown in the society of Constantinople. The men are often fine eques- trians, and some are formidable wrestlers, but they have no liking for field-sports. ”

“ No harem ikbal allows her hair to turn grey. Such sign of age must be remedied by every device of art. Dye is used constantly for the hair upon the first appearance of fading. Wrinkles in the skin of the face are treated by massage and emollients.
Although the Turks excel in affection for their children, infant mortality is high owing to defective hygiene and the incompetence of physicians. The
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secluded life of the women in the seraglio, and the average home in Turkey, is not the best environment for mothers. ”

“ Regarded from the question of ensuring happy and healthy marital relations, Sir James Paget has some wise words upon our disastrous ignorance of the physical expression of conjugal love. No Oriental is allowed to marry in such ignorance. Turkish and Persian love poetry reveal this masculine appreciation of woman's nature. There is no doubt that the tran-
quil, felicitous married life in Turkey is due largely to the pains that men take in learning the art of love. ”

“ The same passion for powerful scents that prevails amongst the Egyptian women is noted in the harems of Constantinople. There is very frequent reference in Oriental love poems to the odour of the loved one. Odorous tresses are described, and likened to the smell of musk and civet. This keen olfactory sensitiveness is normal in Arabia and Turkey. The Turks love the heavy perfume of the lily. ”

“ Dancing is one of the accomplishments of the women of the seraglio. The Turkish dancers sway the upper part of the body from the hips, and often writhe with snake-like motions. The feet play a subordinate part in most Oriental dances ”

“ Devotions, the toilet and bathing occupy much of the women's time. They are very fond of the hot vapour bath and the heated chambers, and some of them will spend the greater part of the day at the hammam. ”

“ The race is very mixed, and there is a strong strain of Circassian blood in the highest families. The salient traits of the Turk are ardour in sexual love, quick temper, fortitude, kindli- ness, and courtesy. Social intercourse is democratic; there is not a wide gulf of caste between employer and employed, and between master and slave. ”

“ Over the veil is worn a hood, attached to an unlovely garment that reaches to the heels and encases the body.
In the East there is a reluctance on the part of well- bred women to show the feet. Turks are inclined to make a fetich of their women's feet, somewhat after the manner of the Chinese. ”

“ In form the women of Turkey incline to plumpness and roundness, but they are often finely modelled. Their attractions begin to fade before middle-age, in spite of bathing, massage, and constant attention to the preservation of their good looks and their figures. ”

“ The mixture of the white and the more pigmented races in Turkey has produced a distinct type of beauty amongst the women. Many Turkish ladies are fair, with grey or blue eyes and light brown hair. Some are handsome brunettes, with luxuriant black hair. The eyebrows are rather heavy and arched.
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A Turkish beauty has tender, almond-shaped eyes, with pointed corners to the lids. ”

“ A Turkish beauty's slippers are an important part of her clothing. The foot has an erotic significance among most Moslem peoples, and, to a certain extent, in Spain, which owes many of its ideas and practices to the Moorish conquerors. ”

“ The ownership of a serai imposes several severe obligations apart from the high cost. A Turk cannot follow the example of the West, where the " kept woman " can be repudiated and cast aside, even if she is penniless. ”

“ Moreover, several wives means a big family. And in Turkey, where family affection is deep, a father is bound by conscience and the law, to maintain his off- spring in comfort, and to provide for their future. ”

“ The bulk of the population of Turkey is mono- gamous. It would be correct to state that the polyga- mists are an almost insignificant number, confined entirely to the rich class. Many men married to one wife keep mistresses in a second establishment ”

“ Among the troupe of Turkish dancers who appeared in London a few years ago, many of the performers were very proficient in a peculiar movement of the head from side to side without any motion of the neck. ”

“ She whirls faster and faster, and finally reels to a couch, her face drenched and white, almost in a state of col- lapse from the prolonged and violent exertion. Most of the dances are voluptuous, and describe amorous passion. They are less graceful and pleasing than the peasant dances of Spain. ”

“ The priestesses were ministers to men rather than to the deity. This transition is explained by Havelock Ellis in his valuable examination of hetairism* from the earliest ages. Whenever Mohammedans and Hindus have come into relation with Western conquerors, traders, and travellers, prostitution has arisen and spread. ”

“ It cramps the intelligence, and per- petuates antiquated and often foolish and injurious practices in the rearing of infants. The nurses in the harem are not properly trained, and many children die through their mismanagement. ”