a colored man from tennessee shaking hands with the sultan; and men putting women in the bath and taking them out.
friday is a festive day with the citizens of stamboul. it is celebrated by gondolar rides along the canal called “sweet water.” males and females go up this canal, in all degrees of magnificence, and it is nothing but the elite of the city. from thirty to forty thousand assemble by eleven o’clock, the hour for the sultan and his seven sultanas, to arrive. just about this hour it is very gay. the gentlemen are in groups of from two to ten, exercising on flageolets, or wooden or iron musical instruments of some kind. the ladies come some in palanquins with strong turks at each end, and others in a golden gilt carriage, drawn by either oxen, camels, or men; if oxen, their horns are decorated with ribbons and flowers, if camels no decoration of beauty is needed as they are appreciated for their capability of standing hardships and sufferings; if men, for their masculine limbs and jocular songs, whilst pulling the beauties to the festal scene.
where i discovered the crowd thickest there i repaired, and the mohammedans, were standing around a very large man, from nashville, tennessee, united states of america. his name was frank parish. he had in his hand as large a hickory stick as ever a man carried to be a stick; he wore turkish costume from head to foot, and his tarbouche was of the best red, and he stood up with a narghehly in his hand and mouth, all cap a pie, ala turkoise. here the people began to give way for the sultan and his seven legitimate wives. frank didn’t give way an inch of territory for the sultan. two or three pachas rode a head of the sultan seated on camels in their golden saddles. the sultan stopped every fifty yards and listened to the music. when he stopped close to frank, he cast his eyes on his great form, and seemed to be interested; and frank had brass enough to look at the sultan as he did at other people. frank took his pipe from his mouth and walked up to the sultan’s carriage and offered his hand which the sultan took, to the approbation of all present. the seven sultanas were looking at frank all the time through their eyelits as if they liked the looks of him. frank is a man about 45 or 50 years of age, and looks like a man in every sense of the word. he is not a yellow, or black man, but what we call ginger-bread color. he had come to constantinople, with a mr. ewing from nashville, and was staying at constantinople to recover from wounds he had received from arabs that shot him through the shoulder with his own gun, whilst standing over the body of mr. ewing, who the arabs were trying to kill, and thereby saved the life of mr. ewing. he was a free man and owned property in nashville. the sultan could plainly see that his loyal subjects were but as infants, by the giant-like man that stood over them. being surrounded by such dwarf-like men, he showed off to great advantage. the sultan is a weak looking man, and has the marks of fatigue well written on his forehead and limbs; he also looks like a man surfeiting on the fat of the world. he is a slow walking man, and seems as if he experienced some weakness coming from a hidden source which allowed its approach so gradually and agreeable that he is not conscious of its fatality. he knows nothing of the rest of the world nor cares for it, but believes that himself and constantinople are the wonders and powers of it.
he is only twenty-two years old, but never once has been out of his paradise, shamboul. according to his opinion, he has no equals, consequently he has no associates. he is uneducated, because no one dare to instruct him. such a man lives a monarch and will die like a fool. if the czar of russia were to pay him a visit, he might smile with acknowledgement, but if queen victoria’s virtuous head would call, she could not stop in his seraglio as quick as madame rachel or lolla montez; and if general zack taylor called, his pacha’s would receive him, and a general jackson would scare him to death, as he is the most nervous man on a throne.
as he is the descendant of mahommed, it is admitted here that his authority to govern the people is received on all emergencies from god. he is incapable of fearing any nation on the earth, as he thinks that his is head of all. if some day, the news went to his palace that the bosphorus was covered with a fleet, and that one ball had already struck the dome of the mosque st. sophia, he would, through all his resolutions, break his haughty heart, and no doubt tremble off his divan. they are talking about a war with russia, and i can find no man here that thinks russia can begin to fight them.
the sultan’s harems are numerous. while the occupants of the large are removed to two small ones, we have permission to pass through it, to see its magnificence, by paying the sum of five dollars a piece. it is a government of itself. it has a large bath room of water, and one of vapor. the girls are as pure as silvan nymphs, and some have remained in this harem until they become old, on account of the sultan’s fancy to certain ones. they are carried to the baths by black men, called eunuchs. they take their baths in all attitudes of pleasure, while these eunuchs lean over the large, stationary stone basins, and gaze at them in their eve like costumes. but before these men are placed in this important position of servitude, they are privately handled to the disadvantage of displaying any demonstrations of manly pride, towards these vexed reflections that must naturally spring up in the reflective minds of virgins deprived of the luxuries of a life, built upon the confines of clandestine border thoughts of sexes.