CHAPTER XXVII.
Succession of Banquets—The Chèïk Islam and the Clergy—Sectarian Prejudices—The Military Staff—The Naval Chiefs—The Imperial Household—The Pashas—The Grand Vizier—Magnificent Procession—Night Scene on the Bosphorus—The Palace of the Seraskier Pasha—Palace of Azmè Sultane—Midnight Serenade—Pretty Truants—The Shore of Asia—Ambassadorial Banquet—War Dance—Beautiful Effects of Light.
One of the most characteristic features of the marriage festivities was the succession of banquets given by the Sultan to the different high personages, belonging to, or connected with, his Empire.
The first day was sacred to the Clergy, and the procession was a most interesting one. At its head walked the Chèïk Islam, with the golden circlet about his brow, and his graceful robes of white cachemire falling around him in heavy folds; a party of the principal Imams followed. Then came the High Chief of the Turning Dervishes, with his lofty hat of white felt folded about with a shawl of the sacred green, and shrouded in his ample mantle. Other sects of Dervishes succeeded; and after them came Hadjis from the Holy Shrine of Mahomet—Emirs with their voluminous white turbans—and Fakirs from the far East. A short space behind advanced the Greek Patriarch, with his jewelled crown, and robes of embroidered satin; supported by a group of prelates. Following close upon his steps, next moved forward the Armenian Archbishop, similarly attended, and gorgeously attired; and as he advanced, he made way for the Jewish Hahām-bachi, or Grand Rabbi, with his flowing beard and inlaid crosier; a throng of Rabbis were in his train; and altogether the scene was one of a most interesting character.
On the arrival of these holy men at the banquetting tent, a delicate difficulty presented itself. The heads of the Greek and Armenian churches resolutely refused to sit at table with, or to eat from the same dish as, their Israelitish companion; while the Jew, on his side, declared the utter impossibility of his partaking of the same food as that eaten by his Christian brethren. The stately Chèïk Islam, meanwhile, was sitting by in uninterested silence; wondering, in the tolerance of his own heart and creed, why men serving the same God should not “dip with each other in the dish.”
The difficulty was at length surmounted; for, as the Jewish law did not permit the Hahām-bachi to partake of flesh that had not been slaughtered by one of his own tribe, there was nothing left for him but a dinner of cheese and salad, which was accordingly spread on a side-table; while the scrupulous Christian prelates, who had refused the companionship of the representative of the ancient religion, seated themselves quietly on either side of the High Priest of Mahomet, and made an excellent dinner. The honours were done by four of the principal Pashas; and, at the close of the repast, the party adjourned to the kiosk to which I have already made reference, in order to enjoy the flight of the rockets, and the fairy wonders of the illuminated Bosphorus.
To the church succeeded the army; and on the morrow Achmet Pasha, and the principal Officers of the Staff, were the invited guests.
The magnificent shipping in the harbour next gave up its chiefs; and again Achmet Pasha, as temporary High Admiral, headed the board.
On the fourth day, all the members of the Imperial Household were feasted in their turn; and, on the fifth, came the princely train of Pashas.
The Grand Vèzer rode first on a magnificent white Arabian, whose housings were wrought with gold and seed-pearl. His bridle-rein was richly worked with coloured silks; and his golden stirrups were finely chased. His sword-hilt blazed with diamonds: and the brilliant order that he wore upon his breast burnt in the sunlight; fifteen servants on foot surrounded his horse.
He was followed by the four newly-elected Vèzirs: the Oumouri-Mulkiènaziri, or Minister of the Interior; the Oumouri-Karidjiè-Naziri, or Minister of the Exterior; the Minister of Military Finance: and the Lord High Comptroller of the Mint; by the Seraskier Pasha, the Generallissimo of the Imperial Armies, the Grand Master of the Artillery, and a crowd of out-dwelling Pashas, who had been summoned by the Sultan to assist at the festival.
I never witnessed a more magnificent or profuse display of diamonds, and embroidery; of proud steeds, and glittering parade. The crowd of running footmen—the trampling of impatient chargers—the clashing of jewelled weapons against the gilded stirrups—the noise, the hurry, and the glare, baffle all description; and when at length the princely train had disappeared within the tent, and the grooms were leading away the splendid animals, who, freed from the control of a rider, were rearing and prancing among the crowd, I felt like one suddenly awakened from a gorgeous dream, and had only a severe headache left, to convince me that I had really been a spectator of the splendid scene.
In the evening, well furred and cloaked, we descended to the pier of Topphannè; and having secured one of the large caïques that ply to the islands, we stepped on board; and, rowing out into the middle of the channel, contemplated at our ease the wonders which surrounded us. From the centre of the stream, the whole mass of waters appeared to be girdled with fire; the shore was wrapt in darkness, and the edifices of light seemed to lift themselves almost to the clouds. I can conceive nothing finer of its kind; and we continued almost motionless where we had first paused, our caïque heaving gently upon the bosom of the blue waters; until a large flight of rockets gave us a momentary view of the surrounding shores; but, above all, of the surface of the channel.
If I had been surprised at the density of the crowd on shore, I was tenfold more so at the floating throng which had almost choked up the passage of the Bosphorus. Every light and manageable craft that could be made available, was astir that night, from the caïque of the Pasha, to the little, round, tub-like boat of the Archipelagon trader; while the countless white yashmacs of the women gleamed out in the light of the rockets like a dense ridge of surf, as you approached nearer to the edge of the shore; a circumstance which was readily accounted for by the fact that no Turkish female is allowed to walk the streets after eight o’clock at night, and that this was consequently their only method of witnessing the illuminations.
Having contemplated the general effect from a distance, we with some difficulty made our way through the caïques which were closely wedged together opposite the Palace of Dolma Batchè, just in time to escape one of the magnificent explosions produced by the Greek fires, that were blazing up out of the water in every direction, and which burst not five yards from our boat.
Of all the illuminations, that of the Seraskier Pasha, taken individually, was by far the most brilliant. The whole façade of the palace was one blaze of light; and, in lieu of the oil by which the lamps were filled in every other instance, he had fed the flame with some ardent spirit, which gave to it the fitful tint and the flashing brilliancy of diamonds. A magnificent screen in arabesques, on the opposite coast, at the small summer palace of Scutari, was the next most attractive object of the Bosphorus. But it is only as a whole that such a pageant should be judged; and all those who looked upon the one which I have attempted to describe, will doubtlessly concede that it was a spectacle of beauty which has probably never been exceeded.
We made our way slowly, but without much difficulty, along the European shore, until we reached the Palace of Azmè Sultane; but for a while after we had gained that point all further progress was impossible. There must have been many hundred caïques wedged together in front of her terrace, and not less than fifty of them contained musicians. We had intended to disembark at the palace steps, and to pay a visit to Nazip Hanoum, but were obliged to abandon the idea, as we became instantly aware that the thing was impracticable. We therefore remained quietly in our boat, under the bright light of the magnificent screen upon whose surface coloured lamps were intermixed with orange boughs and exotic flowers. The terrace was crowded; and I saw more than one light and fairy figure, that even the feridjhe failed wholly to conceal, which looked as though its owner should rather have been peering through the slender lattices, than from beneath the shade of a yashmac; but the occasion was so rife with excitement, and the voices from the caïques were so enticing, that doubtlessly more than one fair Dilaram and Leyla played truant that evening after the prescribed hour.
Having at length contrived to make our way through this crowd of worshippers, for such they must have been, we left the Palace far behind us in a few minutes, and escaped from the noise and even danger which were the present characteristics of its vicinity. Our sturdy boatmen, bending to their oars, soon brought us opposite to the dwelling of the bride, whose whole extent was bright with festooned fires; but my spirit had begun to weary with the perpetual glare, and I rejoiced when we struck out once more into the middle of the channel, and running under the shore of Asia, whose infrequent lights at this point of the stream rather relieved than pained the eye, left far behind us the clamorous merriment of the crowd. We had the moon high above us; the pale and placid moon, which had for many nights been mocked by a radiance more dazzling than her own; while the myriad stars that were twinkling their silver eyes as if in wonder at the scene beneath them, were reflected in the clear water as in a mirror. It was a heavenly night; and as we glided slowly along under the Asian mountains, the song of a hundred nightingales came to us from the groves and gardens of the coast.
The transition was extraordinary; and, after the excitement, the hurry, and the exertion of the previous day, the quiet of the hour fell upon me like a happy dream; and I remember that I shed tears as I lay back upon my cushions, and looked upwards to the calm moon, and listened to the thrilling melody of the midnight woods, and felt the soft wind fanning the hair upon my brow; but they were tears in which there was no bitterness; an outpouring of the wearied spirit that relieved its weight; and when we once more became entangled in the floating crowd, and dashed forward into the blinding light of the fire-girt Palaces, the heart-laugh which went ringing over the ripple might sometimes have been traced to me.
The mere worldling will sneer at this admission; but those whose misfortune it is to feel deeply will understand the seeming inconsistency.
The sixth day was fixed upon for the Ambassadorial Banquet, where the representatives of the Mighty Ones of the Earth were to feast together at the board of the Brother of the Sun, and Emperor of the World. A table, well-appointed in the European style, had been prepared; and the banquetting tent was neatly fitted up with draperies and mirrors.
In the evening a new and distinct feature was added to the entertainments, by the introduction in the outer court of the Palace of a raised platform, on which a score of performers, clad in half armour, attempted a species of war-dance to the light of a dozen bonfires, which flashed and faded by turns; now revealing the glittering costume of the struggling and straggling combatants, and now enveloping them in a cloud of dense black smoke, as impenetrable as the waves of Erebus. The whole thing was a failure; and the only charm attendant on the exhibition, was the singular transition of light and shade that played over the surface of the painted palace, and which produced effects almost magical; now touching the lofty portal with a golden gleam, and then fading away into a faint green, caught from the leafy boughs which fed the fires.
The Turks are decidedly not a dancing nation.