TO MY
ALMA MATER,
The University of the City of New York,
THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY
ONE OF ITS OFFSPRING.
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER | | PAGE |
| I. | [PRELIMINARY CHAPTER], | 9 |
| II. | [HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ORIGIN OF THE TURKS], | 20 |
| III. | [THEIR RELIGIOUS CREEDS], | 27 |
| IV. | [SECTARIANISM], | 37 |
| V. | [PRACTICE OF RELIGION], | 51 |
| VI. | [PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA], | 67 |
| VII. | [PRINCIPLES OF THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT], | 105 |
| VIII. | [THE ADMINISTRATIVE GOVERNMENT], | 109 |
| IX. | [POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT], | 114 |
| X. | [HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE JANISSARIES], | 117 |
| XI. | [THE ULEMA OR SPIRITUAL BRANCH OF THE TURKISHGOVERNMENT], | 127 |
| XII. | [REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE], | 134 |
| XIII. | [ARMY AND NAVY], | 138 |
| XIV. | [COMMERCE], | 144 |
| XV. | [JURISPRUDENCE], | 149 |
| XVI. | [EDUCATION], | 159 |
| XVII. | [MEDICINE], | 167 |
| XVIII. | [WESTERN PREJUDICES AND EASTERN TOLERATION], | 171 |
| XIX. | [THE SULTAN AND HIS PERSONNEL], | 180 |
| XX. | [PUBLIC DUTIES OF THE SULTAN], | 200 |
| XXI. | [THE ROMANCE OF THE EAST], | 206 |
| XXII. | [THE HAREM], | 212 |
| XXIII. | [CONDITION OF WOMEN], | 224 |
| XXIV. | [PERSONAL APPEARANCE, COSTUME, ETC.], | 232 |
| XXV. | [DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS], | 238 |
| XXVI. | [SOCIAL INTERCOURSE], | 246 |
| XXVII. | [POLYGAMY], | 253 |
| XXVIII. | [MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE], | 259 |
| XXIX. | [SULTAN’S HAREM AND HOUSEHOLD], | 264 |
| XXX. | [CIRCASSIAN AND NUBIAN SLAVES], | 274 |
| XXXI. | [THE WATERING PLACES], | 280 |
| XXXII. | [THE BAZAARS], | 293 |
| XXXIII. | [THE KAHVÉS], | 299 |
| XXXIV. | [THE HAMAMS, OR BATHS], | 320 |
| XXXV. | [THE RAYAS, OR NON-MUSSULMANSUBJECTS—ARMENIANS], | 340 |
| XXXVI. | THE,,RAYAS,,,OR,,NON-MUSSULMAN,,SUBJECTS—,,[GREEKS], | 364 |
| XXXVII. | THE,,RAYAS,,,OR,,NON-MUSSULMAN,,SUBJECTS—,,[JEWS], | 376 |
| XXXVIII. | [PERA AND THE PEROTES, OR FRANKS], | 381 |
| XXXIX. | [THE ARISTOCRACY AND THE PEOPLE], | 393 |
| XL. | [THE FUTURE OF TURKEY], | 419 |
THE SULTAN AND HIS PEOPLE.
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
Mutability is the appropriate motto of humanity; for what are men but creatures of a day; monarchs, but transient shadows of earthly greatness; empires, but passing events? Time, with more than eagle swiftness, hurls all things into the great bosom of Eternity. Futurity is dark and impenetrable, but the present is with us, and still more the past, teeming with vast records of human life, of rising and falling empires, bloody tales of extinguished armies and extirpated races of mankind, detailing the effects of the wild ambition of kings, emperors, sultans, themselves but atoms, yet involving the whole mass in their career.
Contrast is often the greatest source of pleasure to the mind; therefore do the citizens of this New World delight to revel in the scenes of the olden hemisphere, which was in full glory when this vast continent lay in undiscovered obscurity.