After a time, they fall on the floor in a state of utter insensibility, and great exertion is frequently necessary to arouse them from their trance; but, when once they are awakened, they become furious—they rend themselves, and each other—they tear their hair and their clothing—they howl like wild beasts, and they cry earnestly for food, while they reject all that is offered except brandy and raw meat, both of which they destroy in great quantities. Having satisfied their hunger, they renew the warfare that they had discontinued to indulge it, and finally roll on the floor with bloodshot eyeballs, and foaming at the mouth.
A second trance ultimately seizes them, from which they are left to recover alone; fresh perfumes being flung into the brazier to expedite their restoration, which generally takes place in ten or fifteen minutes; and then it is that the spell of prophecy is on them. They rise slowly and majestically from the floor—they wave their hands solemnly over the aromatic flame—they have become suddenly subdued and gentle; and, after having made the circuit of the brazier several times in silence, they gaze coldly round the circle, until, fixing upon some particular individual, they commence shadowing forth her fate, past, present, and to come; and I have heard it seriously asserted that they have thus divulged the most secret events of by-gone years, as well as prophecying those which subsequently took place.
It is scarcely wonderful—even disgusting as a great portion of the ceremonial undoubtedly is—that many of the Turkish ladies occasionally relieve the tedium of the harem by the exhibition of the Babaluk; that vague yearning to pry into futurity so inherent in our nature, coupled with the uncertainty on whom the spell of the sybil may be cast, causes an excitement which forms an agreeable contrast from their customary ennui. No second fate is ever foretold at the same orgies. When the first Babaluk begins to speak, the others sink down into a sitting posture, occasionally enforcing her assertions by repeating the last words of any remarkable sentence in a long, low wail; and, when she ceases and takes her place among them, they are for the third time overtaken by a trance: the brazier is then removed, the spectators leave the room, the door is carefully closed, and the Babaluks are left to awaken at their leisure. When they finally come forth, they resume their customary avocations, without making the slightest allusion to the extraordinary scene in which they have been actors; nor do they like the subject to be mentioned to them until several days have elapsed.
CHAPTER XVII.
Imperial Invitation—Disagreeable Adventure—Executed Criminal—Efficacy of Wayside Executions—Tardy Conversions—Mistaken Humanity—Summary Mode of Execution—The Palace of Asmè Sultane—Entrance of the Harem—Costume of the Slaves—Nazip Hanoum—Ceremonious Reception—The Adopted Daughter—Costume of the Ladies of the Seraï—Beauty of the Slaves—Extraordinary Arrangement—Rejected Addresses—The Imperial Lover—Sacredness of Adoption in Turkey—Romantic Correspondence—Ladies of the Household—The Mother of the Slaves—Peroussè Hanoum—Crowded Audience—The Imperial Odalique—Music of the Harem—The New Pet—The Kislar-Agha—The “Light of the Harem”—The Poetical Sultan—Indisposition of the Sultana—The Palace Gardens—The Imperial Apartments—The Dancing Girl—Reluctant Departure—Ballad by Peroussè Hanoum.
Having received an invitation to wait upon Asmè Sultane, the elder sister of the Sultan, at her summer palace, I started from Pera early one morning accompanied by a friend, to obey the Imperial summons.
The weather was beautiful; the great Cemetery was crowded with loungers, and the road leading to “The Sweet Waters” thronged with horsemen. The spring flowers were bursting, and the young leaves trembling in the fresh breeze; and, as we passed on, amid sunshine and salutations, I forgot the purpose of my errand in the enjoyment of the glad scene around me.
But, unhappily for the continuance of these joyous feelings, the authorities had just secured a band of Sclavonian housebreakers, and, having bestowed upon them a very summary species of civil drum-head court-martial, had hung a dozen of them the previous day in the outskirts of the city. Of this uncomfortable fact we were entirely ignorant; and the shock may consequently be conceived when, on descending a steep pitch into the narrow street of Ortakeuÿ, the arabadjhe suddenly exclaimed—“A man hanged! A man hanged! Hide your eyes, ladies.” But it was too late. As the carriage turned the corner of the road I had caught sight of the suspended criminal, and I continued to gaze upon him, fascinated by the horror of the spectacle. This was only the second time that I had looked upon death, and it was now before me in so revolting a shape that I felt as though my life-blood were curdling about my heart!