We left home with the intention of paying a visit to the amiable sisters of Tingler-Oglou, at their residence on the Bosphorus; and, after a short walk, rang at a great gate which we imagined to be that of their grounds. The summons was immediately answered; and a lovely girl of about sixteen having followed the servant to the gate to ascertain the identity of the visitors, replied to our inquiry for the ladies we sought, by an invitation to enter. Supposing, from the extreme splendour of her dress, and the perfect ease of her manner, that she was some relative of the family whom we had not hitherto met, we at once obeyed her bidding, and found ourselves on a terrace overshadowed by lime trees, on which a party of ladies, entirely unknown to us, were whiling away the time, surrounded by a crowd of attendants.
Both the place and the persons being strange, we drew back, and apologised for our unintentional intrusion on the privacy of the family; when an elderly female, evidently the mistress of the house, motioned us to seat ourselves on the cushions beside her, telling us that she had been long desirous of making our acquaintance, and was rejoiced that her daughter-in-law had possessed wit enough to profit by the opportunity afforded by our mistake. Of course we availed ourselves of the courtesy; and the more readily as we immediately discovered that we were in the grounds of a wealthy Saraf, who was the neighbour of Tingler-Oglou; and who had lately built the magnificent mansion which lay below the terrace on the edge of the channel; and married the beautiful girl who stood beside us, smiling at the success of her harmless deceit.
She was the bride of a week; and, as I had never before had an opportunity of seeing the costume of a newly-married Armenian female, I looked at her with considerable curiosity. Her hair, which was perfectly black, and extremely luxuriant, hung in a number of glossy braids upon her shoulders, being bound back from her brow by a handkerchief of gold gauze, deeply fringed, and thickly covered with diamonds.
Between her eyebrows was affixed an ornament composed of small brilliants, and forming the word “bride” in Armenian characters. Her chemisette was of blue crape, fringed with silver; and her antery of Broussa silk, worked and edged with gold, bound about her waist with a costly cachemire. She wore trowsers of figured silk, of a pale blue; thread stockings, and slippers of pink kid. Her rings and bracelets were a little fortune in themselves; and, had she known how to adjust her costume with the intuitive taste of a Turkish woman, she would have been beautiful; but the Armenian lady is as inferior in elegance to the fair Osmanli, as the Perote to the European. They wear the same description of dress, and employ the same materials, but they may, nevertheless, be distinguished at a glance, from the mere manner of its adjustment. The one is almost a caricature of the other. I remained long enough in the East to think the yashmac the most coquettish and becoming of all head-dresses; but to be either the one or the other it must be arranged by the fair fingers of a gentle Turk; for when put on as the Armenians wear it, it is the greatest disfigurement in the world. The same may be said of the whole of their costume. The inmate of the Turkish harem is as willow-like and graceful as a swan—the Armenian lady, on the contrary, overloads herself with shawls and finery; and is, consequently, fettered in her movements.
Nothing could be more courteous than our reception by the family with which we had become so unexpectedly acquainted. The most delicate sweetmeats and the finest Mocha coffee were served to us by the fair hands of the bride herself, which were deeply stained with henna; and, as I have before remarked, blazing with jewels.
When the refreshments were removed, we made a tour of the grounds; and were laden by our new friends with tuberoses, orange-blossom, and green lemons. There was not a courtesy that they did not shew us; not a flattering epithet which they did not lavish on us; and, as they led us by the hand from terrace to terrace, they pointed out with intuitive taste every fine point of view as it opened upon them—lingered beneath each little garden pavilion wreathed with parasites, where the passion-flower blossomed beside the creeping rose, and the violet nestled at the root of the tiger lily—playfully sprinkled us with the limpid waters of each sparkling fountain, whose marble basin looked like a glistening lotus in the sunshine—seated us in the painted kiosks which overhung the water—and selected for us the most tempting produce of the orangeries.
When we at length reluctantly took our leave, the pretty bride kissed our hands with a graceful humility, perfectly charming; and we were followed to the gate by entreaties that we would renew our visit. To these I replied by an invitation which was instantly accepted; and on the morrow my room was a blaze of jewels and gold embroidery.
The etiquette of a Schismatic Armenian family is infinitely more rigid than that observed by the Turks. With the latter, the daughter or daughter-in-law, when in the harem, can seat herself unbidden; although not, indeed, where she pleases, for her proper place is assigned to her, and she is not permitted to intrude into those of her elders. But the young Armenian wife, who may have brought to her husband the dowry of a million of piastres, and the fair girl who is the heiress of her father’s house, must remain meekly standing, with folded hands and patient brow, until the lady-mother gives the gracious signal which authorises her to occupy a corner of the sofa or the cushion.
The Armenian Catholics do not enforce so rigorously this domestic slavery, although they also are fettered by a thousand inconvenient and inconsequent observances. It is the Schismatics who cling jealously to all the absurd ceremonials which render their existence as uncomfortable as they can contrive to make it. The eldest son can smoke before his father, it is true; but the chibouk is placed in such a position as to be invisible to the chief of the family, the smoker being obliged to turn his head backward to press the amber mouthpiece; and, moreover, to select for this fleeting enjoyment the brief moments when the eyes of his parent are averted.
The younger sons dare not produce a chibouk, nor even utter an opinion before either of these august personages—The mother alone, among the females of the family, has the privilege of occupying a place on the sofa, and appropriating a share of the conversation: the younger ladies only appear before their male relatives when they are summoned, or compelled to intrude in the performance of some household duty. On all other occasions they inhabit the harem, which is usually a noble apartment most luxuriously fitted up, where they knit, embroider, or idle, as best suits their inclination. Like the Turkish women, they are passionately fond of flowers, and cultivate them with great assiduity; their gardens being as remarkable for their neatness, as are the interior of their dwellings for that extraordinary cleanliness to which I have borne testimony elsewhere.