"It is a very economical way of providing for a wife's relatives," I observed.
"Yes," said the Consul, laughing. "You could not make use of your mother-in-law as a cook in either Constantinople or London. Besides that, the women in your country cost their husbands a fortune in dress."
"Yes," I replied, "some of the women's dresses cost from 50 to 60 liras a piece, and, after having been worn once or twice, they are thrown away or given to the servants."
"Allah!" said the Usebashe, "50 or 60 liras! Only think of it!"
"The Inglis speaks the truth," said the Consul. "I have heard of this before, when I was at Constantinople. My last wife cost 10 liras," he continued; "I could buy five or six wives for the same price as a great English lady gives for her dress!"
"Why do you not marry a Persian woman?" I now remarked. "By all account they are very pretty, and you would have an opportunity of learning the language"—the Consul having previously bewailed to me his ignorance of that tongue.
"Marry a Persian, indeed!" interrupted the Usebashe. "The Persians will not give their daughters in marriage to us Turks. They are very selfish," he added. "We make no objections to our daughters marrying Persians. But the latter are most particular about this subject."
"You are both Mohammedan nations," I remarked.
"Yes, we are," said the Consul; "and the Armenians and yourselves are both Christian nations, but your forms of Christianity are very different. There is as much difference between a Persian and a Turk as between an Armenian and yourself."
"The Persians are very cruel," observed the Usebashe. "If a man commits a crime, and is detected, the authorities are not satisfied by taking the culprit's life, but often torture him first—sometimes by taking out his eyes, and at others by mutilation.