A year having passed, the brother-in-law of Baïla embarked with her and several of her companions for Constantinople. One fine morning he had dressed his graceful cargo in white, their hair had been anointed and perfumed, and after having passed the walls of the old seraglio and traversed some narrow and crooked streets, merchant and merchandise were installed in a chamber of the slave bazaar.
European ideas concerning the sales of females in the East are generally erroneous. Our knowledge on this subject rests essentially on what we have seen in the theatres and in pictures. But dramatic authors and painters desirous of obtaining the picturesque above all else, do not regard exactness very closely.
The latter, in order not to divide their pictures into apartments, have shown us a great common room, in which all, males and females, all young, all handsome and half naked, divided into groups, pass under the inspection of the first comers. The promenaders make the circuit of the galleries; huge Turks, crushed beneath their turbans, and muffled in their cashmere robes, their silk caftans and their furs, smoke tranquilly, seated in the corner as in a coffee-house. Sometimes, in these fantastic sketches, a slender greyhound, with his sharp muzzle, or a beautiful spaniel, with a flowing tail, figures as an accessory, as in the great compositions of Reubens or Vandyke; but in Turkey dogs are prohibited from entering.
The former, dramatic poets or authors, have boldly established their markets on the public square, before a crowd of chorus singers, with pasteboard camels to add to the local coloring. It is true, that, thanks to the convenience of the scene, the costume of the beautiful slaves for sale has been increased. The purchasers of women at the opera are forced to be content with a very superficial examination.
A bazaar of this kind is much less accessible than these gentlemen would induce us to believe. Divided into private chambers, the women of every color and all ages, especially those whose youth and beauty command a high price, are lodged almost alone, under the custody of their sellers. In order to penetrate the sanctuary one must be a Mussulman, and offer guarantees, either from his position or his fortune; for the first curious person who presents himself is not permitted to see and buy.