There
is far less decorum and outward reserve of manner here than in our
parks, but this freedom is all confined to looks and gestures, access
and converse being both forbidden.
Frequently, however, the bad-tempered guardians of the hareem commit
outrages on the persons of real or supposed aggressors in this way,
and from these even members of the foreign embassies have not always
been exempt. The difficulty of identifying the offender in such cases
enhances the impunity of these wretches, for to arrest one on the spot
would be impossible in the midst of a crowd which sympathizes with
the offender, instead of the sufferer, and looks upon it as a proper
punishment for the insolent Giaour. A private person unconnected with
an embassy has still less chance for satisfaction, but must pocket the
affront, even if smitten by whip or flat of sabre, considering himself
fortunate to have escaped maiming or mutilation should he incautiously
give a pretext for Ethiopian or Nubian intervention.
Few persons of foreign birth and training would go more than twice
to visit the Sweet Waters of Asia, whose peculiarities and amusements
have been thus briefly sketched. The spectacle at the European Sweet
Waters differs somewhat from the routine already described. There,
although you also meet the Turks, the greater proportion of the
visitors are either Greeks or native Christians of different races.
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