It is true that a Harem is generally composed of an assemblage of women, but not such as the public usually imagine.

Although the Mussulmans are allowed by the Koran to have several wives, there are few who have more than one, especially at the present day; a fact not to be, however, attributed to any new code of morality, but rather to the coercion of circumstances.

It was the practice of the Arabs to have eight or ten wives, whom they were seldom able to maintain. Mohammed, wishing to remedy this evil, and not altogether to abolish ancient usages, limited the number—“Take in marriage of such women as please you, two, or three or four, and not more. But if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably to so many, marry only one, or the slaves which ye shall have acquired.” They were allowed to marry a greater number of slaves, as their dowry was much smaller, and they were maintained in a very different style from the free women.

As the Osmanlis have a remarkable love of offspring, it often happens that a man having had no children by a wife, and unwilling to divorce her, which is considered discreditable, takes a second one in imitation of Abraham and Jacob and many other patriarchs of old, whose practices were but the type of the habits of all Oriental people, even those of the present day. But such a step being often the source of domestic difficulty, the substitution of a slave in the place of a second wife is generally preferred—and such slaves are retained in the harem with the appellation of Odaluk or handmaid, like Hagar, Bilhah, and Zilpah. When these Odaluks become mothers, by right of their maternity, they acquire their freedom and are considered second wives.

A man may, however, be induced to contract a second marriage either from mercenary or ambitious motives.

When circumstances or selfish inclinations induce the Mussulmans to have several wives, they are obliged to assign to each one private apartments and attendants. These ladies, although often living under the same roof, visit each other with all the etiquette of perfect strangers, and require an expenditure for retinue and accommodations, which can only be sustained by wealth.

Besides all partiality being out of the question, there is great cause for jealousy among the different members of such establishments—and the less favored being ever ready for intrigue, conspire to render the husband most miserable and the sanctuary a perfect bedlam, and the ambition of a second wife sometimes can only be satisfied by the sacrifice of her rival.

Fethi Ahmed Pasha was so favored by the sultan that his majesty bestowed his sister upon him in marriage. Notwithstanding this alliance with royalty, the wife and children of his humbler fortunes retained their place in his memory; but he could only visit them in secret.

The author has, on several occasions, assisted to his incognito, as he left his state barge and proceeded en bourgeois in a small cayik, to visit the house of his affections.

There is, therefore, every reason to believe that our Mussulman friends will soon come to the conclusion, that,

Notwithstanding then the toleration of polygamy by the Prophet, it is evident that circumstances have combined to restrict this practice; and most particularly the abolition of the Circassian slave-trade, to a certain extent, has created an effectual check to the use of Odaluks—thus increasing the necessity of alliances between the members of different families which were formerly avoided; because the wife being surrounded and supported by her own relations, attained an undue share of domestic power and influence.

Especially when alliances are formed with royalty, the circumstances are most aggravating. The husband then becomes an abject slave, and has tacitly to submit to the caprices of his spouse.

He cannot enter the harem of his sultana unless especially sent for; nor can he postpone his attendance to her summons no matter what his circumstances or occupation may be.

The sultan’s brother-in-law has often been seen, sleeping in a corner of a sofa at the Selamluk, till two or three o’clock in the morning, awaiting the pleasure of his royal mistress—while she on her part was amusing herself in the harem with dancing girls, music, &c.

The pasha’s embarrassment has also been very evident when he has been obliged to leave the company abruptly; no apology being necessary on such occasions; the entrance of the sable messenger, with a single temenna intimating the absolute command of the royal wife, who generally dismisses her train of ladies and slaves before he makes his appearance.

It is with the desire to avoid such petticoat government that the young men do not contract alliances with ladies of rank and distinction; preferring to marry their own slaves, or to content themselves with the Odaluks which their mothers bestow upon them to keep them within the home circle, and out of mischief.

Sometimes they are forced to a second marriage by the bestowal of a bride from a superior in power whose orders they cannot refuse.

A great number of women then in any harem is by no means a sure sign of the uxorious disposition of its master, but is rather an indication of his personal rank and wealth.

For the Osmanlis men and women are proverbially fond of display, they say “Sense belongs to Europe—wealth to India, beauty to Georgia—but show and display are the attributes of the Osmanlis alone.”

They therefore delight in all the appendages of luxury, and surround themselves with crowds of attendants. This Oriental propensity has even been sustained by the Prophet himself, who says, that “the very meanest in Paradise will have 80,000 servants,” &c. While, then, the gentleman in the selamluk, has his steward, treasurer, cup-bearer, pipe bearer, etc., the Hanum on her part, has her own appropriate suite, which is in many instances more numerous than that of her Efendy.

This is particularly true with regard to the sultanas or sisters and daughters of the sultan, whose husbands are not allowed to behold the faces of any of the fair maidens in the royal train, except by special permission of the sultanas themselves.