for those appropriated
to their respective grades. The most costly were those of the black
fox and sable, the former of which was restricted, unless by special
permission, to the use of royalty: while sable was reserved for vizirs
and pashas of the highest rank. The price of these furs, indeed,
placed them beyond the reach of ordinary purchasers, 15,000 or 20,000
piastres being no unusual price for a sable lined pelisse, while black
fox cost twice as much. In the present day the _kurk_ or pelisse is
never worn by civil or military functionaries, except in private: but
it still continues in general use among the sheikhs and men of the
law, "who may be seen mounted on fat ambling galloways, with richly
embroidered saddle-cloths and embossed bridles, attired in kurks faced
with sables, in all the pomp of ancient times." The kurk is, moreover,
in harem etiquette, the recognised symbol of matronly rank:--and its
assumption by a Circassian is a significant intimation to the other
inmates of the position she has assumed as the favourite of their
master. The same rule extends to the imperial palace, where the
elevation of a fair slave to the rank of _kadinn_ (the title given to
the partners of the sultan) is announced to her, by her receiving a
pelisse lined with sables from the _ket-khoda_ or mistress of the
palace, the principal of the seven great female officers to whom is
entrusted the management of all matters connected with the harem. The
imperial favourites are limited by law to seven, but this number is
seldom complete; the present sultan has hitherto raised only five to
this rank, one of whom died of consumption in 1842. These ladies are
now always Circassian slaves, and though never manumitted, have each
their separate establishments, suites of apartments, and female slaves
acting as ladies of honour, &c. Their slipper, or (as we should call
it) pin money, is about 25,000 piastres (L240) monthly--their other
expenses being defrayed by the sultan's treasurer. Mr White enters
into considerable detail on the interior arrangements of the seraglio,
the private life of the sultan, &c.; but as it does not appear from
what sources his information is derived, we shall maintain an Oriental
reserve on these subjects.

The slave-markets and condition of slaves in the East is treated at
considerable length: but as the erroneous notions formerly entertained
have been in a great measure dispelled by more correct views obtained
by