Bad food and wonderful excursions
The Lonely Planet guide says that: “Istanbul is hot. And we’re not talking about the weather.” Ellen would have agreed wholeheartedly – that’s plain from her book. And in an age when few people still travelled far beyond their native town or village, to arrive at the “City of the World’s Desire”, on board a royal yacht must have been like a fairy-tale come true. It would be for anyone.
“Perhaps there is no place in the world more striking to a stranger than that which presents itself on the first arrival at the bridge [sic] at Constantinople” she wrote, after arriving on the ferry from Emirgan. (“Bridge” was an old-fashioned term for a pier). "The great variety of costume worn by the passers-by… the city of Stamboul to the left, with all its mosques and minarets rising one above the other, and the glorious view which presents itself on every side, - all make a panorama of unequalled beauty and interest.” This is still true (apart from the “variety of costume”). And now, as then, the ferry is still one of the best ways to see the city.
Still, the Constantinople of the 1870s was not entirely the same city as the Istanbul of today. For example one of Ellen's first excursions was to Pera, still a popular spot to get a view over the city. But she was to find that: “in the steep ways which lead up to Pera is no pathway… horses are led or ridden up and down, and it is your business to get out of their way, not theirs to avoid you… the way is paved with sharp pebbles, with occasional hollows full of mud and water… then there are the hamals (or porters) always ascending or descending with some dreadful burden on their backs, sufficient to weigh down an ox. These men are bent down, and of course see nothing: as with the horses, you must get out of their way… Last of all, there are the dogs, which lie stretched across the streets, and never move for any one, unless it is to join in a body to hunt off some canine intruder that has ventured to trespass on their territory.”
Yet Ellen was always the same, indefatigable Ellen, and she concludes with almost a wink that: “I made up my mind after one visit to Galata and Pera that nothing but sheer necessity should send me there again; but then some necessity was always arising.”
A road in 19th century Constantinople like the one Ellen desribed. The view is indeed worth the climb!
There was to be another somewhat unpleasant experience, when Ellen, together with Mr. and Mrs. Freeland, paid a visit to the Mosque of Haga Sophia, with their dragoman (interpreter) Shaheen. It was a Friday, the Islamic holy day, and there were of course many worshippers in the Mosque. Still, all went well at first: “We were walking slowly round, no one interfering with us or noticing us”. But then (somewhat surprisingly for someone who was, presumably, a Moslem): “our dragoman, anxious to show us everything, led us across the mosque, past many groups of worshippers.” The result was only to be expected. “Soon there were angry countenances, several persons rose and surrounded our dragoman, and insisted upon our going out. Poor Shaheen resisted, and brought forward his talisman of “Highness’s people!” but it was of no use here; he was in the hands of several fierce-looking Turks, who were, I must say, very fine-looking stalwart men."
Haga Sophia in the 1870s, as Ellen would have seen it
Shaheen seems to have thought that the worshippers could actually have been bought off, although Ellen knew better: “Our dragoman was of the opinion that a few francs would have soothed matters and enabled us to remain, but I think he was mistaken, and that we were in the wrong in crossing the mosque among the worshippers; had we kept to the outer circle we should have seen as well, and not interfered with those who were performing their devotions.”
Still, as with Pera, it was to be only the first of many visits to the Mosque.
The Second Princess, a very thoughtful and kind lady, allowed Ellen to use a local type of rowing-boat called a caïque, belonging to the Court, to help her explore the city. Unfortunately, its use was not entirely free of charge: “as backsheesh is an institution in the East, I soon found that unless I gave the rowers about the same amount as a public boat would have cost, the caïque was not forthcoming when ordered. However, it was a better boat [than the public ones], and then there was the honour of the thing!”
Caiques at Constantinople in the 19th century
You feel that not much could have spoilt Constantinople for Ellen. But one thing nearly did. And this was Mustapha the cook. “The name of Mustapha had been a bugbear to us for a long time, and for this reason: he had officiated as cook to our predecessors (General Maclean and his family): … the complaints regarding him had been so many and so frequent that when we arrived it was decided a different plan should be adopted; a certain sum was to be provided monthly, and we were to employ our own cook.”
Unfortunately, however, they did not take their own cook with them to Constantinople. And: “we found to our dismay that Mustapha was to be our cook. I don’t know whether he was brought from Egypt for that purpose, but I should think it was more likely that he managed to secure himself a passage on one of the Viceroy’s steamers, having previously ascertained that we had no cook with us, and then turned up just as one was enquired for.”
Ellen made it clear just why the complaints about Mustapha were justified. “I must describe a little his way of cooking, to account for our repugnance. The meat was cut up into square blocks, quite irrespective of joints; it was well soaked in water, and then cooked. Thus there would be many pieces of meat on the table, very sodden and tasteless; vegetables floating in water, and various sweet dishes which custom only can make palatable. This was at luncheon, when the Pasha and the Princess [i.e. Zeynab and Ibrahim] were present; at dinner, in the evening, it was worse.”
Furthermore, a small house was built for Mustapha not far from Ellen’s room. For privacy, therefore, she had to keep the blinds on the windows facing it drawn. But unfortunately trees blocked the view from her other windows. It was not often that Ellen complained, but on this occasion she let rip, and “complained most loudly; and my pupil [i.e. Princess Zeynab], instigated by me, spoke to her mother [the Second Princess] on the subject.” Again, the Second Princess showed her consideration, and ordered the trees to be cut back, allowing Ellen a view. Her complaints were certainly justified; the view from the park at Emirgan (where the palace buildings were) is indeed not something anyone would want to be forced to miss.
It was not to be the last difficulty Ellen had with the cooking arrangements. Later on, indeed, she was left without anyone at all to cook for her, and almost had nothing to eat.
But despite the inconveniences Ellen was determined to make the most of being in Constantinople, and described excursion after excursion that she made. In all, it gives us a fascinating picture of a city and way of life that was on the edge of far-reaching change, and is especially valuable for that alone.
The Bosphorus at Constantinople in the 1870s, as Ellen would have seen it, showing caiques and a (very smoky) ferry; this was part of the view that Ellen was so disappointed not to have seen from the Mahroussa.
Ellen describes steamers like the one in this picture. "Volumes of black smoke arose as made the atmosphere suddenly appear rather like that of Newcastle or Wolverhampton [industrial cities in Britain] than the shores of the Bosphorus. It was like a thick fog, and was I think occasioned partly... by the very inferior quality of the coal used in them."
Princess Zeynab also seems to have largely enjoyed the visit. She was a lively and active young woman, and, like Ellen, made the most of her trips out. For example, on a picnic in the Forest of Belgrade, Ellen described how “The Princess and I, with two or three others, started at once for a walk. She was as much inclined for active exercise as an English girl would have been, and was never so happy as when making one of these excursions.”
Ellen pointed out with foreboding that it was soon to end, however. “This was to be her last summer of liberty [before going to live in the harem]. What misgivings she might have had regarding her future I cannot tell; as we never spoke of her approaching seclusion.”
None the less Ellen was certainly to learn of Zeynab’s misgivings, as later on she wrote that Zeynab would: “speak of her past life of liberty much as an elderly lady might do of her youth; but of one thing was very certain, that she dreaded the life of retirement that lay before her.”
Indeed, another westerner employed at the Khedival Court realised that Zeynab would take her enforced seclusion hard.
This was William Loring, one of the many American soldiers who, following the American Civil War, were employed to help modernise the Egyptian army. In his book, A Confederate soldier in Egypt, published around 1884, Loring wrote that:
William Loring in his Egyptian army uniform
“While the more mature princesses were caged behind lace, his [i.e. Ismail’s] sweet and pretty daughter of thirteen, Zaneeb [sic], for several years took her seat in a box [at the opera] with her young brother unveiled… It was afterward when another year was added to her young life that, much against her will, the traditional veil was forced upon her, and she, too, sat at the opera behind lace curtains [in fact, decorative wire screens], and with others of her sex was compelled to undergo the seclusion of the harem.”
The situation as regards slavery in Egypt was, at this period, somewhat confused. Ismail had promised to end slavery during his lifetime, and indeed had engaged British officials to try to suppress the slave-trade in both Egypt and the Sudan (the best-known of these being General Gordon, who was killed at Khartoum). However, claims that slavery, and slave-trading was still in existence at the time of the British invasion in 1882, are borne out by Ellen:
“The Second Princess had bought a few slave children [presumably whilst in Constantinople] whom she was very anxious to have educated. She sent them up to the school with the Princess, to share in her lessons as she said; but I discouraged their coming, as I wished as much as possible to cultivate the mind of my pupil during the short space of time she would still be under my charge, and the presence of these children much interfered with my plans.”
This may have been a diplomatic excuse on Ellen’s part. She seems to have regarded slavery in much the same way as she was obliged to accept other customs, such as eunuchs and harems. Still, it would certainly have raised certain moral issues for her. We wonder, for instance, what she truly felt about having to educate Kopsès, who was plainly more intelligent than Zeynab, to a lesser level befitting her status as a slave.
Ellen describes one of these slaves, a six year old girl called Behrouse, and for its historical interest this is worth quoting at length:
“I was told her price was £160; but it was quite inexplicable to me how a child could be worth so much [in current terms, using the retail price index, this would be the equivalent of about £10, 240; when compared to average earnings, it would be the equivalent of no less than £83,768], as there was all the trouble of bringing her up, and ultimately of providing for her for life This purchasing of slaves is a very costly way of procuring servants, and I fully believe the Viceroy [i.e. Ismail] would gladly dispense with it; but in the present state of things there is no remedy.”
(Incidentally, it is interesting here that Ellen momentarily forgot to use the past tense in the last paragraph; evidently she quoted directly from her journal).
To follow Ellen’s many excursions in and around Constantinople would take up a great many posts, so full is this part of her book. In October 1872 the Second Princess and her children set off back to Cairo. And so the next post must leave Constantinople as reluctantly as Ellen did, and set sail once again.
Sultanahmet and Haga Sophia in the 1870s; the Constantinople Ellen knew
To be continued...
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