THE TCHARCHI, OR BAZÂRS OF CONSTANTINOPLE.       36

In order to avoid the imputation of tediousness, we will conclude the chapter with a description of the Shawl Bazâr - a mart of luxury and expense which is the terror of many an Eastern husband. The goods exposed are rather gaudy than valuable, and consist principally of Scotch and French manufactures, both of which are eagerly purchased by the middle and lower classes; these are hung against the walls, or spread over the carpets of the dealers, in juxta-position with Greek coiffures of gold-spotted muslin, scarfs of lama-gauze, and embroidered bathing wrappers. But in the private store behind the merchant lie the most precious shawls of Lahore and Thibet, gold stuffs from Bagdat, and all the more costly articles of an oriental toilette. Many of the traders in this bazâr are Persians; and wo betide the unsuspecting Frank who falls into their clutches! they have all the cunning of the Greek, the pertinacity of the Armenian, and the roguery of the Jew, to which is superadded their own national fearlessness of a lie, and proficiency in dissimulation. Does the worthy merchant show a shawl for which he is aware that he would be well paid by a thousand piastres, he will begin by demanding two, or even three thousand; and so long as he believes that there is the slightest probability of effecting his purpose, he will swear by the beard of his father, and the grave of his mother, that he is selling it far beneath its value, because he sees something fortunate in the aspect of his customer -or because he has dreamt a dream - or for some other equally probably and rational reason; when, no sooner does he become convinced of the impracticability of the cheat, than he unblushingly decreases his demand by two or three hundred piastres at a time, until he has reduced it to a fair amount.

The mania of the Greek ladies for cachemires is a national characteristic; and as well all the oriental females are both extravagant and fastidious on the subject of shawls, this branch of commerce is very weighty; while the bazâr is also visited by the slaves, whose business it is in every great household to superintend the wardrobes of the harem; and who barter, chaffer, and exchange, with a knowledge of the comparative value of the articles quite equal to that of the merchants themselves; and who bring hither all the cachemires requiring repair, to a number of grave old Moslems, who are squatted upon their carpets - spectacle on nose, and needle in hand - at the lower end of the street; and who perform their task most skilfully, weaving in every thread of a corresponding colour to the pattern of the shawl, and perplexing the eye to discover the fracture.

Such is the Tcharchi of Constantinople, where a week may be wholly and not unprofitably spent, without ennui or weariness.