The harems of Constantinople and Cairo are recruited from Paris and Vienna; why not those of Teheran?
The indoor costume of the Persian lady must be somewhat trying at first to those accustomed to European toilettes.

The skirt, reaching only to the knee, is full and _bouffe_, like an opera-dancer's, the feet and legs generally bare.

The only becoming part of the whole costume is the tightly fitting zouave jacket of light blue or scarlet satin, thickly braided with gold, and the gauze head-dress embroidered with the same material, and fastened under the chin with a large turquoise, ruby, or other precious stone.
Some of the women (even among the concubines) are highly educated; can play on the "tar", [E] or harmonica, sing, and read and write poetry; but their recreations are necessarily somewhat limited.

Picnics, music, story-telling, kalyan and cigarette smoking, sweetmeat-making, and the bath, together with somewhat less innocent pastimes, form the sum total of a Persian concubine's amusements.

Outside the walls of the anderoon they are closely watched and guarded, for Persians are jealous of their women, and, even in the most formal social gatherings, there is a strict separation of the sexes.