hose old days, too, the khans used to be the resort of the
slave-merchants, who kept stowed safely away, for inspection and
purchase, Circassian, Georgian or more dingy beauties, to suit
all tastes. But civilization, in its encroachments on Turkey, has
compelled the cessation of open sales of either white or black slaves
in public places, though so long as the social and domestic system of
the East remains unchanged, the sale of women for the house or harem
will continue. It is conducted, however, with more privacy, and
Christians are not permitted the privilege of viewing the proceedings.
This restriction has taken away from the khans one of their former
great attractions.

To European or American travelers accustomed to the ease, luxury and
profusion of our modern hotels, where the guests enjoy more comforts
than most of them get at home, this kind of entertainment for man and
beast certainly does not seem attractive. Yet there is enjoyment in it
when the khan is tolerably free from fleas and "such small deer," and
one is accustomed "to roughing it," and blessed with a good appetite
and digestion.

Yet, truth to tell, it is more picturesque than pleasant at the
best--more gratifying to the eye than to the other senses, especially
to those of smell and hearing. For the odors arising from Turkish
or Arab cooking are not those of Araby the Blest; and the close
contiguity of the beasts of burden assails both the senses named more
pungently than pleasantly. Besides, the Oriental, generally making
it a rule to wrap up his head carefully in the covering, snores
stertorously throughout the night; so that silence, which we regard as
necessary for repose, does not rule over the khan; and when daybreak
comes, the startled traveler may imagine Babel has broken loose
again, since both men and animals rise with the dawn, and make most
diabolical noises to indicate that they have risen.

Enterprising Europeans have set up many hotels in Eastern cities,
but they are almost exclusively resorted to by strangers or Europeans
resident in the country. Even the high Turks, lapped in luxury and
sybaritic in their habits of personal ease, prefer their own hotel
system to ours, carrying all their comforts along with them, and a
retinue of servants to take charge of them. You will very rarely see
a Turkish gentleman, even if educated in Europe, stopping at Messeir's
or any of the great Eastern hotels on the European plan.

At Messeir's in