WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
The Shah maintains a harem here, and also in other towns, containing a host of concubines, but he has only one legal wife.
Dr. Wills tells us that slavery in the Persian harems is an easy existence, and that the women rarely yearn for freedom. They are very well fed and clothed, and have but little work to perform. Many of the women of the anderun live to a ripe old age, and have no wish to leave the establishment. Kind treatment of harem, women and servants is the general rule. It is worthy of note that the Persians are kinder to animals than is the custom of most Oriental people.
The women most valued as servants are Abyssinians and Somalis. According to Dr. Wills[1] girls of from twelve to fourteen years of age are worth about £40 in purchase money; while damsels of lighter colour are often worth from £80 to £100. The very dark negroes are much less valuable.
The separate apartment system prevails in the harems, each beauty possessing sole rights over her quarters and her attendants. Only a few eunuchs are kept in this country, which goes to prove a greater freedom than most women enjoy in the life of the seraglio. The women are often excellent friends of each other, and on the authority of English writers, discord is infrequent.
The proportion of polygamous marriages in Persia
229
